Competing Views on Abnormal Auditory Results After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injury affects the lives of millions of Americans. Within audiology, there is general agreement that mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) can result in long-term auditory processing deficits. However, this agreement is not shared across disciplines. In this paper, recent studies on the effects of MTBI on auditory function are reviewed in the context of competing opinions on the interpretation of neurosensory deficits after MTBI. Three hypotheses are presented that explain auditory test results as they relate to post-traumatic stress disorder, subtle cognitive deficits resulting from MTBI, and physiological damage to temporal processing in the auditory system.