Re: Technique can pinpoint tinnitus

[Jim Ballas <james.ballas@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Another cause of tinnitus is a Vestibular Schwannoma (Acoustic 
Neuroma).  In my case the tinnitus, together with partial unilateral 
hearing loss, was the first indication of the tumor.  This cause affects 
the third site, the auditory pathway,  where Møller says abnormal neural 
activity can be causing tinnitus.  So IMHO, classifying mechanisms of 
tinnitus as either peripheral or central, while better than one 
mechanism, is still a simplification.
Jim Ballas
> Date:    Tue, 6 Oct 2009 14:30:39 -0400
> From:    Didier Depireux <depireux@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: Technique can pinpoint tinnitus
>
> It's hard to form an opinion from a release from a PR office. But a
> lot of papers on imaging and/or treatment of tinnitus neglect to
> mention the etiology of the tinnitus. One can acquire permanent
> tinnitus from drugs like quinine, cancer drugs like most of the
> -platins, noise exposure, blunt trauma, or related to the onset of
> M=E9ni=E8re's. While the behavioral manifestation is the same, there is no
> good argument that all these causes lead to the same underlying
> changes in the auditory pathway. So any paper that claims to have
> found that a "Technique can pinpoint tinnitus" is bound to be met with
> some measure of healthy doubt.
>
> To quote Aage Møller in his "Tinnitus: presence and future" paper,
>
> It is unfortunate that the same name, tinnitus, is used for so many
> different disorders. This hampers both understanding of the
> pathophysiology of tinnitus and the treatment because it implies that
> it is possible to find _the_ cause of tinnitus and _the_ treatment for
> tinnitus.
>
> He goes on to say:
>
> Disorders of the vestibular system was earlier in the same category,
> but the introduction of specific names such as benign positional
> paroxysmal nystagmus (BPPN) and disabling positional vertigo (DPV) has
> greatly improved treatment and understanding of the causes of various
> symptoms from the vestibular system.
>
> In related news, some Irish teenagers have gotten a 99% cure rate by
> playing to tinnitus sufferers a "low hum [that] might straighten out
> those bent cochlear hairs"
> http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=3Dteen-inventors-f=
> ight-tinnitus-09-09-28
>
>                             Didier
>
> Didier A Depireux                depireux@xxxxxxxxx
> Inst. for Systems Research    http://theearlab.org
> School of Engineering           Ph: 410-925-6546
> U Md College Park MD 20742 USA
> Adjunct, BioEngineering
>
>
>   

Date:    Tue, 6 Oct 2009 14:30:39 -0400
From:    Didier Depireux <depireux@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Technique can pinpoint tinnitus

It's hard to form an opinion from a release from a PR office. But a
lot of papers on imaging and/or treatment of tinnitus neglect to
mention the etiology of the tinnitus. One can acquire permanent
tinnitus from drugs like quinine, cancer drugs like most of the
-platins, noise exposure, blunt trauma, or related to the onset of
M=E9ni=E8re's. While the behavioral manifestation is the same, there is no
good argument that all these causes lead to the same underlying
changes in the auditory pathway. So any paper that claims to have
found that a "Technique can pinpoint tinnitus" is bound to be met with
some measure of healthy doubt.

To quote Aage M=F8ller in his "Tinnitus: presence and future" paper,

It is unfortunate that the same name, tinnitus, is used for so many
different disorders. This hampers both understanding of the
pathophysiology of tinnitus and the treatment because it implies that
it is possible to find _the_ cause of tinnitus and _the_ treatment for
tinnitus.

He goes on to say:

Disorders of the vestibular system was earlier in the same category,
but the introduction of specific names such as benign positional
paroxysmal nystagmus (BPPN) and disabling positional vertigo (DPV) has
greatly improved treatment and understanding of the causes of various
symptoms from the vestibular system.

In related news, some Irish teenagers have gotten a 99% cure rate by
playing to tinnitus sufferers a "low hum [that] might straighten out
those bent cochlear hairs"
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=3Dteen-inventors-f=
ight-tinnitus-09-09-28

                           Didier

Didier A Depireux                depireux@xxxxxxxxx
Inst. for Systems Research    http://theearlab.org
School of Engineering           Ph: 410-925-6546
U Md College Park MD 20742 USA
Adjunct, BioEngineering