SpringerLink
Log in

Efficacy of behavioral audiological tests in identifying cochlear synaptopathy: a systematic review

  • Review Article
  • Published:
European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Cochlear synaptopathy or hidden hearing loss is difficult to assess due to the lack of sensitivity with standard audiological tests. Poor speech perception, especially in the presence of noise or tinnitus, is the most common complaint of these patients. The purpose of this systematic review is to identify articles in peer-reviewed journals that used behavioral measures in the effective assessment of cochlear synaptopathy or hidden hearing loss.

Methods

The manuscripts were searched in various international databases, and the manuscripts were screened based on titles, abstracts, and full-length content. A total of 14 human studies were selected after the appropriate exclusion of other articles.

Results

Results showed that high-frequency audiometry could be used for the early identification of cochlear synaptopathy. The tone in noise detection test can also be added in the test battery along with speech perception in noise. The amplitude modulation detection test, interaural phase difference, and differential sensitivity tests require more research before using them for the assessment of cochlear synaptopathy or hidden hearing loss.

Conclusions

Self-reports and questionnaires also help in determining the extent of noise exposure.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (Germany)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Kujawa SG, Liberman MC (2009) Adding insult to injury: cochlear nerve degeneration after “temporary” noise-induced hearing loss. J Neurosci 29(45):14077–14085

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Viana LM, O’Malley JT, Burgess BJ, Jones DD, Oliveira CACP, Santos F et al (2015) Cochlear neuropathy in human presbycusis: Confocal analysis of hidden hearing loss in post-mortem tissue. Hear Res [Internet]. 327:78–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2015.04.014

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Schmiedt RA, Mills JH, Boettcher FA (1996) Age-related loss of activity of auditory-nerve fibers. J Neurophysiol 76(4):2799–2803

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Sergeyenko Y, Lall K, Charles Liberman M, Kujawa SG (2013) Age-related cochlear synaptopathy: an early-onset contributor to auditory functional decline. J Neurosci 33(34):13686–13694

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Kujawa SG, Liberman MC (2015) Synaptopathy in the noise-exposed and aging cochlea: primary neural degeneration in acquired sensorineural hearing loss. Hear Res [Internet]. 330:191–199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2015.02.009

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Liberman MC, Epstein MJ, Cleveland SS, Wang H, Maison SF (2016) Toward a differential diagnosis of hidden hearing loss in humans. PLoS ONE 11(9):1–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Grose JH, Buss E, Hall JW (2017) Loud music exposure and cochlear synaptopathy in young adults: isolated auditory brainstem response effects but no perceptual consequences. Trends Hear 21:1–18

    Google Scholar 

  8. Stamper GC, Johnson TA (2015) Auditory function in normal-hearing, noise-exposed human ears. Ear Hear 36(2):172–184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Stamper GC, Johnson TA (2015) Letter to the Editor: examination of potential sex influences in Stamper, G. C., & Johnson, T. A. auditory function in normal-hearing, noise-exposed human ears, ear hear, 36, 172–184. Vol. 36. Ear Hear 2015:738–740

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Johannesen PT, Buzo BC, Lopez-poveda EA (2019) Evidence for age-related cochlear synaptopathy in humans unconnected to speech-in-noise intelligibility de fi cits. Hear Res [Internet]. 374:35–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2019.01.017

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Paul BT, Waheed S, Bruce IC, Roberts LE (2017). Subcortical amplitude modulation encoding deficits suggest evidence of cochlear synaptopathy in normal-hearing 18–19 year olds with higher lifetime noise exposure. J Acoust Soc Am 142(5):EL434–40

  12. Prendergast G, Couth S, Millman RE, Guest H, Kluk K, Munro KJ et al (2019) Effects of age and noise exposure on proxy measures of cochlear synaptopathy. Trends Hear 23:1–16

    Google Scholar 

  13. Prendergast G, Millman RE, Guest H, Munro KJ, Kluk K, Dewey RS et al (2017) Effects of noise exposure on young adults with normal audiograms II: behavioral measures. Hear Res [Internet]. 356:74–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2017.10.007

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. Beach EF (2018) Hidden hearing loss in humans: cochlear synaptopathy is superseded by cognitive effects when listening to speech in noise. ENT Audiol News 27(1):84–85

    Google Scholar 

  15. Kamerer AM, Aubuchon A, Fultz SE, Kopun JG, Neely ST, Rasetshwane DM (2019) The role of cognition in common measures of peripheral synaptopathy and hidden hearing loss. Am J Audiol 28(4):843–856

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Barbee CM, James JA, Park JH, Smith EM, Johnson CE, Clifton S et al (2018) Effectiveness of auditory measures for detecting hidden hearing loss and/or cochlear synaptopathy: a systematic review. Semin Hear 39(2):172–209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Grinn SK, Wiseman KB, Baker JA, Le Prell CG (2017) Hidden hearing loss? No effect of common recreational noise exposure on cochlear nerve response amplitude in humans. Front Neurosci 11(SEP):465

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Paul BT, Bruce IC, Roberts LE (2017) Evidence that hidden hearing loss underlies amplitude modulation encoding deficits in individuals with and without tinnitus. Hear Res [Internet] 344:170–182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2016.11.010

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Ralli M, Greco A, De Vincentiis M, Sheppard A, Cappelli G, Neri I et al (2019) Tone-in-noise detection deficits in elderly patients with clinically normal hearing. Am J Otolaryngol Head Neck Med Surg [Internet] 40(1):1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjoto.2018.09.012

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Tange RA, Dreschler WA, van der Hulst RJAM (1985) The importance of high-tone audiometry in monitoring for ototoxicity. Arch Otorhinolaryngol 242(1):77–81

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Paul BT, Bruce IC, Roberts LE (2018) Envelope following responses, noise exposure, and evidence of cochlear synaptopathy in humans: correction and comment. J Acoust Soc Am 143(6):EL487–EL489

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Fulbright ANC, Le Prell CG, Griffiths SK, Lobarinas E (2017) Effects of recreational noise on threshold and suprathreshold measures of auditory function. Semin Hear 38(4):298–318

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Smith SB, Krizman J, Liu C, White-Schwoch T, Nicol T, Kraus N (2019) Investigating peripheral sources of speech-in-noise variability in listeners with normal audiograms. Hear Res 371:66–74

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Megarbane L, Fuente A (2020) Association between speech perception in noise and electrophysiological measures: an exploratory study of possible techniques to evaluate cochlear synaptopathy in humans. Int J Audiol [Internet] 59(6):427–433. https://doi.org/10.1080/14992027.2020.1718783

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Le Prell CG (2019) Effects of noise exposure on auditory brainstem response and speech-in-noise tasks: a review of the literature. Int J Audiol 58:S3-32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Stone MA, Moore BCJ, Greenish H (2008) Discrimination of envelope statistics reveals evidence of sub-clinical hearing damage in a noise-exposed population with “normal” hearing thresholds. Int J Audiol 47(12):737–750

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge with gratitude Prof. M Pushpavathi, Director, All India Institute of Speech and Hearing affiliated to University of Mysore, for permitting to conduct the study at the institute. The authors also like to acknowledge the participant for co-operation.

Funding

There is no funding by any agency for the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Audiology, All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysore, Karnataka, 570006, India

    Prateek Lokwani & Prashanth Prabhu

Authors
  1. Prateek Lokwani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Prashanth Prabhu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

PL was involved in study design, data collection, analysis of the results, interpreting and writing the manuscript; PP was involved in study design, data collection, analysis of the data, interpretation and writing the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Prashanth Prabhu.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Ethical approval

Ethical approval was obtained from the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing (AIISH) Ethical Review board for carrying out the study.

Ethical standards

The manuscript adheres to the ethical standards according to the Declaration of Helsinki.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from the patient to participate in the study.

Human/animal rights statement

In the present study, all the testing procedures were carried out on humans using non-invasive techniques, adhering to the guidelines of the Ethics Approval Committee of the institute. All the procedures were explained to the participants, and informed consent was taken from all the participants of the study.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lokwani, P., Prabhu, P. Efficacy of behavioral audiological tests in identifying cochlear synaptopathy: a systematic review. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 279, 577–594 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-021-06927-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-021-06927-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation