CASE REPORT article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Psychopharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1614500
Potential of Pharmacological Treatment for Auditory Abnormal Sensations with Aripiprazole: A Report of Two Cases
Provisionally accepted
- Tokai University Isehara Hospital, Isehara, Japan
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Auditory abnormal sensations encompass various subjective auditory symptoms such as tinnitus, hyperacusis, aural fullness, autophony, dysacusis, pseudo-hallucinations, and misophonia. Although tinnitus management typically includes lifestyle counseling and sound therapy, there remains no established treatment for symptoms like aural fullness or pseudohallucinations with unknown etiology. In cases where central sensory processing abnormalities or emotional instability are suspected, psychotropic medications may offer benefit. We report two cases in which aripiprazole, an atypical antipsychotic, was effective in treating such symptoms. In both cases, traditional approaches such as antidepressants and supportive therapy were insufficient, but aripiprazole led to marked improvement in subjective auditory symptoms. These cases suggest a potential role for pharmacological modulation of central sensory and emotional regulation in patients with auditory abnormal sensations. One involved a man with phonophobia and aural fullness, and the other a woman with tinnitus and pseudo-hallucinations.
Keywords: Auditory Abnormal Sensations, aripiprazole, Pseudo-hallucinations, phonophobia, Central sensory processing dysfunction
Received: 19 Apr 2025; Accepted: 13 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Goto, Kaneda, Okami and Wasano. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Fumiyuki Goto, Tokai University Isehara Hospital, Isehara, Japan
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