Now We Know What Causes Tinnitus, That Never-Ending Ringing In Your Ears
Written by Kari Paul
September 23, 2015 // 11:15 AM EST
Chronic pain and tinnitus, the incessant ear ringing that affects up to 30 percent of the adult population, may share a common source, new research shows. The finding may bring millions of people who suffer from both conditions a step closer to finding relief.
A study published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences found the “phantom pain” in both disorders often begins as a response to an injury, but continues when a faulty “circuit breaker" in the brain is unable to properly process the pain or noise.
Josef Rauschecker, director of the Laboratory for Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition at GUMC and one of the study’s authors, said the discovery is good news for those affected by both conditions. As of now, neither have direct treatments.
“The next step is ‘how could this be used for finding a cure?’” he said. “That is of course the challenge, but we are hoping to make some progress in the next 5-10 years.”
Rauschecker said brain imaging studies of tinnitus patients showed the condition was related to higher cogenitive and affective brain systems. Meanwhile, separate researchers discovered the same mechanism was involved in chronic pain. Neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center and Germany's Technische Universität München brought the research together for this paper, published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences.
“This is an amazingly rare occurrence of two fields independently coming to the same conclusion,” Rauschecker said.
In the study, researchers traced stimuli through the brain using MRI technology. They compared tinnitus patients with those who did not have tinnitus and found volume loss in the medial prefrontal cortex, an area that plays a role in the limbic system and functions as a “gate” or control area for noise and pain signals that is also associated with depression.
“We expected to find changes in the auditory system, but what really stood out was this significant volume loss in this part of the mPFC,” he said. “This is an area that also lights up when you play unpleasant noises, so it has to do with unpleasant sensations. It was not expected to see something there, but it fit well with previous findings.”
They found the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the nucleus accumbens are part of a “gatekeeping” system that determines which sounds or other stimuli to admit. When the system is defective, affected patients can be subjected to constant stimuli and long-lasting disturbances.
The area is also associated with depression and anxiety, conditions often arise “in lockstep” with chronic pain. Because of this, the researchers are now looking to drugs that regulate that system, like dopamine and serotonin, to restore the gatekeeping role and eliminate the chronic pain, but more research is needed.
“These are disorders that affect us every day, and many millions have them but we won’t be able to cure them unless we understand how they work,” Rauschecker said.
That's good news for all of us that suffer, I was telling my wife the other day that right before I recently had surgery the anesthesiologist popped some medicine into the IV for anxiety and all my background noise vanished among all my other fears that morning. Hopefully there onto something...
Hope Jack Pearson reads this
I had a bout with it 15-25 years ago. It wasn't too bad. I noticed it at night when lying in bed. Sometimes I couldn't go to sleep. After a few years luckily, it just about went completely bye, bye. Once in a rare while it comes back mildly, but then goes away. I wondered if it was caused from playing music in bands, and from the trusty ol' stereo booming like a bastard.
Well this is encouraging for those of us who suffer from tinnitus. Although I sleep well with a fan on to buffer the ringing I am always nervous when trying to enjoy live bands or my favourite music. I'm always concerned that it may become unbearable and depressing. It now taints my enjoyment of music. I have turned down some great trips to see live bands. I do have some pro earplugs but remain very wary. I would love permanent relief from this ringing.
Thanks for posting this information. There is hope after all.
Well this is encouraging for those of us who suffer from tinnitus. Although I sleep well with a fan on to buffer the ringing I am always nervous when trying to enjoy live bands or my favourite music. I'm always concerned that it may become unbearable and depressing. It now taints my enjoyment of music. I have turned down some great trips to see live bands. I do have some pro earplugs but remain very wary. I would love permanent relief from this ringing.
Thanks for posting this information. There is hope after all.
Hello there Paul....:)
Being a tinnitus sufferer, I am always interested in any new developments from any current research into trying to find a cure.
Thanks to LeglizHemp for the article ...:)
you're welcome. I remember an earlier thread and all the people that suffer from this. my ex had it and I remember how much it bothered her.
I've had issues with tinnitus for several years now. Mine is the constant high-pitched ringing "tone."
Loud music was an activator, of course, but also too much caffeine would send the sound to the upper limits.
I've always had issues with allergies and clogged Eustachian tubes, and clogged tubes along with fluid behind the eardrum can have a huge effect on tinnitus.
The important thing about tinnitus is that it is not a source condition...it is a reaction/symptom of something. Research has been done for decades now. Last time I checked, there are no less than 84 conditions that list tinnitus as a symptom or reaction.
Earlier this year, I had such allergy issues that my head literally filled up, causing vertigo and dissociation. The tinnitus was truly getting maddening, and after years of loud music (most "damage" done with headphones and ear buds), I was thinking that it was time for a comprehensive, clinical soundbooth hearing test.
Had to wait a few months for it, but I went and had a complete test performed by an ENT doc. I had some anxiety over the possibility of hearing loss and only being in my mid-40s.
The technology used for the test was quite impressive, showing everything from hertz levels to pressure levels and much, much more. You think your ears ring? Sit in a soundproof booth all alone with it! Yikes!
So, we got done and...to my surprise, my actual hearing? Perfect. She rated my hearing capability to that of a child, as in no hearing loss at all...even with having constant tinnitus.
I was so relieved I promptly put on headphones and cranked the Iron Maiden to 11. No, just kidding.
What she did tell me, though, was a bit sobering..."We know that you don't have hearing loss. My tools here can tell me if you have issues with hearing loss. Sometimes people with hearing loss have tinnitus because, let's say someone's hearing level is at 80%. The brain, always wanting to help us, wants us to always be at 100%, so it will 'fill' the 20% gap with a sound. Sometimes a tone, a hum or a whooshing sound. In your case, though, you'll have to work on trying to isolate triggers...maybe not causes, but at least triggers."
I do know that increase in allergy congestion plays a big part for me, but everyone is different.
I do strongly urge anyone who fears hearing loss goes and has a full auditory response soundbooth test performed by an ENT. My ears are ringing right now, but I can't tell you the sense of relief knowing that I'm currently not going deaf. Well, not yet at least...;)
