Abstract
PurposeThe present study combined fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF), regional homogeneity (ReHo), and functional connectivity (FC) to explore brain functional abnormalities in acute tinnitus patients (AT) with hearing loss.MethodsWe recruited twenty-eight AT patients and 31 healthy controls (HCs) and ran resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans. fALFF, ReHo, and FC were conducted and compared between AT patients and HCs. After that, we calculated correlation analyses among abnormal fALFF, ReHo, FC, and clinical data in AT patients.ResultsCompared with HCs, AT showed increased fALFF values in the right inferior temporal gyrus (ITG). In contrast, significantly decreased ReHo values were observed in the cerebellar vermis, the right calcarine cortex, the right precuneus, the right supramarginal gyrus (SMG), and the right middle frontal gyrus (MFG). Based on the differences in the fALFF and ReHo maps, the latter of which we defined as region-of-interest (ROI) for FC analysis, the right ITG exhibited increased connectivity with the right precentral gyrus. In addition, the right MFG demonstrated decreased connectivity with both the bilateral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the left precentral gyrus.ConclusionBy combining ReHo, fALFF, and FC analyses, our work indicated that AT with hearing loss had abnormal intraregional neural activity and disrupted connectivity in several brain regions which mainly involving the non-auditory area, and these regions are major components of default mode network (DMN), attention network, visual network, and executive control network. These findings will help us enhance the understanding of the neuroimaging mechanism in tinnitus populations. Moreover, these abnormalities remind us that we should focus on the early stages of this hearing disease.
Highlights
Tinnitus, a common hearing disorder, is often described as a ringing, buzzing, or hissing sensation without any corresponding external auditory source (Jastreboff, 1990; Moller, 2007)
As we described in fractional ALFF (fALFF) analysis, the unthresholded t-stat Regional homogeneity (ReHo) image was performed for left and right-sided groups
We found that the increased fALFF values in right ITG was almost negatively correlated with self-rating depression scale (SDS) scores (r = −0.392, p = 0.052, Table 4)
Summary
A common hearing disorder, is often described as a ringing, buzzing, or hissing sensation without any corresponding external auditory source (Jastreboff, 1990; Moller, 2007). It affects approximately 10–15% of the population, especially adults over the age of 65 (Eggermont and Roberts, 2004). In many of cases, tinnitus is subjective which is a kind of feeling that cannot be perceived by others. Tinnitus is related to hearing loss in the majority of cases, as both symptoms often occur together (Mühlnickel et al, 1998). The tinnitus symptoms can be acute or chronic. The underlying pathophysiology of tinnitus is still poorly understood
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