Psychoacoustic Characteristics of Prepulse Gap in Tinnitus Patients: A Preliminary Study to Develop an Objective Test Detecting Tinnitus.
10.3342/kjorl-hns.2011.54.1.48
- Author:
Myung Whan SUH
1
;
Hyun Ju LEE
;
June Sic KIM
;
Il Yong PARK
;
Jae Yun JUNG
;
Seung Ha OH
Author Information
1. Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Dankook University Hospital, Cheonan, Korea. drmung@naver.com
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Tinnitus;
Prepulse gap;
Psychoacoustic test
- MeSH:
Humans;
Models, Animal;
Noise;
Psychoacoustics;
Tinnitus
- From:Korean Journal of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery
2011;54(1):48-54
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to observe whether there are differences in detecting ability of pre-pulse gaps between tinnitus patients and normal subjects. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Ten tinnitus patients and eight normal subjects were recruited. Fifty stimuli composed of a background noise and a pulse noise were presented to the subjects. For certain stimuli, a short gap preceding the pulse noise was inserted but for others, no gaps were inserted. The two groups were subjected to a gap lasting 300 and 200 msec. The subjects were then asked if they detected the gap during the stimulus and the number of correct answers were counted. RESULTS: In the tinnitus patient group, the number of correct answers for gap-stimuli detection was significantly smaller when the gap was shortened to 200 msec. In the control group, however, there was only a slight difference in the score. When the length of the gap was shortened to 200 msec, the score significantly decreased in 50% of the tinnitus patients whereas the score increased in only 12% of the control group. CONCLUSION: The ability to detect pre-pulse gaps is affected by tinnitus in humans just as in the animal models.
