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(Interdisciplinary Program in Brain-Science, Seoul National University)
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(Interdisciplinary Program in Brain-Science, Seoul National University)
Lots of neuroimaging and animal studies have revealed that tinnitus and hyperacusis share the same patterns in the bottom up central auditory process. The aim was to identify the abnormal central patterns commonly observed in both tinnitus and hyperacusis in humans. We investigated two cases of normal hearing: a tinnitus patient and a hyperacusis patient. We compared the differences between the severe temporal hyper-activated state (STHS), with spikes, fast beta and gamma frequencies after noise exposure, and the mild temporal hyperactivated state (MTHS), in no sound exposed condition. The power of the gamma band in the two cases was increased in both auditory cortices compared to the other brain regions. Our results of human with normal hearing were the first to identify how tinnitus and hyperacusis caused by sound are abnormally active and how they maintain constant pathological states.
We thank to JK and JS for actively involving in the clinical trials. We appreciate professors at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology (OL), Seoul National University Bundang Hospital (SNUBH) for providing us with a place to perform clinical trials. We are deeply grateful to the audiologists at the same department of the Seoul National University Bundang Hospital for measuring hearing thresholds and uncomfortable level of the subjects.