Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Job, Agnès
• Jacob, Roland
• Pons, Yoann
• Raynal, Marc
• Kossowski, Michel
• Gauthier, Jérôme
• Lombard, Bertrand
• Delon-Martin, Chantal

Titel

Specific activation of operculum 3 (OP3) brain region during provoked tinnitus-related phantom auditory perceptions in humans

Ist Teil von

• Brain Structure and Function, 2016-03, Vol.221 (2), p.913-922

Ort / Verlag

Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg

Erscheinungsjahr

2016

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

SpringerLink (Online service)

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The phantom sound perception mechanism by which a sound perception occurs without any external sound source is still enigmatic. According to our previous fMRI study, a small region in the parietal operculum 3 was hyperactivated as a function of tinnitus periodicity in subjects with acoustic trauma tinnitus sequelae. This region was localized in the vicinity of neural correlates of middle-ear tympano-ossicular chain movements due to pressure variations. Disturbed proprioceptors are known to trigger illusory perceptions; therefore, we hypothesized that a disturbance of middle-ear proprioceptors may originate phantom sound perceptions. We designed an fMRI study that aimed to stimulate middle-ear proprioceptors by repetitive vibrations using various rates of click trains. In this study, we report that exposure to specific rates of stimuli for a few minutes at comfortable intensity level in healthy subjects distinctly triggered transient tinnitus-like aftereffects. The fMRI neural correlates of the aftereffects were unequivocally localized in the same parietal region as in acoustic trauma tinnitus sufferers. Our results strongly suggest that a middle-ear kinesthetic/proprioceptive illusion exists at the origin of acoustic trauma tinnitus via a somatosensory pathway encompassing the trigeminal system.