A Comparison of Reaction Times to Tinnitus and Nontinnitus Frequencies

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Abstract
Reaction time (RT) to auditory stimuli has been suggested as a measure of loudness recruitment in humans and in subhuman primates. In this investigation, RT's were obtained for hearing-impaired subjects with tinnitus (the experimental group) and normal-hearing subjects without tinnitus (the control group) to three sets of frequencies. For the experimental group, these were the tinnitus frequencies (associated with abnormal thresholds), nontinnitus frequencies with thresholds similar to the thresholds of the tinnitus frequencies, and nontinnitus frequencies with thresholds within normal limits. For the control group, these frequencies were all associated with thresholds within normal limits. The only significant difference for RT's for the experimental group versus the control group was to the tinnitus frequencies. There were no significant differences for RT's for the control group among the three sets of frequencies. However, for the experimental group, RT's to each of the three sets of frequencies differed significantly from each other. This study suggests that the measurement of RT's to auditory stimuli provides an objective measure of tinnitus, a means for comparing human and subhuman data on tinnitus, a method for determining recruitment, and a possible technique for mapping areas of tinnitus.

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