RESEARCH FROM AROUND THE WORLD


continued from Page 19 Research Round-Up 2012: What’s New from Around the Globe


the loudness of the tinnitus. Theoretical considerations also suggest an impact of the age at tinnitus onset pos- sibly influencing tinnitus distress.


Methods: This assumption was tested using a sample of 755 normal hearing tinnitus patients. Clinical and demographic data on all participants were combined with self-reported data from a questionnaire on the amount of tinnitus distress.


Results: The average age of tinnitus onset was 42.4 years and the average tinnitus distress score was 11.5. A step- wise regression analysis was conducted to investigate associations between the two. Patients with an earlier onset of tinnitus suffer significantly less than patients with an onset later in life. Furthermore, patients with a later onset of tinnitus describe their course of tinnitus distress as more abrupt and distressing right from the beginning. The possible cause for this is the decline of compensatory brain plasticity as people age.


Why it’s important: Every bit of human information gleaned about tinnitus and how it impacts a person directly helps to support basic research studies. Imaging studies for example, are examining the role of the brain in tinnitus perception, manifestation and the role of plasticity.


Tinnitus Does Not Require Macroscopic Tonotopic Map Reorganization6


Objectives: The pathophysiology underlying tinnitus has been related to irregular plastic reorganization of the central auditory system. More specifically, tinnitus is thought to involve changes in the tonotopic represen- tation of sound. This study aims to determine if that is accurate.


Methods: Using high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging researchers created tonotopic maps of the auditory cortex of 20 near-normal hearing tinnitus patients. This data was then compared to equivalent outcomes from 20 healthy controls with matched hear- ing thresholds. Using a dedicated experimental para- digm and data-driven analysis techniques, multiple tonotopic gradients could be robustly distinguished in both hemispheres, arranged in a pattern consistent with previous findings.


Results: Maps were not found to significantly differ between the two groups in any way. In particular, no evidence was found for an overrepresentation of high sound frequencies matching the tinnitus pitch. Results


20 Tinnitus Today | Summer 2012


suggest that macroscopic tonotopic reorganization in the auditory cortex is not required for the emergence of tinnitus and is not typical for tinnitus that accompa- nies normal to mild hearing loss.


Why it’s important: Knowing that tinnitus does not require this kind of reorganization to emerge as a con- dition is helpful to research scientists who are aiming to develop novel treatments for tinnitus. If we know that tinnitus does not begin this way, we know that therapies aimed at reorganizing these maps are not the reason they are successful. These results show that there must be another mechanism responsible for tinnitus manifestation. 1


2


Clinical Psychological Science, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands, Cima RF, Maes IH, Joore MA, Scheyen DJ, El Refaie A, Baguley DM, Anteunis LJ, van Breukelen GJ, Vlaeyen JW.


3 Ear Hear. 2012 May 17 Tyler RS, Noble B, Coelho CB, Ji H. 4 J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2012 May 23 Han SS, Nam EC, Won JY, Lee KU, Chun W,


Choi HK, Levine RA. 5


PLoS One. 2011;6(11):e27379. Epub 2011 Nov 18. Winfried Schlee, Tobias Kleinjung,


Wolfgang Hiller, Gerhard Goebel, Iris-Tatjana Kolassa, and Berthold Langguth. 6


Langers DRM, de Kleine E and van Dijk P (2012) Tinnitus does not require macroscopic tonotopic map reorganization. Front. Syst. Neurosci. 6:2. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2012.00002.


Ear Hear. 2012 Mar-Apr;33(2):153-76. Meikle MB, Henry JA, Griest SE, Stewart BJ, Abrams HB, McArdle R, Myers PJ, Newman CW, Sandridge S, Turk DC, Folmer RL,Frederick EJ, House JW, Jacobson GP, Kinney SE, Martin WH, Nagler SM, Reich GE, Searchfield G, Sweetow R, Vernon JA.


Advertisement — ATA does not endorse or recommend any tinnitus products or treatments.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32