Neuro-Psychological differences between the unilateral and bilateral tinnitus participants with normal hearing.

This paper attempts to describe the neuropsychological differences between subgroups of tinnitus with normal hearing.The study compared 150 normal-hearing participants with and without tinnitus in the 18-55 age group. The participants completed nine neuropsychological tests, namely; Reys auditory verbal learning test (RAVLT), Rey complex figure test (RCFT), digit vigilance test (DVT), Verbal N backtest (N Back), Controlled oral word association test (COWA), Animal names test (ANT), Digit Symbol Substitution test (DSST), Wechsler digit span test (DST) and Stroop test.Poor verbal memory was demonstrated by a unilateral tinnitus group (p= 0.0001 for the total RAVLT score, immediate score, delayed recall, hits, and omissions). Significant deficits were observed in working memory functioning by the unilateral and bilateral tinnitus participants (p<0.001) for 1back and two back hit and error scores). In addition, there was a significant impairment in the auditory attention of single-sided tinnitus participants (p <0.03.0.02). Selective attention was affected in bilateral tinnitus participants(p<0.05).Tinnitus, whether unilateral or bilateral, disrupts the working memory. However, the results of RAVLT and DST indicated that unilateral tinnitus showed significant weakness in auditory memory and auditory attention and selective attention deficits were prevalent in bilateral tinnitus. These findings must be considered when planning the therapeutic management of patients with unilateral and bilateral tinnitus.