Tinnitus, also known as ringing in the ear is a phantom auditory experience which can happen in the absence of an internal or external sound. It often accompanies hearing loss with severity ranging from mild to severe. Although, it can exist as a comparatively harmless condition it can be extremely debilitating and disruptive as it progresses. Tinnitus research has allured neuroscientists for decades due to the mystery related to it’s neural generators. In the recent years, tinnitus research has made some huge strides and has provided new insights to the neural mechanisms, and possible neural generators in the brain. The four major research areas in this field include identifying the brain substructure of tinnitus origin, the neural mechanism behind its origin, developing a general therapy, and customizing therapy for individual patients.
In the latter half of 1980s and early 1990s first animal models of acute tinnitus were introduced. Since that time, numerous physiological and behavioral animal models of tinnitus have been developed which provided major help in unraveling the enigma surrounding the tinnitus. Behavioral animal model provides insight to the psychophysical attributes of tinnitus; whereas physiological models improved the understanding of what happens at the neuronal level. Several agents have been used to induce tinnitus in animal models including salicylate, quinine or even intense sound. Most behavioral models relied on the conditioned response of animals such as bar presses, climbing behavior, licking behavior etc. The extensive time taken to train the animal to do that particular task was the inherent weakness of all behavioral procedures available up to that date. The animal model which relied on the sta...
... middle of paper ...
... possible mechanisms in each of these levels, how they influence each other and contribute to the different arenas tinnitus related defect need to be addressed. All these information can be translated to make use of the plasticity phenomenon to restore the normal balance in the inhibitory – excitatory pathways.
Thus Tinnitus is an ever challenging and intriguing research area with burgeoning interest set for even more dramatic advances in the near future. I am especially interested in the neuroplasticity changes accompanying tinnitus in relation to the excitatory amino acid GABA. Startle reflex would be especially useful in achieving these goals. I would like to make use of this extremely useful animal model to have a better understanding of the acoustic correlates of tinnitus in mouse animal model and can use that as screening tool for possible tinnitus drug.
Audition is a complex process that involves multiple areas of the brain. To be able to hear sound is just the beginning. Understanding speech and appreciating music requires an intensive and complex network of processes still yet to be understood. Many auditory processing deficits have been discovered with varying degrees of specificity and severities. A whole area of research has been dedicated to finding solutions to these auditory deficits that many ...
...tion cause sensitization. In this study, the use of background noise would possibly cause more arousal within the Aplysia’s limbic system and possibly cause dishabituation where there was no dishabituation before. By introducing these other experiments there is opportunity to further disprove or prove the hypotheses previously put forth and founded in this experiment.
In the middle ear the sound is amplified in order to move the fluid in the ear.
Although attempts to stimulate hearing with electricity date back to the 1950s, the modern version of the cochlear implant did not appear until the 1970s (Wilson & Dorman, 2008, p. 3). The earliest versions relied upon a single electrode to translate sound into electrical impulses and relay them to the brain. Engineers were steadily making progress, however, and by the 1990s implants in young children had become fairly routine (Wilson & Dorman, 2008, p. 3). The modern cochlear implant currently ...
Meniere’s disease is a controversial inner ear disorder that has a variety of symptoms. It was first discovered by French physician Prosper Meniere in 1861 after seeing a variety of patients with episodic vertigo attacks. (John Jacob Ballenger, 1996). After a variety of research, Prosper Meniere theorized that the symptoms that his patients were experiencing such as tinnitus and vertigo were not coming from the brain but were actually coming from the inner ear. These findings lead to the research of inner ear disease and its association with inner ear balance disorders. (P.J. Haybach).
Shemagonov, A.V., & Sidorenko, V.N. (2000). “Can the Medical Resonance Therapy Music Affect Autonomous Innervation of Cerebral Arteries?” Integrative Physiological and Behavioral Science, 35, 3: 218-223.
From this point, vibration of the connective membrane (oval window) transforms mechanical motion into a pressure wave in fluid. This pressure wave enters and hence passes vibrations into the fluid filled structure called the cochlea. The cochlea contains two membranes and between these two membranes, are specialized neurons or receptors called hair cells. Once vibrations enter the cochlea, they cause the lower membrane (basilar membrane) to move in respect to the upper membrane (i.e. the tectorial membrane in which the hair cells are embedded). This movement bends the hair cells to cause receptor potentials in these cells which in turn cause the release of transmitter onto the neurons of the auditory nerve.
McLachlan, N. M., Phillips, D. S., Rossell, S. L., & Wilson, S. J. (2013). Auditory processing
Brain Stem Reflexes refer to a process where an emotion is induced by sound or music because the fundamental acoustical characteristics of the sound or music are received by the brain stem which signals a potentially urgent and important event. Sounds that are sudden, dissonant, loud, or have fast temporal patterns induce arousal or feelings of unpleasantness in the listener (Berlyne 1971; Burt et al. 1995; Foss et al. 1989; Halpern et al. 1986). These responses show the impact of auditory sensations (music as sound in the most basic sense). Our perceptual system is continually scanning the immediate surro...
...the auditory nerve to the brain. The sound has to travel through auditory nerves in order to reach the brain.
The ear houses some of the most sensitive organs in the body. The physics of sound is well understood, while the mechanics of how the inner ear translates sound waves into neurotransmitters that then communicate to the brain is still incomplete. Because the vestibular labyrinth and the auditory structure are formed very early in the development of the fetus and the fluid pressure contained within both of them is mutually dependant, a disorder in one of the two reciprocating structures affects the (2).
It is a well established fact, that during the fetal period, the brain undergoes extensive developmental changes, with new synapses being formed continuously in response to external cues being delivered to the fetus. This development of neuronal connectivity enables the fetus to recognize and analyze complex information. This is especially true in the development of the auditory nervous system. A strong model of the auditory development in response ...
M.M. Merzenich, J. K. (1983). Topographical reorganization of somatosensory cortial areas 3b and 1 in adult monkeys following restrictive deafferentation. Neuroscience, 33-55.
Music-induced hearing loss is associated with many risks. Listening to loud music has been attributed to a vast array of problems. According to Strasser “Noise-induced hearing loss continues to be the most common occupational disease in industrialized countries.” (Strasser, Chiu, Irle, & Wagener, 2008). One reason listening to loud music for an extended period of time puts people at risk for hearing loss is because it causes damage to and even loss of the hair cells in the Organ of Corti that essentially are responsible for the sensation of hearing (Zhao, Manchaiah, French, & Price, 2010). These hair cells will regenerate after some damage b...
The ear is an organ of the body that is used for hearing and balance. It is connected to the brain by the auditory nerve and is composed of three divisions, the external ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear. The greater part of which is enclosed within the temporal bone.