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For at least 50 million Americans, there's nothing as quiet and peace, because each second of silence is accompanied with a persistent ringing in the ears. Tinnitus, which has no cure, is a problem that affects individuals of all ages. But now there's a treatment.<br><br>From the sensory system, sound waves enter hairs stimulate that get carried along nerve pathways into the brain. People always used to believe that the hair follicles were the parts in the ear and also that nerve fibers never died until after the hair follicles had been gone.<br><br>Interview Highlights<br>On what's really happening when your ears are still ringing.<br>Susan Shore: What occurs initially for people that have tinnitus is that the hair follicles or the nerve fibers become ruined. And that means that they can't connect with all the cells from the mind . This is known as deafferentation.<br><br>The cells begin to fire quickly, and they start to synchronize with each other, as if there were sound there. However there isn't a noise there. And so that's what we figured out over the last ten years or so, the cells which are accountable for the tinnitus and sending this phantom signal to the rest of the mind reside in the very first region of the brain that gets input in the ear. It's called the cochlear nucleus.<br><br>On a treatment for tinnitus.<br>Susan ShoreWe figured out by studying spike time independent in these fusiform cells that when we provoked those cells with a certain order we can depress the firing rate of the neurons. We can desynchronize the circuit, and we can get pigs that we had been recording from.<br><br>On why you might have difficulty hearing people talk when it is noisy.<br>Charles Liberman: Basically, what we've discovered recently is that using a standard audiogram, there may be levels of damage to the nerve fibers that take the info in the sensory cells into the brain. So that's why it's called hearing loss.<br><br>On temporary hearing loss from a event like a concert can result in permanent damage.<br>Charles Liberman: later you hear a tiny ringing in your ears, or you feel like you have cotton in your ears, and Should you expose yourself to sound, you have a hearing loss which could be quantified by an audiologist. It might recover, but what we've shown in animal models is the fact that noise exposures that trigger this type of hearing loss that is reversible as measured by the audiogram can cause irreversible loss of nerve pathways.<br><br>And that is the hearing loss idea that is hidden . You believe you dodged the bullet. Your thresholds went back to usual. But perhaps every time that happens, you've lost a nerve fibers. And as time goes on, that might slowly cause the sorts of deafferentation issues that Susan referred to this can ultimately trigger issues.<br><br>On fixing hearing loss that is hidden.<br>Charles Liberman: Some of the interesting things about hearing loss that is hidden is initially that the damage is the so-called synapses between the hair cells, the loss of the relations and the neural pathways. And at that time, should you type of grab it early, we and others have already shown in animal models we understand what molecules to send to the internal ear to induce the nerve pathways to ship out new connections and to create new functional connections.
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A Temporary Relief for Tinnitus Sufferers For more than 50 million Americans, there's no such thing as quiet and peace, because every second of silence is accompanied by a constant ringing in the ears. Tinnitus, that has no treatment, is. Now, however, there's a cure for the condition that embraces a new way of considering hearing loss. In the system, sound waves enter the ear and also automatically stimulate tiny hairs on the cochlea, which interpret electrical impulses that get carried to the brain along nerve fibers. People used to believe that the hair follicles were the elements in the ear until after the hair cells had been gone, and that nerve pathways never died. Interview Highlights When your ears are still ringing on what happening. Susan Shore: What happens for people that have tinnitus supplement is that the hair cells or the nerve fibers become ruined. And that means they and the cells from the mind can not connect very well. This is known as differentiation. The cells start to fire fast, and they begin to synchronize with each other, as if there were sound there. But is not a sound there. And so that's exactly what we figured out over the past ten years or so, the cells which are actually responsible for the tinnitus and sending this ghost signal to the rest of the brain live in the very first region of the brain which gets input from the ear. It's called the cochlear nucleus. On a treatment for tinnitus. Susan Shore: We figured out by studying spike time separate plasticity in those fusiform cells that when we provoked those cells with a particular sequence, a period between stimulation and auditory stimulation, we can depress the firing rate of the neurons. The circuit could be desynchronized by us, and we can get pigs that we were recording from. When it's dumb on you may have difficulty hearing people speak. Charles Liberman: Fundamentally, what we've discovered lately is that with a normal audiogram, there can be amounts of damage to the nerve fibers which take the info in the cells to the brain. So that's why it's known as hearing loss that is hidden. On temporary hearing loss by a event like a concert can lead to permanent damage. Charles Liberman: If you expose yourself to sound, and you hear just a tiny in your ears, or you feel like you have cotton in your ears, you have a hearing loss that could be measured by an audiologist. It may recuperate, but what we've shown in animal models is that noise exposures that trigger this kind of hearing loss that is fully reversible as measured by the audiogram can nevertheless cause permanent loss of nerve pathways.
And that's the hearing loss idea that is hidden . You believe you dodged the bullet. Your thresholds went back to normal. But every single time that happens, you've lost a nerve pathways. And as time continues, that may slowly cause the kinds of deafferentation issues that Susan referred to that can ultimately trigger issues. On fixing hearing loss that is hidden. Charles Liberman: Some of the things about concealed hearing loss is initially the damage is the so-called synapses between the hair cells, the reduction of the connections and the neural pathways. And at that point in time, should you type of catch it early, we and others have shown in animal models that we understand what molecules to send to the internal ear to cause the nerve pathways to ship out new relations and to make new functional connections.
