The AudioNotch Tinnitus Treatment Blog

There’s long been a great deal of anecdotal evidence indicating that positional changes of the head and neck can dynamically and instantaneously affect one’s tinnitus tone and volume. The exact pathophysiology of why this is the case has long been a mystery, but most suspected that varying sensory nerves in the head and neck region were supplying neurological input into the brain that could modify the perception of tinnitus. Finally, someone has created an animal model to indicate that somatosensory neurons have been implicated in a guinea pig animal model of tinnitus:

U-M researchers previously demonstrated that after hearing damage, touch-sensing “somatosensory” nerves in the face and neck can become overactive, seeming to overcompensate for the loss of auditory input in a way the brain interprets — or “hears” — as noise that isn’t really there.

This fascinating research also explains many anecdotal accounts of the following:

The involvement of touch sensing (or “somatosensory”) nerves in the head and neck explains why many tinnitus sufferers can change the volume and pitch of the sound by clenching their jaw, or moving their head and neck, Shore explains.

Every day, researchers are uncovering more and more information about tinnitus! One more piece of the puzzle appears to have been elucidated.

Best,
AudioNotch