No abstract

<b><i>Objective:</i></b> Venous pulsatile tinnitus (PT) has received increasing attention recently. As analyses of psychophysical and neuropsychological dimensions of venous PT are lacking, this study aimed to quantitatively and qualitatively investigate the correlation among audiometric, hydroacoustic, and subjective outcomes in patients with PT. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Fifty-five venous PT patients, with or without sigmoid sinus wall anomalies (SSWAs), were subdivided into SSWAs (<i>n</i> = 30) and non-SSWAs (<i>n</i> = 25) groups. Audiometric and hemodynamic evaluations were assessed. Questionnaires including the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS) were deployed to evaluate the psychological impacts of PT. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Among 55 subjects, PT frequency-related pure-tone audiometry (PTA) was significantly different between ipsilesional non-PT frequency-related PTA (<i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.01), ipsilateral jugular vein compression PTA (<i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.01), and contralesional ear PTA (<i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.01). In contrast with the pulsatility index and flow velocity, bilateral EOE_T and flow volume were significantly different (<i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.01). Of the 3 questionnaire types, there was a strong correlation between HADS anxiety and AIS scores (<i>r</i> = 0.658, <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.01). The duration of PT was not correlated with subjective outcomes, and there was no statistical significance found among audiometric, hemodynamic, and subjective outcomes between SSWAs and non-SSWAs groups. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> (1) The duration of PT was irrelevant to the increase of PTA. (2) Venous PT is the perception of vascular flow sound, in which hydroacoustic characteristics can be highly independent. (3) Anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders commonly prevail among PT patients.

Displacement of the sigmoid sinus vascular wall and intrasinus blood flow motion is known to cause pulsatile tinnitus (PT) in patients with sigmoid plate dehiscence. To investigate the source of sound that causes PT, this study sought to determine the correlation between in vivo displacement of the vascular wall and intrasinus flow hemodynamics. A confocal laser displacement sensor and color-coded Doppler ultrasound system were implemented on a participant diagnosed with venous PT. The displacement and Doppler velocity data were analyzed using time series and magnitude squared coherence methods. The median and peak displacement values of the vascular wall were 6.7 [Formula: see text]m and 11.7 [Formula: see text]m, respectively. The major frequency range of vascular displacement was below 4 Hz. The portmanteau test was rejected for different values of m. The cross-correlation of the two processes was not zero, indicating the existence of cross-correlation. The peak magnitude squared coherence of the two gauged signals was 0.3 at 7.143 Hz. The displacement of the sigmoid sinus vascular wall was temporally correlated with the intrasinus flow, although the major frequency range of the induced vascular displacement fell below the human hearing threshold. Therefore, the hydroacoustic and vibroacoustic sounds induced by the fluid–structure interaction between the vascular and osseous structures overweighed the displacement of the vascular wall at the focal dehiscence area in PT production.

Venous pulsatile tinnitus (PT) arises from the motion of blood flow. However, the correlation between flow velocity and amplitude remains undiscovered. In this study, retroauricular colorcoded Doppler (RCCD) and transcranial color-coded Doppler (TCCD) ultrasound examination techniques were deployed to assess the hemoacoustics at the ipsilateral internal jugular vein (IJV), intradiverticular, mainstream sinus, and transverse sinus regions. Auto-and crosscorrelation analyses were used to analyze the correlations between flow velocity and amplitude. Furthermore, the Mel-frequency cepstrum coefficients were calculated, and the Melspectrogram was used to exhibit the human perception of PT. The mainstream sinus flow had the highest coefficient (cross-correlation coefficient = 0.781) among the sensed locations. The cross-correlation coefficient of the IJV was the second largest and close to that of the mainstream sinus flow. The transverse sinus flow had the lowest cross-correlation coefficient. Additionally, the transverse sinus septum was visualized for the first time using the RCCD technique in this study. In conclusion, cross-correlation analysis indicates that the amplitude of vascular sound is highly correlated to the vascular flow velocity. The Mel-spectrogram demonstrates the outcome of the human perception of PT, and its use can be extended to future psychoacoustic studies.

Abstract. This essay categorizes the empirical evidence by developed countries firstly and developing countries secondly. Within these two groups, this essay divides each group into two subgroups, by general and specific evidence. In addition, we allow the inclusion of evidence on seasonal price changes on developed countries.