Abstract
Subjective, chronic tinnitus, the perception of sound in the absence of an external source, commonly occurs with many comorbidities, making it a difficult condition to study. Hearing loss, often believed to be the driver for tinnitus, is perhaps one of the most significant comorbidities. In the present study, white matter correlates of tinnitus and hearing loss were examined. Diffusion imaging data were collected from 96 participants—43 with tinnitus and hearing loss (TINHL), 17 with tinnitus and normal hearing thresholds (TINNH), 17 controls with hearing loss (CONHL) and 19 controls with normal hearing (CONNH). Fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity and probabilistic tractography analyses were conducted on the diffusion imaging data. Analyses revealed differences in FA and structural connectivity specific to tinnitus, hearing loss, and both conditions when comorbid, suggesting the existence of tinnitus-specific neural networks. These findings also suggest that age plays an important role in neural plasticity, and thus may account for some of the variability of results in the literature. However, this effect is not seen in tractography results, where a sensitivity analysis revealed that age did not impact measures of network integration or segregation. Based on these results and previously reported findings, we propose an updated model of tinnitus, wherein the internal capsule and corpus callosum play important roles in the evaluation of, and neural plasticity in response to tinnitus.
Highlights
Subjective, chronic tinnitus, the perception of sound in the absence of an external source, commonly occurs with many comorbidities, making it a difficult condition to study
Post hoc analysis revealed that this significant finding was driven by the CONHL group being older than the TINNH group (t(30.84) = − 2.68, p < 0.05), by the T INHL group being older than the C ONNH group (t(27.76) = 4.490, p < 0.001), and TINNH group (t(20.93) = 4.395, p < 0.001)
The aims of this study were to evaluate the impact of tinnitus on neuroanatomy with and without hearing loss using diffusion imaging, to identify specific neural markers that could be used to distinguish subgroups based on their behavioral characteristics
Summary
Subjective, chronic tinnitus, the perception of sound in the absence of an external source, commonly occurs with many comorbidities, making it a difficult condition to study. Analyses revealed differences in FA and structural connectivity specific to tinnitus, hearing loss, and both conditions when comorbid, suggesting the existence of tinnitus-specific neural networks These findings suggest that age plays an important role in neural plasticity, and may account for some of the variability of results in the literature. This is compounded by the fact that severity changes with time; most sufferers tend to habituate to the sound, and their reported annoyance is seen to decrease with increased habituation[1] This has historically made the condition difficult to study, as it has been difficult to account for the large amount of variation within the tinnitus population in terms of their tinnitus percept, time since onset, and severity, as well as associated comorbidities such as hearing loss. Subject groups 28 TIN, 12 CON 10 TIN, 15 CON 8 TIN, 7 HL, 11 CON 14 TIN, 14 CON 18 TIN, 14 CON 13 NIHL + TIN, 13 NIHL
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