This may be the means by which tinnitus causes psychological symptoms. Why were we successful 1. We used subjects who could control the loudness of their tinnitus and serve as their own controls. We used sophisticated computer programs for image processing and statistical analysis. Understanding the physiological basis of tinnitus is an important first step in the development of a scientifically-based search for a cure.
Data provide new insights into the development of tinnitus.
Tinnitus may be due to the nature and extent of the plastic changes in the auditory system that develop as a consequence of hearing loss. Tinnitus may be the auditory system analog of phantom limb pain, now known to be associated with plastic changes in somatosensory systems. For your convenience, we have enclosed electronic copies of figures related to our tinnitus research. They are not copyrighted, but if you use them, we would appreciate an acknowledgment of their source. The files were prepared in a Windows 95 format created for an IBM clone computer.