The investigation of semantic memory deficit in chronic tinnitus: a behavioral report.

INTRODUCTION

Tinnitus is a central auditory disorder in which different processing systems are involved as a network. One of these networks is memory. Previous studies have demonstrated some deficits in various types of memory in chronic tinnitus.

OBJECTIVES

The main purpose of the present study was to investigate the semantic memory, which is not yet investigated in the tinnitus population.

METHODS

In this case-control study, 15 subjects with chronic tinnitus and 16 matched healthy controls were included. 40 semantically related and 40 semantically unrelated word pairs were presented to the participants in a counter-balanced fashion. They were asked to make decision about their semantic relatedness. Then the participants' reaction times and the accuracy of responses were calculated.

RESULTS

Mean of reaction times were significantly longer in the tinnitus group (M=1034ms, SD=0.31) compared to the control group (Mean=1016ms, SD=0.13), p<0.05. However, no significant difference was found for the mean percentage of correct responses between the two groups.

CONCLUSION

The current study provided behavioral evidence that chronic tinnitus can affect the semantic memory. Such behavioral outcomes may provide new insights into more research activities in the field of electrophysiology and neuroimaging in the tinnitus population.