Published January 27, 2022 at 09.43
Domestic. To date, there has been no reliable objective method for diagnosing tinnitus. But now researchers from Karolinska Institutet are showing that so-called brainstem audiometry can be used to measure changes in the brain of people with constant tinnitus.
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Tinnitus is today not classified as a disease of its own but as a symptom that can have many different causes, such as a hearing loss, noise, illness or stress.
Tinnitus is often described as phantom sounds that are not heard by anyone other than the victim. Today, about 20 percent of Swedes have some form of tinnitus, and the risk of developing increases with age.
Measures brain activity
The severity of tinnitus is today defined by the self-esteem of the sufferer. But now a study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet, conducted in collaboration with the company Decibel Therapeutics, shows that the brainstem audiometry (ABR) method has the potential to become an objective diagnostic tool for identifying people with constant tinnitus. Brain stem audiometry measures brain activity in response to a specific sequence of sound stimuli.
– We believe that our ABR method can have a sufficient sensitivity to be used as a diagnostic tool. The method measures the neural change in the brainstem in people with constant tinnitus, which could become a biomarker in the future, says Christopher R. Cederroth, researcher at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at Karolinska Institutet, in a mailing.
< strong> Recognition of patients
Brain stem audiometry has previously been suggested as a tool for measuring tinnitus, but scientific consensus has been lacking. However, no previous study has included as many subjects as this study. Here, the researchers made measurements with brainstem audiometry of 405 people, of which 228 with tinnitus and 177 people without tinnitus. In those with constant tinnitus, a clear difference was seen in the measurements compared with people without tinnitus or people who estimated their tinnitus as temporary.
– We need an objective diagnostic method for tinnitus, both to be able to give recognition to affected patients and to promote the development of new treatment methods. Our study suggests a causal relationship between changes in brain neural activity and the development of constant tinnitus, but we need to do more studies to verify this. We also need to find out if our method can measure the benefit of treatment, says Christopher R. Cederroth.
Tinnitus worsens
The study also followed just over 20,000 people. with no or varying degrees of tinnitus with the goal of monitoring how symptoms develop over time. Here, the researchers showed that people with temporary tinnitus have an increased risk of later suffering from constant tinnitus, especially if the symptoms recur frequently. In addition, the study found that in those who already experience constant tinnitus, the probability is high that the problems persist.
– It is important to know that if you have had recurrent tinnitus, the risk is greater that you get constant tinnitus. We need to spread this knowledge so that people who have experienced temporary tinnitus become aware of the risks and have the opportunity to act preventively, says Christopher R. Cederroth.