Bridging the Gap between Psychophysiological and Audiological Factors in the Assessment of Tinnitus: An EEG Investigation in the Beta Band.

BACKGROUND: Despite substantial progress in investigating its psychophysical complexity, tinnitus remains a scientific and clinical enigma. The present study, through an ecological and multidisciplinary approach, aims to identify associations between electroencephalographic (EEG) and psycho-audiological variables. METHODS: EEG beta activity, often related to stress and anxiety, was acquired from 12 tinnitus patients (TIN group) and 7 controls (CONT group) during an audio cognitive task and at rest. We also investigated psychological (SCL-90-R; STAI-Y; BFI-10) and audiological (THI; TQ12-I; Hyperacusis) variables using non-parametric statistics to assess differences and relationships between and within groups. RESULTS: In the TIN group, frontal beta activity positively correlated with hyperacusis, parietal activity, and trait anxiety; the latter is also associated with depression in CONT. Significant differences in paranoid ideation and openness were found between groups. CONCLUSIONS: The connection between anxiety trait, beta activity in the fronto-parietal cortices and hyperacusis provides insights into brain functioning in tinnitus patients, offering quantitative descriptions for clinicians and new multidisciplinary treatment hypotheses.

Listening Effort in Tinnitus: A Pilot Study Employing a Light EEG Headset and Skin Conductance Assessment during the Listening to a Continuous Speech Stimulus under Different SNR Conditions.

Background noise elicits listening effort. What else is tinnitus if not an endogenous background noise? From such reasoning, we hypothesized the occurrence of increased listening effort in tinnitus patients during listening tasks. Such a hypothesis was tested by investigating some indices of listening effort through electroencephalographic and skin conductance, particularly parietal and frontal alpha and electrodermal activity (EDA). Furthermore, tinnitus distress questionnaires (THI and TQ12-I) were employed. Parietal alpha values were positively correlated to TQ12-I scores, and both were negatively correlated to EDA; Pre-stimulus frontal alpha correlated with the THI score in our pilot study; finally, results showed a general trend of increased frontal alpha activity in the tinnitus group in comparison to the control group. Parietal alpha during the listening to stimuli, positively correlated to the TQ12-I, appears to reflect a higher listening effort in tinnitus patients and the perception of tinnitus symptoms. The negative correlation between both listening effort (parietal alpha) and tinnitus symptoms perception (TQ12-I scores) with EDA levels could be explained by a less responsive sympathetic nervous system to prepare the body to expend increased energy during the "fight or flight" response, due to pauperization of energy from tinnitus perception.