The Relevance of Interoception in Chronic Tinnitus: Analyzing Interoceptive Sensibility and Accuracy.

In order to better understand tinnitus and distress associated with tinnitus, psychological variables such as emotional and cognitive processing are a central element in theoretical models of this debilitating condition. Interoception, that is, the perception of internal processes, may be such a psychological factor relevant to tinnitus. Against this background, 20 participants suffering from chronic tinnitus and 20 matched healthy controls were tested with questionnaires, assessing interoceptive sensibility, and participated in two tasks, assessing interoceptive accuracy: the Schandry task, a heartbeat estimation assignment, and a skin conductance fluctuations perception task assessing the participants' ability to perceive phasic increases in sympathetic activation were used.