The AudioNotch Tinnitus Treatment Blog

Recent research has summarized the following the model as one of the leading hypotheses behind the pathological basis of tinnitus:

A compelling hypothesis is that tinnitus results from a maladaptive plastic net down-regulation of inhibitory amino acid neurotransmission in the central auditory pathway. This loss of inhibition may be a compensatory response to loss of afferent input such as that caused by acoustic insult and/or age-related hearing loss, the most common causes of tinnitus in people. Compensatory plastic changes may result in pathologic neural activity that underpins tinnitus.

So basically, one of the current theories is a sequential step wise process:

1. Loss of auditory input from hearing damage or age related hearing loss
2. Compensatory loss of inhibitory neurotransmission in the auditory region of the brain
3. Subsequent further compensatory neuroplastic changes (a “re-wiring” of connections in the brain) cause tinnitus

The evidence for this hypothesis comes from both neurochemical studies and electrophysiological studies. Click here to check out the abstract!

Best,
AudioNotch