Tinnitus can be a desperately exasperating condition, but there could hope on the horizon for the millions of people currently suffering from the chronic ringing in their ears.
It comes in the form of an experimental device that uses precisely timed blasts of sound and electrical pulses to “reset” the responsible nerve activity in the brain. The remarkably research was recently published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Scientists have been trying to get to the bottom of what causes chronic tinnitus for years. Despite appearing to be a “mechanical problem” with the ear, research has shown that it’s most likely to do with brain activity, especially among the fusiform cells that help us gauge where a sound is coming from and phase out background noise.
“The brain, and specifically the region of the brainstem called the dorsal cochlear nucleus, is the root of tinnitus," Susan Shore, a professor at the University of Michigan Medical School and leader of the research team, said in a statement. "When the main neurons in this region, called fusiform cells, become hyperactive and synchronize with one another, the phantom signal is transmitted to other centers where perception occurs."
"If we can stop these signals, we can stop tinnitus. That is what our approach attempts to do, and we're encouraged by these initial parallel results in animals and humans."
