Assessment of Contralateral Suppression of Acoustic Reflex Latency Test (CSARLT) among individuals with tinnitus using visual and auditory attention tasks

Abstract Objectives The present study assessed the effectiveness of Contralateral Suppression of Acoustic Reflex Latency Test (CSARLT) in assessing efferent auditory function in patients with tinnitus. The latency parameters were assessed using CSARLT during auditory and visual attention tasks. Design The study included one-time baseline ARLT measurement, CSARLT, CSARLT with a visual attention task, and CSARLT with auditory attention task, across different frequencies. Study sample The study comprised of two groups with 15 subjects each. Control group included participants with normal hearing without tinnitus. The other group included subjects with normal hearing sensitivity or minimal hearing loss with tinnitus in one or both ears. Results With increase in frequency, the control group showed latency prolongation during both attention tasks whereas in tinnitus group, latency prolongation was noticed only during visual attention task ( p < 0.05). Conclusion There are noticeable deficits in auditory efferent system in individuals with tinnitus. Patients with tinnitus exhibit poorer auditory attention than visual attention. Our results indicate that attention may be differentially affected in tinnitus patients, with auditory attention showing relatively greater impairment than visual attention. However, given the exploratory nature of this study, these findings should be interpreted with caution and validated in larger cohorts. The latency changes explained using CSARLT can be a good clinical measure for assessing the function of auditory efferents.