Evaluation of central hearing system in the total sleep loss

Background and Aim: It was aimed to investigate the effect of sleep deprivation on selective attention with dichotic listening by evaluating the central auditory system of individuals with total sleep loss using a dichotic listening test battery. In line with this aim, our study aimed to evaluate the effect of total sleep deprivation on the central auditory system. Material and Methods: In our study, 20 volunteers aged 18-45 years with normal hearing and without any neurologic problems were included in the study. Pure tone audiometry, acoustic immitancemetry, auditory brainstem responses (ABR) and dichotic listening tests were performed before total sleep deprivation (after routine sleep) and after total sleep deprivation (24 hours of wakefulness). Results: In the dichotic listening test performed before and after total sleep deprivation, a statistically significant decrease was observed in right ear dichotic listening scores (p=0.043). A decrease was observed in the dichotic listening scores of the left ear, but no statistically significant difference was observed (p>0.05). According to the statistical evaluation of the results of the immitansmetric evaluation, no significant difference was observed between the acoustic reflex thresholds after total sleep deprivation and acoustic reflex thresholds after routine sleep (p>0.05). In the clinical ABR test, no statistically significant difference was found in the latency and amplitude results before and after total sleep deprivation (p>0.05). Conclusion: It has been observed that total sleep deprivation affects auditory discrimination on the central auditory system compared to normal resting states of individuals and accordingly, there is a decrease in the ability of individuals to discriminate what they hear after total sleep deprivation. Keywords: Total insomnia, central auditory system, selective attention, auditory discrimination, dichotic listening Financial Support: The present study was supported by the Research Fund of Trakya University. Project No: 2023/94