Tinnitus
Alexander R. Toftness in Incredible Consequences of Brain Injury, 2023
Tinnitus is often thought of as ringing in the ears that occurs after hearing loud noises. However, tinnitus can be caused by a variety of things (e.g., loud noise, infections, brain tumors, a misaligned jaw, etc.) and may take a variety of phantom noise-forms. In an old but fascinating collection of tinnitus noise descriptions, one doctor wrote that the noise may resemble a “bee humming; noise of shell; horse out of breath, puffing; thumping noise; continual beating; crackling sounds in the head … furnace blowing; constant hammering; rushing water … railway whistling; distant thunder; chirping of birds; kettle boiling; waterfall; mill wheel; music; bells” (Jones et al., 1890, p. 668). Thus, pitch, volume, and annoyingness can all vary, with rare forms of tinnitus even resembling low voices or music. You know how annoying it is to be able to hear someone speaking, but to not be able to hear exactly what they are saying? Now imagine that happening all of the time, inside of your brain. There are milder forms of tinnitus from which you generally recover in short order and, as we will see, those cases are the lucky ones. Here, in this particular book, we will be discussing the more severe sort of tinnitus—that is, haunting noise that repeats over and over and over.
Acute Acoustic Trauma and Blast-Related Hearing Loss
Mansoor Khan, David Nott in Fundamentals of Frontline Surgery, 2021
The best mitigation of noise-induced hearing injury is avoidance of exposure. If this is not possible, then appropriate use of personal protective equipment is the next most effective option. Several potential prophylactic and treatment options have been mooted, including a variety of vitamins, antioxidants, and, more recently, near-infrared light. None of these yet have convincing evidence to support their routine use; glucocorticoid steroids have the strongest evidence base for post-exposure treatment of AAT. Some of the rationale for this originated from the treatment of other conditions, such as Idiopathic Sudden Onset Sensorineural Hearing Loss (ISSHL). Current evidence for the treatment of ISSHL suggests intratympanic injection is superior to oral administration of steroid as salvage and as first-line treatment. The authors' own case series has shown very promising initial results for the treatment of AAT, with more than 80% of patients treated showing significant recovery following early ITSI +/− oral steroid treatment.
Tinnitus
Stavros Hatzopoulos, Andrea Ciorba, Mark Krumm in Advances in Audiology and Hearing Science, 2020
Hearing loss in its classical meaning regards decreased hearing abilities, which can be measured for instance by pure tone audiometry. However, it is always a good idea to check for speech comprehension and the ability to hear in noise. Even if the pure tone audiometry does not indicate hearing deficiencies, the two latter tests may point at an existing hidden hearing loss. The hidden hearing loss is believed to be a result of cochlear synaptopathy, which describes damaged, malfunctioning or diminished connectivity between the inner hair cells and spiral ganglion fibers and has been a topic of many clinical and basic research investigations in the recent years (Hickox et al., 2017; Liberman et al., 2017). The topic of hidden hearing and loss of connectivity between the sensory inner hair cells and the spiral ganglion neurons is challenging the interest of the scientific and clinical community and is predicted to initiate an emergence of improved diagnostic tools.
Current status data with two competing risks and time-dependent missing failure types
Published in Journal of Applied Statistics, 2023
In this section, we illustrate the proposed methodology, both parametric and non-parametric, using a real data set on hearing loss. This data on hearing loss consists of 795 respondents collected from the Department of Speech and Hearing Disabilities (Divyangjan), Eastern Regional Centre, who appeared for the diagnosis of hearing loss during the months of January and February 2017 (See [1]). The monitoring time is taken to be the age at which a patient appears for diagnosis. There are two main types of hearing loss depending on which part of the ear is affected: (i) Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) and (ii) Conductive hearing loss. A third type, named mixed hearing loss, is a combination of SNHL and Conductive hearing loss which can be interpreted as the missing type. The event of interest is defined as hearing loss due to the type occurring first in the right ear.
Is COVID-19 associated with self-reported audio-vestibular symptoms?
Published in International Journal of Audiology, 2022
Arwa AlJasser, Walid Alkeridy, Kevin J. Munro, Christopher J. Plack
The main section was designed with a five-point Likert scale to assess any self-reported change over time in nine symptoms under four categories.Olfactory and gustatory abnormalities which included disturbances in sense of smell and taste.Auditory symptoms which included hearing abilities (changes assessed for four variables: sense of hearing, ease of conversing by telephone, ability to follow a conversation with background noise, and preferred volume while listening to various media); non-pulsatile tinnitus; and hyperacusis (i.e. stress, irritation or sensitivity caused by noise and environmental sounds).Dizziness which included rotatory vertigo (the feeling that the person, or things around person, are spinning or moving); and stability (unsteadiness/light-headedness, losing balance or feeling unsteady when walking, climbing stairs, or picking something up off the floor).Ear symptoms which included ear pressure; and otalgia (ear pain).
Hearing in individuals enrolled for drug-resistant tuberculosis treatment: a retrospective study from a South Indian city
Published in Hearing, Balance and Communication, 2021
Usha Shastri, Zaiba Fatima Khateeb, Mohd Aaman Khan, Vibha Kanagokar
Based on PTA, the degree of hearing loss was classified as 0–25 dB HL, normal hearing; 26–40 dB HL, mild hearing loss; 41–55 dB HL, moderate hearing loss; 56–70 dB HL moderately severe hearing loss; 71–90 dB HL, severe hearing loss; and ≥91 dB HL, profound hearing loss [18]. The type of hearing loss was categorised as conductive, sensorineural, and mixed. In audiograms where air conduction thresholds were affected (>25 dB HL), bone conduction thresholds were within normal limits (≤25 dB HL), and the air-bone gap was ≤10 dB, type of hearing loss was not determined. When PTA was within normal limits, the presence of high-frequency hearing loss (at 4000 Hz and/or 8000 Hz) was noted. Whether the hearing loss was unilateral or bilateral was also noted. Distribution of the type and degree of hearing loss across age was described. For this, participants were categorised into three age groups: young (18–40 years), middle (41–60 years), and old (>61 years) age. Distribution of types of tympanograms were also noted across the different types of hearing loss where the data was available. Tabulation of data was done and descriptive statistics were calculated for each parameter considered. Association of age and gender with the prevalence of hearing loss, type and degree of hearing loss was noted using the Chi-square test.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Auditory System
- Hearing Loss
- Somatosensory System
- Transduction
- Temporal Lobe
- Brain
- Sound
- Ear
- Auditory Science
- Sense