A new study published in The Journal of Neuroscience (November 10, 2010, 30(45):14972-14979;doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4028-10.2010) considered evidence for the underlying mechanisms of tinnitus.
The abstract is below;to obtain the full article or a subscription to the journal, please visit: www.jneurosci.org
Authors: Larry E. Roberts,1 Jos J. Eggermont,2,3 Donald M. Caspary,4 Susan E. Shore,5,6 Jennifer R. Melcher,7 and James A. Kaltenbach8
1Department of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada,
2Departments of Physiology and Pharmacology and
3Psychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada,
4Department of Pharmacology, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, Illinois 62794-9230,
5Departments of Otolaryngology and
6Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-5616,
7Department of Otology and Laryngology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114-3096, and
8Department of Neurosciences/Head and Neck Institute, The Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland Ohio 44195
Correspondence should be addressed to Larry E. Roberts, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1 Canada. Email: roberts@mcmaster.ca
Tinnitus is a phantom sound (ringing of the ears) that affects quality of life for millions around the world and is associated in most cases with hearing impairment. This symposium will consider evidence that deafferentation of tonotopically organized central auditory structures leads to increased neuron spontaneous firing rates and neural synchrony in the hearing loss region. This region covers the frequency spectrum of tinnitus sounds, which are optimally suppressed following exposure to band-limited noise covering the same frequencies. Cross-modal compensations in subcortical structures may contribute to tinnitus and its modulation by jaw-clenching and eye movements. Yet many older individuals with impaired hearing do not have tinnitus, possibly because age-related changes in inhibitory circuits are better preserved. A brain network involving limbic and other nonauditory regions is active in tinnitus and may be driven when spectrotemporal information conveyed by the damaged ear does not match that predicted by central auditory processing.
Ringing Ears: The Neuroscience of Tinnitus
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