Pure-tone auditory thresholds are decreased in depressed people with post-traumatic stress disorder.
BACKGROUND
Depression has been related to sensory modulation and notably to auditory modifications such as alterations in auditory event-related potentials, abnormal patterns of auditory habituation, increased activation of primary and secondary auditory cortex, and higher bilateral auditory thresholds. However, few experiments have considered the exploration of the auditory system in depression. The aim of the experiment is to further explore auditory thresholds across a higher number of frequencies than has previously been undertaken in depressed subjects, to determine whether thresholds are modified as compared to controls, and if so, at which frequencies.


METHODS
25 pure-tones covering a large range of frequencies from 125Hz to 8kHz were used to measure both air and bone conduction (AC and BC respectively) hearing thresholds. 13 patients with depression and post-traumatic disorder matched for age, sex and education level with 13 healthy subjects, were tested.


RESULTS
Hearing thresholds were found to be significantly poorer in depressed participants than in controls for frequencies from 2.75Hz to 8kHz in BC, and for 0.5, 0.75, 0.875 and 2.0-8.0kHz pure-tone frequencies in AC.


CONCLUSIONS
Given that the depressed patients also had comorbid post-traumatic disorder, it should be verified whether their modified pure-tone audiometry is only related to depression.


CONCLUSIONS
The AC and BC pure-tone auditory threshold measurement may provide new and different insights into the aetiology and evolution of depression.
Aubert-Khalfa
Stéphanie
S
INCM, UMR CNRS 6193, University of the Mediterranean, Aix Marseille II, CIC-UPCET, CHU Timone, Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Marseille, Marseille Cedex 5, France. Stephanie.Aubert-Khalfa@ap-hm.fr
Granier
Jean-Pierre
JP
Reynaud
Emmanuelle
E
El Khoury
Myriam
M
Grosse
Eva-Maria
EM
Samuelian
Jean-Claude
JC
Blin
Olivier
O
D000328:Adult; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D001309:Auditory Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D001844:Bone Conduction / Q000502:physiology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*