The impact of tinnitus on n-back performance in normal hearing individuals
(2019) In Journal of the American Academy of Audiology 30(3). p.169-177- Abstract
Background: Tinnitus sufferers commonly report concentration difficulties. Despite several previous studies investigating this, the underlying cause and the role of hearing status remains unclear. Purpose: To investigate whether there are any differences between normal hearing individuals with and without tinnitus in terms of working memory capacity, and whether working memory capacity correlates with high-frequency hearing thresholds. Research Design: Participants had their hearing thresholds measured (0.125-16 kHz) and performed a visual n-back test. All participants completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, in addition tinnitus participants filled out the Tinnitus Questionnaire. Study Sample: Sixty-two individuals... (More)
Background: Tinnitus sufferers commonly report concentration difficulties. Despite several previous studies investigating this, the underlying cause and the role of hearing status remains unclear. Purpose: To investigate whether there are any differences between normal hearing individuals with and without tinnitus in terms of working memory capacity, and whether working memory capacity correlates with high-frequency hearing thresholds. Research Design: Participants had their hearing thresholds measured (0.125-16 kHz) and performed a visual n-back test. All participants completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, in addition tinnitus participants filled out the Tinnitus Questionnaire. Study Sample: Sixty-two individuals participated, 31 had tinnitus (tinnitus group) and 31 did not have tinnitus (control group). Groups were age- and sex matched, and all participants had normal hearing thresholds (20 dB HL or better at 0.125-8 kHz). Data Analysis: Friedman test of differences among repeated measures was conducted on the collected data of n-back performance, and Mann-Whitney U-test was used to compare groups. Age-corrected correlations were calculated for high-frequency hearing and each n-back condition. Results: We found no significant differences between the groups in terms of n-back task performances, except for the 2-back condition where the tinnitus group performed significantly better than the controls (p = 0.007). Furthermore, we found high-frequency hearing thresholds of the best ear (10-16 kHz) to correlate with performances at more demanding n-back conditions (p = 0.029 for 1-back and p = 0.015 for 2-back). Conclusion: This suggests that presence of tinnitus might not imply poorer working memory capacity and that deteriorated high-frequency hearing thresholds.
(Less)
- author
- Waechter, Sebastian LU ; Hallendorf, Linda ; Malmstein, Emelie ; Olsson, Anna and Brännström, K. Jonas LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2019
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Cognitive performance, High-frequency hearing, n-back, Normal hearing, Tinnitus, Working memory
- in
- Journal of the American Academy of Audiology
- volume
- 30
- issue
- 3
- pages
- 9 pages
- publisher
- American Academy of Audiology
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85063396286
- pmid:30461408
- ISSN
- 1050-0545
- DOI
- 10.3766/jaaa.17048
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 8903f8aa-7b5e-4ca7-be96-4462a23b60c9
- date added to LUP
- 2019-04-08 11:03:41
- date last changed
- 2024-04-30 04:05:55
@article{8903f8aa-7b5e-4ca7-be96-4462a23b60c9,
abstract = {{<p>Background: Tinnitus sufferers commonly report concentration difficulties. Despite several previous studies investigating this, the underlying cause and the role of hearing status remains unclear. Purpose: To investigate whether there are any differences between normal hearing individuals with and without tinnitus in terms of working memory capacity, and whether working memory capacity correlates with high-frequency hearing thresholds. Research Design: Participants had their hearing thresholds measured (0.125-16 kHz) and performed a visual n-back test. All participants completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, in addition tinnitus participants filled out the Tinnitus Questionnaire. Study Sample: Sixty-two individuals participated, 31 had tinnitus (tinnitus group) and 31 did not have tinnitus (control group). Groups were age- and sex matched, and all participants had normal hearing thresholds (20 dB HL or better at 0.125-8 kHz). Data Analysis: Friedman test of differences among repeated measures was conducted on the collected data of n-back performance, and Mann-Whitney U-test was used to compare groups. Age-corrected correlations were calculated for high-frequency hearing and each n-back condition. Results: We found no significant differences between the groups in terms of n-back task performances, except for the 2-back condition where the tinnitus group performed significantly better than the controls (p = 0.007). Furthermore, we found high-frequency hearing thresholds of the best ear (10-16 kHz) to correlate with performances at more demanding n-back conditions (p = 0.029 for 1-back and p = 0.015 for 2-back). Conclusion: This suggests that presence of tinnitus might not imply poorer working memory capacity and that deteriorated high-frequency hearing thresholds.</p>}},
author = {{Waechter, Sebastian and Hallendorf, Linda and Malmstein, Emelie and Olsson, Anna and Brännström, K. Jonas}},
issn = {{1050-0545}},
keywords = {{Cognitive performance; High-frequency hearing; n-back; Normal hearing; Tinnitus; Working memory}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{3}},
pages = {{169--177}},
publisher = {{American Academy of Audiology}},
series = {{Journal of the American Academy of Audiology}},
title = {{The impact of tinnitus on n-back performance in normal hearing individuals}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3766/jaaa.17048}},
doi = {{10.3766/jaaa.17048}},
volume = {{30}},
year = {{2019}},
}