Re: Brain scans do not capture all forms of tinnitus .....

[Martin Braun <nombraun@xxxxxxxxx>]

An important aspect of tinnitus has not yet been mentioned. While the
original causes vary widely, the most proximate cause is always the same:
local neural over-excitation.

As almost anywhere in brains, local neural over-excitation is often caused
by down-regulation of normal inhibitory circuits.

Considering these relations it will be easier to understand why tinnitus
often is weakly related to hearing disorders, or why the placebo effect
appears to be the strongest component in probably all tinnitus therapies.

There is plenty of research literature on the role of disinhibition in
tinnitus. A recent report is this one:

Sun W, Lu J, Stolzberg D, Gray L, Deng A, Lobarinas E, Salvi RJ. Salicylate
increases the gain of the central auditory system. Neuroscience. 2009 Mar
3;159(1):325-34. Epub 2008 Dec 24.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19154777?ordinalpos=2&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Tinnitus might perhaps best be regarded as a special case of a very
widespread and very modern general pathology: neuronal breakdown in coping
with informational overload.

Martin

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Martin Braun
Neuroscience of Music
S-671 95 Klässbol
Sweden
web site: http://w1.570.telia.com/~u57011259/index.htm




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Matt Flax" <flatmax@xxxxxxxx>
To: <AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, October 10, 2009 5:27 AM
Subject: Brain scans do not capture all forms of tinnitus ... Re: AUDITORY
Digest - 6 Oct 2009 to 7 Oct 2009 (#2009-230)