Psychoacoustic Characteristics in 242 Patients with Different Types of Audiometric Curves

CAO Zuwei; YUE Fengjuan; LU Jinzhe; GUO Enqin; HE Weiping

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1672-2922.2017.04.015

Abstract：Objective To report psychoacoustic characteristics in patients with different types of audiometric curves. Methods Pure tone audiometry results and psychoacoustic characteristics in tinnitus patients who were included based on preset inclusion and exclusion criteria were retrospectively analyzed using the SPSS 20 software with statisti-cal significance set at P being less than or equal to 0.05. Results A total of 242 patients were included and divided into four groups according to their audiometric curves, including normal hearing (n=82, 33.88%), low frequency hearing loss (n=14, 5.79%), high frequency hearing loss (n=94, 38.84%), and pan-frequency ("flat") hearing loss (n=52, 21.49%). High pitch (4000 Hz and 8000 Hz) tinnitus was more common with loudness mostly at less than 5dB SL. Feldmann masking curves were dominated by convergent and congruent types. Residual inhibition was negative in most patients. The chi square test or Fisher's exact test showed statistically significant differences in dominant tinnitus pitch among dif-ferent audiometric curve types, but not in loudness, Feldmann masking curve or residual inhibition. Conclusions There are no significant differences in psychoacoustic characteristics among tinnitus patients with different types of audiomet-ric curve, which therefore cannot be used to predict psychoacoustic characteristics or prognosis.