The analogy between tinnitus and pain: a suggestion for a physiological basis of chronic tinnitus.
A new hypothesis is developed concerning the origin of chronic tinnitus. It is based on an analogy between tinnitus and intractable pain, both of their causes being seen in the de-afferentation of nerve fibers. It is suggested that in the control of tinnitus the same interplay exists between large inner-hair-cell fibers, and small outer-hair-cell fibers, provided they are deafferented, that was demonstrated to exist between large and small deafferented fibers of the somato-sensory system in the control of pain.
Tonndorf
J
J
Columbia University, New York.
D000818:Animals; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003638:Deafness / Q000150:complications; D003714:Denervation / Q000009:adverse effects; D006198:Hair Cells, Auditory / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010146:Pain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D009435:Synaptic Transmission; D014012:Tinnitus / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000159:Vestibulocochlear Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology