Auditory illusions and Post-traumatic stress disorder: Sound test in a case-control study

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a prevalent and disabling disorder with a high degree of comorbidity. Clinical studies have focused on hallucinations, which could be associated with the severity of the disorder and treatment resistance. Auditory illusions have received little attention so far, possibly because they are particularly difficult to assess. However, they may impact functioning, and underdiagnosis could impair prognosis. To provide a clearer understanding of PTSD psychopathology, this paper proposes to focus on these auditory illusions. A monocentric case-control study was conducted on 30 subjects with PTSD and 30 controls, based on an original design. False recognitions were estimated during a sound test created with a vocoder. Additionally, differences in emotional valence, dissociation, hyperarousal, and reliving were assessed. The study found that individuals with PTSD experience a higher frequency of auditory illusions compared to healthy controls (65% versus 20%, p < 0.001). Additionally, the emotional valence of these illusions was more negative in individuals with PTSD than in controls. The study also identified a correlation between dissociation symptoms, hyperarousal and reliving with auditory illusions. These findings are in line with neurobiological studies of PTSD, as well as cognitive predictive models, and support the hypothesis of a significant prevalence of auditory illusions in PTSD. Like hallucinations, auditory illusions may be influenced by dissociation. Although these results are preliminary, they suggest a need for further investigation into auditory illusions in PTSD and their effect on prognosis.