Tinnitus: Characteristics, Causes, Mechanisms, and Treatments

Abstract

Tinnitus-the perception of sound in the absence of an actual external sound-represents a symptom of an underlying condition rather than a single disease. Several theories have been proposed to explain the mechanisms underlying tinnitus. Tinnitus generators are theoretically located in the auditory pathway, and such generators and various mechanisms occurring in the peripheral auditory system have been explained in terms of spontaneous otoacoustic emissions, edge theory, and discordant theory. Those present in the central auditory system have been explained in terms of the dorsal cochlear nucleus, the auditory plasticity theory, the crosstalk theory, the somatosensory system, and the limbic and autonomic nervous systems. Treatments for tinnitus include pharmacotherapy, cognitive and behavioral therapy, sound therapy, music therapy, tinnitus retraining therapy, massage and stretching, and electrical suppression. This paper reviews the characteristics, causes, mechanisms, and treatments of tinnitus.

Comparative Evaluation of Acamprosate With Other Drugs in Central Tinnitus

“…9 Tinnitus is a subjective phenomenon that is difficult to evaluate objectively, with it being measured, quantified, and described only based on the responses of patients. 10 It has been established that, that 35-40% of all adults over 17 years of age experience temporary or noises lasting longer than 5 minutes of various degrees of loudness at some time. A miniscule number of patients (0.5%) are in urgent need of treatment.…”

Bhramari Pranayama and Alternative Treatments of Tinnitus: In Pursuit of the Cure

“…TRT is a clinical implementation of the "neurophysiological model" of tinnitus Jastreboff & Hazell, 2004). TRT involves facilitating habituation to the tinnitus signal by a combination of retraining counseling and sound therapy with broadband noise as well as environmental sounds (Han et al, 2009). Patients with more troublesome tinnitus are advised to wear ear-level devices (sound generators, hearing aids, or combination instruments) to optimize the habituation process.…”

A clinical study on role of caroverine in the management of tinnitus

“…Although numerous therapeutic modalities have been applied, no consensus regarding effective therapeutic agents has emerged. 2 Hence, the present study was undertaken to assess the role of caroverine which is a glutamate receptor antagonist in the management of sensoryneural tinnitus.…”

“…Subjective tinnitus is the perception of sound in the absence of an acoustic stimulus and is heard only by the sufferers, whereas objective tinnitus is the generation of sound near the ear that can be heard by the examiner. 2 Jastreboff PJ proposed the discordant dysfunction theory for tinnitus, according to which outer hair cells (OHC) are damaged earlier to inner hair cells (IHC). 3 OHC provides amplification of sound within the cochlea whereas IHC is mainly concern with sound transduction.…”