title: Broadened population-level frequency tuning in the auditory cortex of tinnitus patients.
abstract: Tinnitus is a phantom auditory perception without an external sound source and is one of the most common public health concerns that impair the quality of life of many individuals. However, its neural mechanisms remain unclear. We herein examined population-level frequency tuning in the auditory cortex of unilateral tinnitus patients with similar hearing levels in both ears using magnetoencephalography. We compared auditory-evoked neural activities elicited by a stimulation to the tinnitus and nontinnitus ears. Objective magnetoencephalographic data suggested that population-level frequency tuning corresponding to the tinnitus ear was significantly broader than that corresponding to the nontinnitus ear in the human auditory cortex. The results obtained support the hypothesis that pathological alterations in inhibitory neural networks play an important role in the perception of subjective tinnitus.NEW & NOTEWORTHYAlthough subjective tinnitus is one of the most common public health concerns that impair the quality of life of many individuals, no standard treatment or objective diagnostic method currently exists. We herein revealed that population-level frequency tuning was significantly broader in the tinnitus ear than in the nontinnitus ear. The results of the present study provide an insight into the development of an objective diagnostic method for subjective tinnitus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Physiology, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, Japan.|Department of Otolaryngology, Head, and Neck Surgery, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences and Medical School, Nagoya, Japan; and.
authors.forename: Kenichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sekiya
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Head, and Neck Surgery, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences and Medical School, Nagoya, Japan; and.
authors.forename: Mariko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Head, and Neck Surgery, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences and Medical School, Nagoya, Japan; and.
authors.forename: Shingo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Physiology, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, Japan.|The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI), Hayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryusuke
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kakigi
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Physiology, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, Japan; hokamoto@nips.ac.jp.|The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI), Hayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Hidehiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okamoto
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015225:Magnetoencephalography; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017084:Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D014012:Tinnitus / Q000473:pathology*
keywords: MEG; auditory-evoked response; brain; frequency tuning; magnetoencephalography; tinnitus