All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Manasagangothri, Mysuru, 570 006, India.
Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2020 Jan;277(1):47-54. doi: 10.1007/s00405-019-05658-4. Epub 2019 Sep 21.
Tinnitus is characterized by the perception of sound without an existing external stimulus. The presence of tinnitus might be intolerable for many and can be sufficiently troublesome in hearing, sleep, thought processing, and other functional abilities, all of which can negatively impact the quality of life. Individuals with tinnitus may have decreased cognitive efficiency because tinnitus can adversely affect the other tasks being performed. The present study was taken up to evaluate auditory working memory using digit span tasks in adults with tinnitus.
The tasks administered included forward, backward, ascending, and descending digit span. Tinnitus Handicap Inventory questionnaire was administered on all the individuals with tinnitus, and also, it was attempted to correlate the scores of auditory working memory with that of tinnitus handicap inventory.
The results indicated poorer scores for backward, ascending and descending digit span task and no significant difference for the forward digit span task. There was no correlation between auditory working memory tasks and overall tinnitus handicap scores along with its sub-scales.
It was concluded that tinnitus disrupts the functioning of auditory working memory and is governed by the annoyance caused by tinnitus.
耳鸣的特征是感知到不存在的外部刺激的声音。对于许多人来说，耳鸣可能是无法忍受的，并且会在听力、睡眠、思维处理和其他功能能力方面造成足够的麻烦，所有这些都会对生活质量产生负面影响。患有耳鸣的个体可能认知效率降低，因为耳鸣会对正在进行的其他任务产生不利影响。本研究旨在通过数字跨度任务评估耳鸣成年人的听觉工作记忆。
所进行的任务包括正向、反向、递增和递减数字跨度。对所有耳鸣患者进行耳鸣残疾问卷评估，并尝试将听觉工作记忆评分与耳鸣残疾问卷评分相关联。
结果表明，反向、递增和递减数字跨度任务的得分较差，而正向数字跨度任务的得分无显著差异。听觉工作记忆任务与整体耳鸣残疾评分及其子量表之间无相关性。
结论是耳鸣会干扰听觉工作记忆的功能，并且受耳鸣引起的烦恼所控制。
