The neuroscience of tinnitus.

Summary

Reviews evidence that hearing loss causes the auditory cortex's frequency map to reorganize: neurons at the edge of the deprived (hearing-loss) frequency range shift their tuning into the vacated territory, which becomes over-represented and hyperactive. Frames this alongside increased spontaneous firing and neural synchrony as core proposed correlates of tinnitus.

Key findings

• Hearing loss silences a band of cortical frequency representation, and neighboring frequencies expand into it (map reorganization).
• The over-represented, reorganized region shows increased spontaneous firing and neural synchrony.
• Reduced inhibition is proposed as one mechanism enabling this map plasticity.