Documentary of Hashir's Research Findings on Tinnitus, Hearing Loss, Hyperacusis and Mental Health

This video offers a a review on Dr. Hashir Aazh's collaborative research on tinnitus, hyperacusis, hearing loss and mental health.
In a trilogy of studies conducted at the Tinnitus and Hyperacusis Therapy Specialist Clinic (THTSC) at the Royal Surrey County Hospital several topics have been explored comprising: (1) The relationship between severity of hearing loss and tinnitus loudness, (2) mathematical model describing the mechanism hat tinnitus may lead to depression and (3) the relationships between parental mental health and parental separation in childhood and the psychological impact of tinnitus/hyperacusis on the individual in their adulthood.
An international network of researchers from different disciplines has collaborated in these studies. The collaborators consisted of Professor Richard Salvi (University at Buffalo, Center for Hearing and Deafness, USA), Professor Brian C. J. Moore (Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, UK), Professor Ali A. Danesh (Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Florida Atlantic University, USA), Dr. Michael Landgrebe (Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, kbo Lech-Mangfall-Hospital Agathried, Germany), and Professor Berthold Langguth (Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University of Regensburg, Germany).
Tinnitus is perception of sound in the ears or head with no acoustic stimulation. People typically describe their tinnitus as buzzing noise, high-pitched noise, hissing noise, whistle, waterfall and grinding wheel, ringing, white noise, wind noise, bubbles and clicks, beep, and humming noise. About 20% of patients are unable to describe what their tinnitus sounds like. Hyperacusis is intolerance to certain everyday sounds that causes significant distress and impairment in social, occupational, recreational, and other day-to-day activities.
Results showed :
(1)Tinnitus Loudness was significantly associated with hearing thresholds. In this model, a 10-dB increase in average hearing thresholds, which is an estimation of age-related hearing loss per decade, increased the Tinnitus Loudness score 0.2 units. However, Tinnitus Loudness was more strongly correlated with Tinnitus Annoyance and Tinnitus Life Effect than hearing thresholds.
(2) The influence of tinnitus loudness on depression was fully mediated via the effects of tinnitus handicap, insomnia, hyperacusis handicap, and anxiety. The clinical implication for audiologists is that for patients who suffer from tinnitus, depressive symptoms may be alleviated if tinnitus-induced anxiety, tinnitus handicap and hyperacusis are managed adequately, even if the self-perceived tinnitus loudness remains unchanged. Past research has shown that although tinnitus loudness is only minimally reduced following various forms of tinnitus rehabilitation, tinnitus handicap typically improves (Aazh et al, 2008). This improvement may be sufficient to reduce the severity of depression. A similar trend was observed for hyperacusis; the small influence of reduced ULLs on depression was fully mediated by hyperacusis handicap and anxiety. Although it has been reported that people with hyperacusis often have lower than normal ULLs in one or both ears and 42-47% of them may also suffer from depression (Aazh & Moore 2017), the mechanism that produces depression in patients with hyperacusis does not seem to be explained by reduced ULLs.
(3) Poor parental mental health was significantly associated with increased hyperacusis disability as measured via HQ. The stronger links between hyperacusis and mental health illness compared to tinnitus could explain the difference observed in the relations of tinnitus and hyperacusis disability with poor parental mental health. Parental mental illness in childhood increased the risk of depression by a factor of 2.7 for patients with tinnitus and/or hyperacusis.
For more information see
tinnitustherap...
(For professionals)
hashirtinnitus...
(For patients)
hyperacusisres...
(For International Conference on Hyperacusis/ International Misophonia Symposium/ Noise Sensitivity Seminar)
#tinnitus #hyperacusis #misophonia #hearing loss #audiology #psychology #hate eating noises #ringing in the ears #buzzing in the ears