A new study found that tinnitus, that ringing in the ears without an external noise, affects almost all areas of the brain.
Tinnitus is not normally a serious problem but people find it really annoying. Doctors believe that the ringing is a symptom of an underlying condition such as hearing loss, ear injury, foreign objects in the ear and circulatory system problems. There is no direct treatment for the condition so doctors usually focus the treatment on the underlying causes or recommend methods that can suppress the ringing sound such as white noise or hearing aids.
Will Sedley of Newcastle University and Phillip Gander of the University of Iowa worked together to monitor the brain activity of the brain of a 50-year-old male participant who regularly experiences tinnitus in both ears. They wanted to know what happens to the brain when tinnitus attacks.
Their observation showed that during the episode of tinnitus, the brain registered an unusual activity that travels to other areas of the brain. Contrary to earlier belief, tinnitus does not originate from a specific brain region but from various areas.
"We now know that tinnitus is represented very differently in the brain to normal sounds, even ones that sound the same, and therefore these cannot necessarily be used as the basis for understanding tinnitus or targeting treatment," Sedley said in a news release.
"The sheer amount of the brain across which the tinnitus network is present suggests that tinnitus may not simply 'fill in' the 'gap' left by hearing damage, but also actively infiltrates beyond this into wider brain systems," Gander added.
The finding of the study provided insight into why treatments such as brain stimulations and neurofeedback are not enough to fully cure the condition. The researchers hope that the study can pave way for the development of more effective treatments for tinnitus.
According to the Hearing Health Foundation, up to 50 million people in the United States experience tinnitus but only 16 million seek medical attention. About 90 percent of the cases occur with hearing loss.
The study was published in the April 23 issue of Current Biology.
