Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jan 25:15:1095178.
doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2023.1095178. eCollection 2023.

Comparison between two self-guided tinnitus pitch matching methods

Jose L Santacruz  1   2 , Emile de Kleine  1   2 , Pim van Dijk  1   2
Affiliations

Comparison between two self-guided tinnitus pitch matching methods

Jose L Santacruz et al. Front Aging Neurosci. .

Abstract

Introduction: Tinnitus pitch matching is a procedure by which the frequency of an external sound is manipulated in such a way that its pitch matches the one of the tinnitus. The correct measure of the tinnitus pitch plays an important role in the effectiveness of any sound-based therapies. To date, this assessment is difficult due to the subjective nature of tinnitus. Some of the existing pitch matching methods present a challenge for both patients and clinicians, and require multiple adjustments of frequency and loudness, which becomes increasingly difficult in case of coexisting hearing loss. In this paper, we present the comparison in terms of reliability between two self-guided pitch matching methods: the method of adjustment (MOA) and the multiple-choice method (MCM).

Methods: 20 participants with chronic tinnitus and hearing loss underwent the two assessments in two different sessions, 1 week apart. Measures of intraclass correlation (ICC) and difference in octaves (OD) within-method and within-session were obtained.

Results: Both methods presented good reliability, and the obtained values of ICC and OD suggested that both methods might measure a different aspect of tinnitus.

Discussion: Our results suggest that a multiple-choice method (MCM) for tinnitus pitch matching is as reliable in a clinical population as more conventional methods.

Keywords: hearing loss; matching; pitch; self-guided; tinnitus.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
MOA’s interface.
Figure 2
Figure 2
MCM’s interface.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Timeline of the experiment. The measurements are shown in chronological order for each session.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Participant’s pitch-matching results for both methods and both sessions, each data point represents one participant. (Upper-left corner) Comparison between bothmethods within the 1st session. (Upper-right corner) Comparison between both methods within the second session. (Bottom-left corner) Comparison within MOA between both sessions.(Upper-right corner) Comparison within MCM between both sessions.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Box plots of the difference in octaves, from left to right: MOA within-method, MCM within-method, 1st session between methods, 2nd session between methods. For each boxplot, the data points represent individual participants.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Cederroth C. R., Gallus S., Hall D. A., Kleinjung T., Langguth B., Maruotti A., et al. . (2019). Towards an understanding of tinnitus heterogeneity. Front. Aging Neurosci. 53. - PMC - PubMed
    1. De Ridder D., Kilgard M., Engineer N., Vanneste S. (2015). Placebo-controlled vagus nerve stimulation paired with tones in a patient with refractory tinnitus: a case report. Otol. Neurotol. 36, 575–580. doi: 10.1097/MAO.0000000000000704, PMID: - DOI - PubMed
    1. De Wet Swanepoel K. C., Sousa C. S., David R. M. (2019). Mobile applications to detect hearing impairment: opportunities and challenges. Bull. World Health Organ. 97, 717–718. doi: 10.2471/BLT.18.227728, PMID: - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Genitsaridi E., Partyka M., Gallus S., Lopez-Escamez J. A., Schecklmann M., Mielczarek M., et al. . (2019). Standardized profiling for tinnitus research: the European school for interdisciplinary tinnitus research screening questionnaire (ESIT-SQ). Hear. Res. 377, 353–359. doi: 10.1016/j.heares.2019.02.017, PMID: - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hall D. A., Hibbert A., Smith H., Haider H. F., Londero A., Mazurek B., et al. . (2019). One size does not fit all: developing common standards for outcomes in early-phase clinical trials of sound-, psychology-, and pharmacology-based interventions for chronic subjective tinnitus in adults. Trends Hear. 23:2331216518824827. doi: 10.1177/2331216518824827 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources