Development of the world’s first method for the objective detection of tinnitus

Scientists have developed the world’s first method to objectively detect and measure tinnitus, using non-invasive, non-radioactive imaging technology.

Researchers from Bionics and Deakin University in Australia used near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure changes in blood oxygen levels within brain tissue, in areas known to be consistent with external auditory stimuli and phenomenon called tinnitus.

Tinnitus is a condition where people experience a ringing, hissing, roar, or loud ringing in their ears. This can take the form of single or multiple tones, which can create a constant discordant sound in the patient’s head.

The condition affects 20% of the adult population and, in extreme cases, can cause high levels of stress, depression and cognitive impairment.

There was no clinically used method to detect and measure the severity of the condition, with patients relying instead on subjective methods such as tinnitus stocks.

The researchers sought to correct this problem by developing a methodology to objectively measure the condition. They collected brain scan data from 25 people with chronic tinnitus and 21 controls, matched with age and hearing loss, as the participants were at rest while exposed to auditory and visual stimuli.

They found that the brain’s response to both visual and auditory stimuli was impaired among patients with tinnitus. A machine learning algorithm was then applied to the data and was finally able to distinguish patients with mild symptoms from those with severe tinnitus with an accuracy of 87.32%.

“Just like the sensation itself, the severity of a person’s tinnitus was previously known only to a person with the condition. Our ability to track the complex changes tinnitus induces in a patient’s brain is critical to the development of tinnitus. new treatments, “the researchers wrote.

Source: RT