Effect of Tinnitus and Duration of Deafness on Sound Localization and Speech Recognition in Noise in Patients With Single-Sided Deafness.
Yang-Wenyi Liu, Xiaoting Cheng, Bing Chen and 3 others
PMID 30509148WHAT IT FOUND
Compared with normal-hearing listeners, people with single-sided deafness had clearly worse localization and speech-in-noise scores.
Tinnitus was associated with worse localization and some speech-in-noise scores. Longer deafness was associated with better localization, not better speech-in-noise.
Key findings
01SSD subjects had a mean localization error of 45.1° versus 12.4° for NH listeners and poorer speech recognition in noise across all three spatial conditions.
02SSD subjects with tinnitus had a mean localization error of 50.5° versus 38.7° for those without tinnitus and poorer speech recognition in noise when noise was at the deaf ear or front.
03SSD subjects with longer deafness had a mean localization error of 38.3° versus 55.9° for those with short duration, while speech recognition in noise did not differ across conditions.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
This was an observational comparison, not a treatment study, so it cannot show that tinnitus caused poor performance or that reducing tinnitus would improve localization or speech-in-noise. The authors note that correlations between tinnitus and auditory performance may reflect other unmeasured auditory degradation rather than tinnitus itself. The sample was small, with 26 SSD participants and 10 normal-hearing controls, and the SSD subgroups were only 14 with tinnitus, 12 without tinnitus, 10 with short duration, and 16 with long duration. One SSD participant was tested only once because of time constraints, while others were tested twice or more. Four SSD participants had better-ear average hearing thresholds of at least 25 dB, and speech-in-noise scores were linked to better-ear thresholds, so mild hearing loss in the only useful ear may influence results.
Declared interests
Funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The supplied text does not report author conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that tinnitus causes poor localization or that cochlear implantation will improve hearing. This study measured associations in a small observational sample and did not test an intervention. The authors also state that tinnitus severity may reflect other unmeasured auditory degradation.