Phantom sensations and sensory hypersensitivity are disordered perceptions that characterize a variety of intractable conditions involving the somatosensory, visual, and auditory modalities. We report physiological correlates of two perceptual abnormalities in the auditory domain: tinnitus, the phantom perception of sound, and hyperacusis, a decreased tolerance of sound based on loudness. Here,...

OBJECTIVES To systematically review studies of the epidemiology of tinnitus and hyperacusis in children and young people, in order to determine the methodological differences implicated in the variability of prevalence estimates and the influence of population characteristics on childhood tinnitus and hyperacusis. DATA SOURCES Articles were retrieved from PubMed, EMBASE and Scopus databases a...

Tinnitus is the chronic perception of ringing or other phantom sounds. Some tinnitus patients additionally suffer from loudness hyperacusis that is the over-sensitivity to environmental sounds. Here, we recruited eight patients with unilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, among which four also have loudness hyperacusis. For every patient, the audiogram was acquired by measuring the audible thresh...

There has been a recent surge of interest in the development of animal models of hyperacusis, a condition in which tolerance to sounds of moderate and high intensities is diminished. The reasons for this decreased tolerance are likely multifactorial, but some major factors that contribute to hyperacusis are increased loudness perception and heightened sensitivity and/or responsiveness to sound....

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy of a minimally invasive surgical procedure in patients with severe hyperacusis. STUDY DESIGN Prospective, longitudinal design. SETTING Tertiary referral center. PATIENTS Adult patients with history of severe hyperacusis. INTERVENTION Using a transcanal approach, the round and oval window was reinforced with temporalis fascia or tragal perichondrium in ...

We describe a case of a 67-year-old woman with severe disabling right-sided tinnitus, mild hyperacusis, and headache. The tinnitus was associated with sudden right hearing loss and vertigo, which occurred about 18 months before. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) resulted in normal anatomical structures of the cochlea and of the cranial nerves showing a partial empty sella syndrome with suprasell...