Establishing Normative Standards for Measures of Tinnitus Perception

 描述(由申请人提供)： 为了进行这项研究，300名患有慢性耳鸣的人将被登记并按年龄分组，年龄分别为18-30岁、31-40岁、41-50岁、51-60岁、61-70岁和71岁(每十年50名受试者)。每个受试者都将完成测试，包括耳鸣响度和音调匹配、噪声频段匹配、强制选择双楼梯和最低掩蔽水平。这些措施的测试将使用我们的自动、自我引导的耳鸣评估系统(TES)来完成。受试者还将在每次测试之前完成耳鸣功能指数和耳鸣响度的视觉数字标尺。所有测试将在1个月、3个月和6个月重复进行，以便在没有干预的情况下分析测试-重测的可靠性和测量的正常变化。60名受试者的子组(每十岁10人)还将进行响度和音调匹配、噪声频带匹配和最低掩蔽水平的手动测试，以便于比较自动测试和手动测试获得的结果。最终产品将是一套针对每个耳鸣心理声学测量的特定年龄的参考标准，适用于临床和研究样本。测试将在整个3年的资助期内进行。同时，工商业污水附加费将升级为综合触摸屏系统。目前，TES由一台通过USB端口连接到TES模块(方便患者反应的控制设备)的PC计算机组成。需要升级才能更新这项6年多前开发的技术，以进行先前的研究。为了完成此次升级，我们计划将所有组件集成到一个单元中。该单元将包括一个触摸屏工业控制器和当前的TES模块(安装在一个公共机箱内彼此相邻)，以及连接的ER-4B插入式耳机。通过这次升级，目前的技术将提供给进行耳鸣心理声学测试的听力专家，他们使用的是一个经过可靠性验证和测试的全自动系统，以建立对这些措施的标准反应。该项目的实施将产生升级的TES和标准数据，以便于解释个人对耳鸣心理声学测试的反应。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): To conduct this study, 300 individuals who experience chronic tinnitus will be enrolled and stratified by age decades 18-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, 61-70 and 71+ (50 subjects per decade). Each subject will complete testing that will include tinnitus loudness and pitch matching, noise-band matching, forced-choice double staircase, and minimum masking level. Testing for these measures will be accomplished using our automated, self-guided Tinnitus Evaluation System (TES). Subjects will also complete the Tinnitus Functional Index and a visual numeric scale of tinnitus loudness prior to each test session. All testing will be repeated at 1, 3, and 6 months, enabling analyses of test-retest reliability and normal variation of the measures in the absence of intervention. A subset of 60 subjects (10 per age decade) will also perform manual testing of loudness and pitch matching, noise-band matching, and minimum masking level to facilitate a comparison of results obtained with automated versus manual testing. The end product will be a set of age-specific reference standards for each psychoacoustic measure of tinnitus, suitable for application to clinical and research samples. Testing will occur throughout the 3-year funding period. Concurrently, the TES will be upgraded to an integrated touch- screen system. Currently, the TES consists of a PC computer connected via USB port to the TES Module (control device to facilitate patient responses). An upgrade is required to update this technology that was developed over 6 years ago to conduct the previous study. To accomplish this upgrade, we plan to integrate all components into a single unit. The unit will consist of a touch-screen industrial controller and the current TES Module (mounted adjacent to each other within a common enclosure), and attached ER-4B insert earphones. With this upgrade, current technology will be made available to audiologists who perform tinnitus psychoacoustic testing, using a fully-automated system that has been validated for reliability and tested to establish normative responses of the measures. The fulfillment of this project will produce both the upgraded TES and normative data to facilitate interpretation of individual responses to tinnitus psychoacoustic testing.