13/11/2020
Does your tinnitus change pitch when you clench your jaw?
This 2010 publication is a tough one, but the information is very intriguing.
Although not the purpose of the paper, this statement sticks out:
"Cross-modal compensations in subcortical structures may contribute to tinnitus and its modulation by jaw-clenching and eye movements."
What does that mean?
Brain areas that are responsible for sensory processing other than sound are potentially being used to help process sound when there is little of it (like in hearing loss). For example, hearing loss and tinnitus often accompany each other--so it's interesting that the brain uses other sensory regions (very commonly visual processing centers) to help interpret or use auditory information (cross-modal reorganization). Therefore, maybe it's not too far fetched that in patients with tinnitus, the reason that perceived pitch is affected by a clenched jaw is because that specific clenching activity implicates cortical regions that have been repurposed to help process sound!
Tinnitus is a phantom sound (ringing of the ears) that affects quality of life for millions around the world and is associated in most cases with hearing impairment. This symposium will consider evidence that deafferentation of tonotopically organized central auditory structures leads to increased n...
