People suffering from tinnitus, a condition of persistent
ringing in the ears, process emotions differently from those with normal
hearing, as per researchers.
Patients afflicted with tinnitus constantly hear noises that
are not actually present. These
illusory noises are not speech, but rather whooshing noises, train whistles,
cricket noises or whines.
Tinnitus
Tinnitus is the perception of ringing, hissing, or other sound within the ears when no corresponding external sound is present.
Advertisement
The severity of noises differs from one day to another.
In US alone, nearly 50 million people struggle with tinnitus
that include many combat veterans.
The most common cause of tinnitus is noise-induced hearing loss. Increased stress, depression, anxiety, irritability which are linked to brain's emotional processing systems also can cause tinnitus.
![Tinnitus Symptom Evaluation]( "Tinnitus Symptom Evaluation")
Tinnitus is a ringing or a swishing noise that emanates from the ear or head. It is not a life-threatening condition and usually resolves with time.
"Obviously, when you hear annoying noises constantly that you can't control, it may affect your emotional processing systems," University of Illinois speech and hearing science professor Fatima Husain said. "But when I looked at experimental work done on tinnitus and emotional processing, especially brain imaging work, there hadn't been much research published."
She used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans to determine the effects of tinnitus on the brain's emotion processing systems. The scans visualized those areas of the brain that respond to stimulation depending on blood flow to those areas.
The study subjects included three groups of people - those with mild-to-moderate hearing loss and mild tinnitus, those with mild-to-moderate hearing loss without tinnitus and a control group of same-age people with neither hearing loss nor tinnitus.
Each participant was made to listen to a standardized set of 30 emotionally pleasant, 30 unpleasant and 30 neutral sounds (for example, a baby laughing, a woman screaming and a water bottle opening). Then, they were asked to press a button to classify each sound as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral.
The study revealed the tinnitus and normal-hearing people's response to emotion-provoking noises was quicker than their response to neutral sounds. The reacting time of people with hearing loss was similar in all cases.
The overall finding was the people with tinnitus reacted slower than people with normal hearing.
Husain also found to his astonishment that activity in the amygdala (emotional processing part of the brain) was reduced in the tinnitus and hearing-loss group than in the normal-hearing group. But, tinnitus group exhibited increased activity in the parahippocampus and the insula, two other regions of the brain, than normal-hearing people.
"We thought that because people with tinnitus constantly hear a bothersome, unpleasant stimulus, they would have an even higher amount of activity in the amygdala when hearing these sounds, but it was lesser," Husain said. "Because they've had to adjust to the sound, some plasticity in the brain has occurred. They have had to reduce this amygdala activity and reroute it to other parts of the brain because the amygdala cannot be active all the time due to this annoying sound."
Husain called tinnitus a communication and a quality-of-life issue.
She stressed the need to realize how they could get better in the clinical realm and the need to create awareness among audiologists and clinicians in this issue so that they could better serve their patients.
The research was reported in the journal Brain Research.
Source: Medindia
The most common cause of tinnitus is noise-induced hearing loss. Increased stress, depression, anxiety, irritability which are linked to brain's emotional processing systems also can cause tinnitus.
Tinnitus Symptom Evaluation
Tinnitus is a ringing or a swishing noise that emanates from the ear or head. It is not a life-threatening condition and usually resolves with time.
Advertisement
"Obviously, when you hear annoying noises constantly that you can't control, it may affect your emotional processing systems," University of Illinois speech and hearing science professor Fatima Husain said. "But when I looked at experimental work done on tinnitus and emotional processing, especially brain imaging work, there hadn't been much research published."
She used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans to determine the effects of tinnitus on the brain's emotion processing systems. The scans visualized those areas of the brain that respond to stimulation depending on blood flow to those areas.
The study subjects included three groups of people - those with mild-to-moderate hearing loss and mild tinnitus, those with mild-to-moderate hearing loss without tinnitus and a control group of same-age people with neither hearing loss nor tinnitus.
Each participant was made to listen to a standardized set of 30 emotionally pleasant, 30 unpleasant and 30 neutral sounds (for example, a baby laughing, a woman screaming and a water bottle opening). Then, they were asked to press a button to classify each sound as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral.
The study revealed the tinnitus and normal-hearing people's response to emotion-provoking noises was quicker than their response to neutral sounds. The reacting time of people with hearing loss was similar in all cases.
The overall finding was the people with tinnitus reacted slower than people with normal hearing.
Husain also found to his astonishment that activity in the amygdala (emotional processing part of the brain) was reduced in the tinnitus and hearing-loss group than in the normal-hearing group. But, tinnitus group exhibited increased activity in the parahippocampus and the insula, two other regions of the brain, than normal-hearing people.
"We thought that because people with tinnitus constantly hear a bothersome, unpleasant stimulus, they would have an even higher amount of activity in the amygdala when hearing these sounds, but it was lesser," Husain said. "Because they've had to adjust to the sound, some plasticity in the brain has occurred. They have had to reduce this amygdala activity and reroute it to other parts of the brain because the amygdala cannot be active all the time due to this annoying sound."
Husain called tinnitus a communication and a quality-of-life issue.
She stressed the need to realize how they could get better in the clinical realm and the need to create awareness among audiologists and clinicians in this issue so that they could better serve their patients.
The research was reported in the journal Brain Research.
Source: Medindia
Advertisement
 Mechanism That Causes Noise-induced Tinnitus and Drug That can Prevent It Found By Pitt TeamAccording to a new study, an epilepsy drug shows promise in an animal model at preventing tinnitus from developing after exposure to loud noise. | Advertisement
|
Advertisement
Recommended Readings
Latest Research News
New study sheds light on the intrinsic, yet often overlooked, role of sleep preparation as a hardwired survival strategy.
Microgravity-induced bone loss in space, can be reduced by systemic delivery of NELL-1, a protein required for bone growth and its maintenance.
Researchers establish connections between Alzheimer's-linked genetic alterations and the functioning of brain cells.
Team at NeuroRestore introduces a groundbreaking gene therapy that has effectively promoted nerve regrowth and reconnection, post spinal cord injury.
Scientists aim to pinpoint particular functional pathways affected by these bacteria that may have an impact on skeletal health.
