The Variability in Potential Biomarkers for Cochlear Synaptopathy After Recreational Noise Exposure

• Published in: Journal of speech, language, and hearing research Vol. 64; no. 12; pp. 4964 - 4981
• Main Authors: Maele, Tine Vande, Keshishzadeh, Sarineh, Poortere, Nele De, Dhooge, Ingeborg, Keppler, Hannah, Verhulst, Sarah
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Speech-Language-Hearing Association 01.12.2021
• Subjects: Acoustics; Analysis; Audiometric Tests; Audiometry; Audiometry, Pure-Tone; Auditory Tests; Auditory Threshold - physiology; Biological markers; Biomarkers; Clinical Diagnosis; Cochlea; Coding; Comprehension; Correlation; Deafness, Noise induced; Diagnosis; Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem - physiology; Evoked responses; Hearing; Hearing Impairments; Hearing loss; Hearing protection; Hearing tests; Humans; Intelligibility; Learning; Measurement Techniques; Music; Music Activities; Music festivals; Noise; Pathophysiology; Recreation; Recreational Activities; Reproducibility of Results; Risk factors; Speech; Speech Communication; Test validity and reliability; Tinnitus; Word Recognition; Young Adult; Young Adults; Belgium
• ISSN: 1092-4388; 1558-9102; 1558-9102
• DOI: 10.1044/2021_JSLHR-21-00064

Purpose: Speech-in-noise tests and suprathreshold auditory evoked potentials are promising biomarkers to diagnose cochlear synaptopathy (CS) in humans. This study investigated whether these biomarkers changed after recreational noise exposure. Method: The baseline auditory status of 19 normal-hearing young adults was analyzed using questionnaires, pure-tone audiometry, speech audiometry, and auditory evoked potentials. Nineteen subjects attended a music festival and completed the same tests again at Day 1, Day 3, and Day 5 after the music festival. Results: No significant relations were found between lifetime noise-exposure history and the hearing tests. Changes in biomarkers from the first session to the follow-up sessions were nonsignificant, except for speech audiometry, which showed a significant learning effect (performance improvement). Conclusions: Despite the individual variability in prefestival biomarkers, we did not observe changes related to the noise-exposure dose caused by the attended event. This can indicate the absence of noise exposure-driven CS in the study cohort, or reflect that biomarkers were not sensitive enough to detect mild CS. Future research should include a more diverse study cohort, dosimetry, and results from test-retest reliability studies to provide more insight into the relationship between recreational noise exposure and CS.