An unexpected loud sound can elicit an acoustic startle reflex and potentially cause a temporary threshold shift (TTS) for hearing and noise-induced tinnitus for a short period of time. This occurs, for example, with the high-amplitude noise burst that accompanies a bright light and impulsive force when police or military use a "flashbang" grenade to temporarily disable or confuse an adversary....
✦ The floor
Discussion
Signed responses from readers of the wire.
Pilot data only with a small sample — no actionable clinical change; results should inform future study design rather than current practice.
Understanding how startle responses, temporary hearing shifts, and tinnitus independently degrade spatial hearing and speech recognition could improve noise-exposure risk models and hearing conservation protocols.
- 01Pilot study published in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA).
- 02Three conditions tested: acoustic startle, simulated temporary threshold shift, and simulated tinnitus.
- 03Outcomes measured: sound localization accuracy and word recognition performance.
- 04Small pilot design limits generalizability; findings are hypothesis-generating.
- 05Published DOI: 10.1121/10.0044264.
Acoustic startle, simulated temporary threshold shift, and simulated tinnitus each impair sound localization and/or word recognition performance.
studypartially supported- PMID
- 42439523
- DOI
- 10.1121/10.0044264.
- Journal
- Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 4
- Population
- Participants exposed to experimentally simulated auditory conditions (acoustic startle, temporary threshold shift, tinnitus)
- Intervention
- Acoustic startle reflex induction, simulated temporary threshold shift, simulated tinnitus
- Comparator
- Baseline / normal hearing conditions
Primary outcomes
Sound localization accuracy; Word recognition performance