Posted on July 14: Researchers explore ‘ringing in the ears’

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/larry_roberts.jpg” caption=”Larry Roberts”]McMaster researchers have received a two-year $130,000 grant (USD) from the American Tinnitus Association to try to better understand tinnitus, or “ringing in the ears.”
“This funding will support research on the development of new procedures to ameliorate tinnitus, a medical condition that causes millions of people to hear disturbing noise when no external source is present,” says Larry Roberts, McMaster psychology professor. “The research will also help us to understand how tinnitus is generated by the brain.”
Roberts will oversee the two projects related to this study. The first study will establish a procedure for measuring “residual inhibition”, which is a temporary suppression of tinnitus produced by masking sounds. The sounds will be customized for each subject in order to maximize residual inhibition and assess clinical benefits. Researchers will also assess whether sounds that induce residual inhibition span regions of hearing loss, as predicted by some brain models of tinnitus. Lawrence Ward of the University of British Columbia will collaborate with the McMaster group on this study.
The second study in the McMaster project will measure brain activity during tinnitus and residual inhibition, to identify which parts of the brain register tinnitus. The physiological markers identified in the study will help neuroscientists better understand how tinnitus and residual inhibition are generated in the brain.
“By increasing our basic knowledge, these studies will help other researchers develop better management strategies for people who currently have tinnitus,” says ATA executive director Cheryl McGinnis, adding the studies will contribute to new information that may be useful to other researchers who are working toward cures for tinnitus.