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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Tim GriffithsORCiD
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© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com. BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS: Patients with hearing impairment (HI) may experience hearing sounds without external sources, ranging from random meaningless noises (tinnitus) to music and other auditory hallucinations (AHs) with meaningful qualities. To ensure appropriate assessment and management, clinicians need to be aware of these phenomena. However, sensory impairment studies have shown that such clinical awareness is low. STUDY DESIGN: An online survey was conducted investigating awareness of AHs among clinicians and their opinions about these hallucinations. STUDY RESULTS: In total, 125 clinicians (68.8% audiologists; 18.4% Ear-Nose-Throat [ENT] specialists) across 10 countries participated in the survey. The majority (96.8%) was at least slightly aware of AHs in HI. About 69.6% of participants reported encountering patients with AHs less than once every 6 months in their clinic. Awareness was significantly associated with clinicians' belief that patients feel anxious about their hallucinations (β = .018, t(118) = 2.47, P < .01), their belief that clinicians should be more aware of these hallucinations (β =.018, t(118) = 2.60, P < .01), and with confidence of clinicians in their skills to assess them (β = .017, t(118) = 2.63, P < .01). Clinicians felt underequipped to treat AHs (Median = 31; U = 1838; PFDRadj < .01). CONCLUSIONS: Awareness of AHs among the surveyed clinicians was high. Yet, the low frequency of encounters with hallucinating patients and their belief in music as the most commonly perceived sound suggest unreported cases. Clinicians in this study expressed a lack of confidence regarding the assessment and treatment of AHs and welcome more information.
Author(s): Marschall TM, van Dijk P, Kluk K, Koops S, Linszen MMJ, Griffiths TD, Toh WL, Malicka AN, Kovacic D, Mulert C, Sommer IEC, Curcic-Blake B
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Schizophrenia Bulletin
Year: 2023
Volume: 49
Issue: Supplement_1
Pages: S33-S40
Print publication date: 01/03/2023
Online publication date: 25/02/2023
Acceptance date: 02/04/2018
ISSN (print): 0586-7614
ISSN (electronic): 1745-1701
Publisher: Oxford University Press
URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbac034
DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbac034
PubMed id: 36840541
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