Gender differentiates effects of acoustic stimulation in patients with tinnitus

Abstract

Gender constitutes a major factor to consider when tailoring subtype-based therapies for tinnitus. Previous reports showed important differences between men and women concerning basic perceptual tinnitus characteristics (i.e., laterality, frequency, tinnitus loudness) as well as psychological reactions linked to this condition. Therapeutic approaches based on acoustic stimulation involve processes beyond a pure masking effect and consist of sound presentation temporarily altering or alleviating tinnitus perception via residual and/or lateral inhibition mechanisms. Presented stimuli may include pure tones, noise, and music adjusted to or modulated to filter out tinnitus pitch and therefore trigger reparative functional and structural changes in the auditory system. Furthermore, recent findings suggest that in tonal tinnitus, the presentation of pitch-adjusted sounds which were altered by a 10Hz modulation of amplitude was more efficient than unmodulated stimulation. In this paper, we investigate sex differences in the outcome of different variants of acoustic stimulation, looking for factors revealing predictive value in the efficiency of tinnitus relief.

Keywords: Acoustic stimulation; Alpha; Amplitude modulation; Auditory; Gender; Notched music; Sex differences; Sound therapy; Tinnitus; Tinnitus treatment.