The role of masked ABR as a predictor of tinnitus: A hypothesis

Abstract

Tinnitus is a highly prevalent disease that considerably reduces the quality of life for patients. Hearing loss is an important cause of tinnitus; however, not everyone who suffers from hearing loss complains of tinnitus. Moreover, the features that cause tinnitus remain unknown. The masked auditory brainstem response (ABR) is a test where ABRs are measured under two conditions, a quiet condition and a noisy condition, which are, then, compared to each other and analysed. We hypothesized that subjects with features that cause tinnitus following the loss of their hearing would show greater peak latency elongation in the presence of masking noise with masked ABR than subjects without these features. To test this hypothesis, masked ABR was performed on rats before noise exposure that caused tinnitus. Rats with tinnitus after exposure to noise showed a greater peak latency elongation in the masked ABR—measured before noise exposure—than the rats without tinnitus. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd