Dr Hashir Aazh interviews Dr Laure Jacquemin, audiologists and researcher from Antwerp University Hospital, Belgium, regarding her upcoming presentation at the 6th International Conference on Hyperacusis and Misophonia which is planned for Friday-Saturday 1-2 July 2022 at Birkbeck College, University of London, London, United Kingdom. Dr Jacquemin’s research aimed to assess the influence of somatic modulation on the perception of external sounds in patients with a primary complaint of hyperacusis. In addition, a secondary objective was to identify which modulations were more likely to cause a change in loudness or intrusiveness of the presented sound. Patients participated in a somatic experiment consisting of six neck movements (flexion, extension, lateroflexion left/right, traction and compression), three jaw movements (protrusion, laterotrusion left/right) and one control movement (hand on head). Looking at the individual results of the participants, it was shown that five patients presented a clinically relevant change of more than three points out of ten on visual analogue scale for hyperacusis loudness or intrusiveness after at least one of the executed somatic modulations.
