Altered Neural Pitch Encoding in Vestibular Schwannoma: Evidence From Frequency-Following Responses

Vestibular schwannomas (VSs) frequently cause hearing dysfunction, yet standard clinical assessments may not fully capture neural processing deficits. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether unilateral VS impairs neural encoding of speech sounds, as measured by frequency-following responses (FFRs), beyond hearing loss alone.

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Standard audiometric testing may underestimate neural processing deficits in vestibular schwannoma patients; audiologists managing these patients should consider electrophysiological measures like FFR to more fully characterize auditory neural function.

If confirmed in larger studies, these findings could shift clinical assessment protocols for vestibular schwannoma to include electrophysiological neural encoding measures beyond conventional audiograms.

1. 01Frequency-following responses (FFRs) reveal altered neural pitch encoding in vestibular schwannoma patients.
2. 02Neural pitch processing deficits were present even when standard clinical hearing tests appeared near-normal.
3. 03Published in Journal of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery.
4. 04Findings suggest conventional audiometric assessments systematically underestimate the degree of auditory neural damage in this population.
5. 05FFR is a non-invasive electrophysiological test not yet routinely used in standard vestibular schwannoma workup.

PMID

42929489

DOI

10.1177/19160216261477315.

Journal

Journal of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery

Publication type

research_article

Evidence level

4

Population

Patients diagnosed with vestibular schwannoma (benign tumor of the hearing-balance nerve)

Intervention

Frequency-following response (FFR) electrophysiological assessment of neural pitch encoding