Characterization of Tinnitus Through the Analysis of Electroencephalographic Activity

Subjective tinnitus is a symptom associated with the perception of a sound without an external source that generates it. Although its origin is due to a hearing impairment, the perception of this is a brain pathology that causes a decrease in the quality of life of people suffering from it, having significant morbidity. There is no cure, and alternative treatments remain uncertain.
The main objective of the present database was to characterize tinnitus and classify it according to the neuronal electrical response to provide a reliable and replicable accurate measurement that reflected the nature of this symptom.
The experimental paradigm was tested for objective information (in a control group (GC) of 15 participants and a tinnitus group (GA) of 22 participants) where EEG activity was recorded in two states: (1) basal, where the person remained in a state of rest with open eyes; (2) active where the participant had the task of identifying a sound stimulus, within a sound-tinnitus library, by pressing a key. GA had to identify the sound most similar to personal tinnitus. GC had to identify the 3.5kHz sound.

主观耳鸣（Subjective tinnitus）是指患者感知到无外部声源的声音的一类症状。尽管其根源与听觉受损相关，但此类感知实则由脑部病变引发，会显著降低患者的生活质量，并伴随显著的疾病负担。目前尚无根治手段，替代性治疗方案的有效性亦尚未明确。
本数据库的核心研究目标是对耳鸣进行特征表征，并依据神经元电反应完成分类，以获取可靠、可复现的精准测量指标，从而反映该症状的本质属性。
本实验范式针对两组受试者采集客观信息：对照组（control group, GC）共15名参与者，耳鸣组（tinnitus group, GA）共22名参与者。实验中记录了两种状态下的脑电图（Electroencephalogram, EEG）活动：(1) 静息状态：受试者保持睁眼静息；(2) 任务状态：受试者需在声-耳鸣刺激库中识别指定声音刺激并按键作答。其中耳鸣组需识别与自身耳鸣最为相似的声音，对照组则需识别3.5kHz的声音。