The question is, What parts of the brain are in play?
In a paper published in May 2015, Dr. Salvi and an international team of researchers reported that several interconnected brain structures are involved—far more than previously thought (eLife 2015;4:e06576. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.06576). This “neural network” includes such areas as the amygdala and the reticular formation—the arousal center of the brain that is involved in the “fight or flight” response. The findings offer new insights into why so many patients with tinnitus feel depressed, anxious, or under stress during periods of active disease, Dr. Salvi said.
Some of the implicated brain regions had been identified in earlier, electrophysiologic animal studies that, like the current study, used high doses of aspirin to induce tinnitus and hyperacusis, Dr. Salvi said (Hear Res. 2013;295:100-113). “But some additional regions really lit up in our current study that were quite a surprise to us,” he added.
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