Tinnitus is generated by aberrant neural activity in the auditory pathway

Susan E Shore, Larry E Roberts, Berthold Langguth. Maladaptive plasticity in tinnitus--triggers, mechanisms and treatment.. 2016. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2016.12

Paper 1 reviews maladaptive neural plasticity resulting in increased spontaneous firing rates and synchrony within central auditory structures.

Jos J Eggermont, Peter A Tass. Maladaptive neural synchrony in tinnitus: origin and restoration.. 2015. https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2015.00029

Paper 2 links tinnitus to aberrant neural synchrony and delta-band activity generated by deafferented auditory networks.

Jos J Eggermont. Role of auditory cortex in noise- and drug-induced tinnitus.. 2008. https://doi.org/10.1044/1059-0889(2008/07-0025)

Paper 3 describes tinnitus as the result of pathologically increased synchrony and activation within interconnected auditory neural assemblies.

Juan D San Juan, Tianqu Zhai, Angela Ash-Rafzadeh, Xiao-Su Hu, Jessica Kim, Charles Filipak, Kaiwen Guo, Mohammed N Islam, Ioulia Kovelman, Gregory J Basura. Tinnitus and auditory cortex: using adapted functional near-infrared spectroscopy to measure resting-state functional connectivity.. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1097/WNR.0000000000001561

Paper 4 uses neuroimaging to show that tinnitus arises from aberrant hyperactivation and increased resting-state functional connectivity within the auditory cortex.

Jos J Eggermont. Central tinnitus.. 2003. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0385-8146(02)00122-0

Paper 5 explains that hearing loss reduces lateral inhibition, inducing hypersensitivity, hyperactivity, and altered tonotopic maps in central auditory levels.

Jos J Eggermont. Correlated neural activity as the driving force for functional changes in auditory cortex.. 2007. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2007.01.008

Paper 6 demonstrates that correlated neural activity and hypersynchrony drive functional changes and reorganization in the auditory cortex underlying tinnitus.

Rui Cai, Lynne Ling, Madan Ghimire, Kevin A Brownell, Donald M Caspary. Tinnitus-related increases in single-unit activity in awake rat auditory cortex correlate with tinnitus behavior.. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2024.108993

Paper 7 finds that rats with behavioral evidence of tinnitus exhibit significant increases in spontaneous, sound-evoked, and bursting activity in primary auditory cortex.

Susan Shore, Jianxun Zhou, Seth Koehler. Neural mechanisms underlying somatic tinnitus.. 2007. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0079-6123(07)66010-5

Paper 8 shows that bimodal somatosensory integration modulates firing rates and synchrony in dorsal cochlear nucleus neurons, correlating with somatic tinnitus.

James A Kaltenbach. Tinnitus: Models and mechanisms.. 2011. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2010.12.003

Paper 9 synthesizes evidence that tinnitus stems from excitatory and inhibitory imbalances causing hyperactivity, bursting discharges, and neural synchrony.

A Shulman, A Strashun. Descending auditory system/cerebellum/tinnitus.. 1999. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10753427/

Paper 10 discusses how aberrant auditory stimuli and tinnitus influence the activity and function of the descending auditory system.

A H Lockwood, R J Salvi, R F Burkard, P J Galantowicz, M L Coad, D S Wack. Neuroanatomy of tinnitus.. 1999. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10803913/

Paper 11 concludes that tinnitus is central in origin, arising from plastic transformations and excessive spontaneous activity in the central auditory system.