The impact of tinnitus on cognitive performance in normal-hearing individuals

The characteristics of cognitive impairment in subjective chronic tinnitus

“…Some studies have documented cognitive deficits in tinnitus patients including inattention, instant memory disorders, and inefficient learning as the most common symptoms (Das et al., ; Hallam et al., ). However, a recent study has actually concluded that tinnitus patients did not exhibit any obvious cognitive impairment (Waechter & Brannstrom, ). The inconsistency across reported findings may due to the differences in the empirical approaches adopted (e.g., size of sample or cognition rating scale) in those studies.…”

“…Cognitive impairment may have a close relationship with tinnitus, as tinnitus is not only an aberrant auditory sensory perception but also associated with a variety of nonauditory symptoms which include frustration, inability to relax, and difficulty concentrating (Wineland, Burton, & Piccirillo, 2012 (Das et al, 2012;Hallam et al, 2004). However, a recent study has actually concluded that tinnitus patients did not exhibit any obvious cognitive impairment (Waechter & Brannstrom, 2015). The inconsistency across reported findings may due to the differences in the empirical approaches adopted (e.g., size of sample or cognition rating scale) in those studies.…”

“…Although a recent study has shown that some tinnitus patients exist without obvious cognitive impairments (Waechter & Brannstrom, 2015), many other studies have demonstrated that patients experiencing severe tinnitus may suffer serious cognitive deficits which may lead to an obvious decrease in quality of life and work efficiency (Andersson & McKenna, 2006;Bankstahl & Gortelmeyer, 2013;Das, Wineland, Kallogjeri, & Piccirillo, 2012;Hallam et al, 2004;Pierce et al, 2012). Due to these incongruent research findings and our own clinical observations, we hypothesized that the severity of tinnitus may have a positive relationship with cognitive impairment and, specifically, that partial mild tinnitus patients would have no obvious cognitive deficits while severe tinnitus patients would exhibit more serious cognitive deficits.…”

The Impact of Tinnitus on N-Back Performance in Normal Hearing Individuals

“…However, the fact remains that part of the tinnitus population experience concentration deterioration as a result of their tinnitus. This was also highlighted by Waechter and Brännström (2015) as a majority of their tinnitus participants reported that their tinnitus had a negative impact on concentration. Overall, this means that tinnitus is possibly having an effect on cognition, although perhaps solely the presence of tinnitus might not explain the aforementioned differences in terms of response times.…”

“…This is highly relevant because hearing loss itself seems to have negative impact on cognitive performance (Lyxell et al, 1994;Lin et al, 2011). To address the lack of thorough examination of the participants' hearing status in previous research, Waechter and Brännström (2015) examined normal hearing individuals with and without tinnitus and reported equal performances between the two groups. This indicates that the differences in cognitive performance between the tinnitus group and control group in earlier studies could be a result of hearing loss, alternatively the combination of hearing loss and tinnitus.…”