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Related Experiment Videos

Tinnitus and its effect on working memory and attention.

Susan Rossiter1, Catherine Stevens, Gary Walker

  • 1MARCS Auditory Laboratories, University of Western Sydney, South Penrith, New South Wales, Australia.

Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research : JSLHR
|March 15, 2006
PubMed
Summary

Continual attention to tinnitus depletes cognitive resources, impacting performance on demanding tasks. This study confirms that tinnitus reduces cognitive capacity, not solely due to anxiety.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Audiology

Background:

  • Tinnitus is a prevalent condition often associated with subjective complaints of cognitive interference.
  • The cognitive load imposed by tinnitus has been theorized but not consistently demonstrated through objective performance measures.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether the constant attentional focus on tinnitus consumes cognitive resources.
  • To determine if performance deficits in individuals with tinnitus are linked to task demands requiring controlled processing and not solely anxiety.

Main Methods:

  • Two experiments were conducted with 19 participants experiencing chronic tinnitus and a matched control group.
  • Participants completed auditory verbal working-memory and visual divided-attention tasks under varying cognitive loads.

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Main Results:

  • The tinnitus group exhibited a significantly shorter reading span compared to the control group.
  • In a dual-task scenario, the tinnitus group showed slower reaction times and reduced accuracy under high cognitive load.
  • Anxiety levels did not account for the observed performance differences between groups.

Conclusions:

  • Objective performance measures support the subjective experience of tinnitus as a cognitive distractor.
  • Tinnitus appears to reduce available cognitive capacity for tasks demanding voluntary, effortful, and strategic control.
  • Further research is recommended to explore the impact of severe tinnitus and co-occurring hearing loss on cognition.