Studies point to new understanding of phantom noises in the ear
By Kate Murphy
Published: April 2, 2008
Modern life is loud. The jolting buzz of an alarm clock awakens the
ears to a daily din of trucks idling, sirens blaring, televisions
droning, computers pinging and phones ringing – not to mention
refrigerators humming and air-conditioners thrumming. But for the
millions who suffer from severe tinnitus, the phantom tones inside
their head are louder than anything else.
Often caused by prolonged or sudden exposure to loud noises, tinnitus
is becoming an increasingly common complaint, particularly among
soldiers returning from combat, users of portable music players, and
aging baby boomers reared on rock ‘n’ roll. Other causes include
stress, some kinds of chemotherapy, head and neck trauma, sinus
infections, and multiple sclerosis.
Although there is no cure, researchers say they have never had a
better understanding of the cascade of physiological and psychological
mechanisms responsible for tinnitus. As a result, new treatments under
investigation show promise in helping patients manage the ringing,
pinging and hissing that otherwise drives them to distraction.
The most promising therapies, experts say, are based on discoveries
made in the last five years about the brain activity of people with
tinnitus. With brain-scanning equipment like functional magnetic
resonance imaging, researchers in the United States and Europe have
independently discovered that the brain areas responsible for
interpreting sound and producing fearful emotions are exceptionally
active in people who complain of tinnitus.
“We’ve discovered that tinnitus is not so much ringing in the ears as
ringing in the brain,” said Thomas Brozoski, a tinnitus researcher at
Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, in Springfield.
Indeed, tinnitus can be intense in people with hearing loss and even
those whose auditory nerves have been completely severed. In the
absence of normal auditory stimulation, the brain is like a driver
trying to tune in to a radio station that is out of range. It turns up
the volume trying but gets only annoying static. Richard Salvi,
director of the Center for Hearing and Deafness at the State
University of New York at Buffalo, said the static could be “neural
noise” – the sound of nerves firing. Or, he said, it could be a
leftover sound memory.
Adam Edwards, 34, co-owner of a wheel repair shop in Dallas, said he
developed tinnitus four years ago after target-shooting with a pistol.
“I had all the risk factors,” he said. “I grew up hunting, I played
drums in a band, I went to loud concerts, I have a loud work
environment – everything but living next to a missile launch site.”
His tinnitus, which he described as a “computer beeping” sound, was so
intense and persistent that he needed sedatives to sleep at night.
Edwards says he has gotten relief from a device developed by an
Australian audiologist. Manufactured by Neuromonics, of Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania, it looks like an MP3 player and delivers sound spanning
the full auditory spectrum, digitally embedded in soothing music.
Similar to white noise, the broadband sound, tailored to each
patient’s hearing ability, masks the tinnitus. (The music is intended
to ease the anxiety that often accompanies the disorder.) Patients
wear the $5,000 device for a minimum of two hours a day for six
months. Since completing the treatment regimen last year, Edwards said
his tinnitus had “become sort of like Muzak at a department store –
you hear it if you think about it, but otherwise you don’t really
notice.”
A small, company-financed study in the journal Ear & Hearing in April
2007 indicated that the Neuromonics method was 90 percent successful
at reducing tinnitus. A larger study is under way to determine its
long-term effectiveness.
Anne Howell, an audiologist at the Callier Center for Communication
Disorders at the University of Texas at Dallas, said the Neuromonics
device was a big improvement over older sound therapies that required
wearing something that looked like a hearing aid all the time and took
18 to 24 months.
Other treatments showing promise include surgically implanted
electrodes and noninvasive magnetic stimulation, both intended to
disrupt and possibly reset the faulty brain signals responsible for
tinnitus. Using functional MRI to guide them, neurosurgeons in Belgium
have performed the implant procedure on several patients in the last
year and say it has suppressed tinnitus entirely.
But the treatment is controversial.
The magnetic therapy, similar to treatments used for depression and
chronic pain, involves holding a magnet in the shape of an 8 over the
skull. Clinicians use functional MRI to aim the magnetic pulses so
they reach regions of the brain responsible for interpreting sound.
Patients receive a pulse every second for about 20 minutes. “It works
for some people but not for others,” said Anthony Cacace, professor of
communication science and nerve disorders at Wayne State University,
in Detroit.
Researchers in Brazil have published a study indicating that a
treatment called cranial-sacral trigger-point therapy can relieve
tinnitus in some head and neck trauma cases by releasing muscles that
constrict hearing and neural pathways.
And drugs intended to treat alcoholism, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s and
depression that alter levels of various neurotransmitters in the brain
like serotonin, dopamine and gamma-aminobutyric acid have quieted
tinnitus in some published animal and human studies.
Link: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/02/arts/snhear.php
—
BETTER IP RELAY – EVERYWHERE! i711.com makes all your relay calls better.
Better web calls. Better wireless calls. Better AIM calls. Why settle for
ordinary IP relay? Go beyond! Try http://www.i711.com for free today!
NEW! Try out our Deaf Network of Texas Calendar! Go to
http://calendar.deafnetwork.com
NOTE: deafnetwork.com does not endorse any of the products, vendors,
consultants, or documentation referenced in this message or. Any mention of
vendors, products, or services is for informational purposes only.
Powered by http://www.CrazyWebHosting.com
If you do not want to receive any more newsletters,
http://deafnetwork.com/list/?p=unsubscribe&uid=23e6b0ac27edebd2b6f52f1354859234
To update your preferences and to unsubscribe visit
http://deafnetwork.com/list/?p=preferences&uid=23e6b0ac27edebd2b6f52f1354859234
Forward a Message to Someone
http://deafnetwork.com/list/?p=forward&uid=23e6b0ac27edebd2b6f52f1354859234&mid=1463
—
Powered by PHPlist, www.phplist.com —