Smith Samuel S, Jahn Kelly N, Sugai Jenna A, Hancock Kenneth E, Polley Daniel B
Eaton-Peabody Laboratories, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
Sci Transl Med. 2025 Apr 30;17(796):eadp1934. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adp1934.
Hypersensitivity, phantom percepts, and sensory reactivity are core features of many neurological disorders. Direct, objective measurements of these features have proven difficult to identify, leaving subjective questionnaires as the primary means of assessing sensory disorder severity. Here, we studied neurotypical adults ( = 50) or adults with sound sensitivity and tinnitus (ringing of the ears) ( = 47) and discovered a previously unidentified set of objective measurements that predicted individual differences in the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) and Hyperacusis Questionnaire (HQ). A neurophysiological assessment of central auditory gain demonstrated an elevation in participants with tinnitus and sound sensitivity but no association with symptom severity. Instead, accurate predictors of individual THI and HQ scores were identified in pupil dilations and facial movements elicited by emotionally evocative sounds. These findings highlight autonomic signatures of disrupted affective sound processing in persons with tinnitus and sound sensitivity disorders and introduce new approaches for their objective measurement.
超敏反应、幻听和感觉反应性是许多神经系统疾病的核心特征。事实证明，直接、客观地测量这些特征很困难，因此主观问卷成为评估感觉障碍严重程度的主要手段。在这里，我们研究了神经正常的成年人（n = 50）或有声音敏感和耳鸣（耳鸣）的成年人（n = 47），并发现了一组以前未被识别的客观测量方法，这些方法可以预测耳鸣障碍量表（THI）和听觉过敏问卷（HQ）中的个体差异。对中枢听觉增益的神经生理学评估表明，耳鸣和声音敏感的参与者中枢听觉增益升高，但与症状严重程度无关。相反，在由情感唤起声音引起的瞳孔扩张和面部运动中，发现了个体THI和HQ分数的准确预测指标。这些发现突出了耳鸣和声音敏感障碍患者情感性声音处理紊乱的自主神经特征，并为其客观测量引入了新方法。
