Abstract
Tinnitus is an interaction of the environment, cognition, and plasticity. The connection between the individual with tinnitus and their world seldom receives attention in neurophysiological research. As well as changes in cell excitability, an individual’s culture and beliefs, and work and social environs may all influence how tinnitus is perceived. In this review, an ecological framework for current neurophysiological evidence is considered. The model defines tinnitus as the perception of an auditory object in the absence of an acoustic event. It is hypothesized that following deafferentation: adaptive feature extraction, schema, and semantic object formation processes lead to tinnitus in a manner predicted by Adaptation Level Theory (1, 2). Evidence from physiological studies is compared to the tenants of the proposed ecological model. The consideration of diverse events within an ecological context may unite seemingly disparate neurophysiological models.
Highlights
Psychoacousticians and neurophysiologists have, as a rule, approached tinnitus by applying reductionist principles, meaning that the fundamental constituents of tinnitus have been studied in isolation from the overall experience
Tinnitus has been considered in the context of non-auditory modulators before [7, 20]; the Adaptation Level theory (ALT) model of tinnitus differs with an emphasis on neural and psychological adaptation shaping, reaction to, and the perception and magnitude of tinnitus [2]
An ecological model that includes ALT appears to be a useful framework to understand the complex relationships between www.frontiersin.org putative tinnitus mechanisms
Summary
Psychoacousticians and neurophysiologists have, as a rule, approached tinnitus by applying reductionist principles, meaning that the fundamental constituents of tinnitus have been studied in isolation from the overall experience. An ecological approach to tinnitus requires that underpinning neurophysiological mechanisms and psychoacoustic outcomes be placed in an environmental context where both the individual’s perception of self and the interplay with the acoustic and social environment are considered. This ecological view challenges us to consider tinnitus as the perception of an auditory object in the absence of an acoustic event. Tinnitus has been considered in the context of non-auditory modulators before [7, 20]; the ALT model of tinnitus differs with an emphasis on neural and psychological adaptation shaping, reaction to, and the perception and magnitude of tinnitus [2].
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