Work

Listening to tailor-made notched music reduces tinnitus loudness and tinnitus-related auditory cortex activity

Year: 2009

Type: article

Abstract: Maladaptive auditory cortex reorganization may contribute to the generation and maintenance of tinnitus. Because cortical organization can be modified by behavioral training, we attempted to reduce tinnitus loudness by exposing chronic tinnitus patients to self-chosen, enjoyable music, which was modified ("notched") to contain no energy in the frequency range surrounding the individual tinnitus frequency. After 12 months of regular listening, the target patient group (n = 8) showed significantly reduced subjective tinnitus loudness and concomitantly exhibited reduced evoked activity in auditory cortex areas corresponding to the tinnitus frequency compared to patients who had received an analogous placebo notched music treatment (n = 8). These findings indicate that tinnitus loudness can be significantly diminished by an enjoyable, low-cost, custom-tailored notched music treatment, potentially via reversing maladaptive auditory cortex reorganization.

Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0911268107

Authors: Hidehiko Okamoto, Henning Stracke, Wolfgang Stoll, Christo Pantev

Institutions: University of Münster, University Hospital Münster

Language: English

Topic: Hearing, Cochlea, Tinnitus, Genetics

Subfield: Sensory Systems

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funder: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft