Modulating Tinnitus with Visual, Muscular, and Tactile Stimulation

ABSTRACT

Tinnitus can be evoked or modulated by inputs from somatosensory, somatomotor, and visual-motor systems in some individuals. This means that the psychoacoustic attributes of tinnitus might be changed temporarily during forceful muscle contractions of the head, neck, and limbs; eye movements in horizontal or vertical axis; myofascial trigger points; cutaneous stimulation of the hand or fingertip region; electrical stimulation of the median nerve and hand region; finger movements; or orofacial movements or pressure applied to the temporomandibular joint. Although there are still many aspects to be understood about the modulation phenomenon, these findings suggest that patients who are able to modulate their tinnitus should be included into a specific subgroup with guidelines for clinical practice and for whom special therapeutic strategies could be developed.

KEYWORDS

Tinnitus - somatosensory system - gaze-evoked - dorsal cochlear nucleus - myofascial trigger points

REFERENCES

• 1 Chen R, Cohen L G, Hallett M. Nervous system reorganization following injury.  Neuroscience. 2002;  111(4) 761-773
• 2 Cacace A T. Expanding the biological basis of tinnitus: crossmodal origins and the role of neuroplasticity.  Hear Res. 2003;  175(1–2) 112-132
• 3 Levine R A. Somatic modulation appears to be a fundamental attribute of tinnitus. In: Hazell JPW Proceedings of the Sixth International Tinnitus Seminar. London, UK; The Tinnitus and Hyperacusis Center 1999: 193-197
• 4 Levine R A. Somatic (craniocervical) tinnitus and the dorsal cochlear nucleus hypothesis.  Am J Otolaryngol. 1999;  20 351-362
• 5 Levine R A. Somatic modulation of tinnitus: prevalence and properties.  J Assoc Res Otolaryngol. 2000;  23 272A
• 6 Levine R A, Abel M. Somatic modulation of tinnitus. II: Prevalence and properties in non-clinical subjects. Midwinter Research Meeting of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology February 4–5, 2001 St. Petersburg, FL;
• 7 Levine R A, Cheng H. Somatic modulation of tinnitus. III: Prevalence and properties in profoundly deaf subjects. A functional cochlea is not necessary for somatic modulation of tinnitus.  J Assoc Res Otolaryngol. 2002;  25 89A
• 8 Sanchez T G, Guerra G CY, Lorenzi M C, Brandão A L, Bento R F. The influence of voluntary muscle contractions upon the onset and modulation of tinnitus.  Audiol Neurootol. 2002;  7 370-375
• 9 Abel M D, Levine R A. Muscle contractions and auditory perception in tinnitus patients and nonclinical subjects.  Cranio. 2004;  22(3) 181-191
• 10 Sanchez T G, Lima A S, Brandao A L, Lorenzi M C, Bento R F. Somatic modulation of tinnitus: test reliability and results after repetitive muscle contraction training.  Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol. 2007;  116(1) 30-35
• 11 Whittaker C K. Tinnitus and eye movement.  , [letter] Am J Otol. 1982;  4(2) 188
• 12 Whittaker C K. Letter to the editor.  Am J Otol. 1982;  4 188
• 13 House W A. Letter to the editor.  Am J Otol. 1982;  4 188
• 14 Whittaker C K. Letter to the editor.  Am J Otol. 1983;  4 273
• 15 Wall M, Rosenberg M, Richardson D. Gaze-evoked tinnitus.  Neurology. 1987;  37 1034-1036
• 16 Cacace A T, Lovely T J, Winter D F, Parnes S M, McFarland D J. Auditory perceptual and visual-spatial characteristics of gaze-evoked tinnitus.  Audiology. 1994;  33(5) 291-303
• 17 Giraud A L, Chéry-Croze S, Fischer G et al.. A selective imaging of tinnitus.  Neuroreport. 1999;  10(1) 1-5
• 18 Caraceni A, Scolari S, Gallino G, Simonetti F. Meningeal metastases from malignant melanoma presenting with gaze-evoked tinnitus.  Neurology. 1999;  53(9) 2207-2208
• 19 Herraiz C, Machado A, Hernandez F J, Tapia M C. A case report: gaze-evoked tinnitus. In: Hazell J Proceedings of the Sixth International Tinnitus Seminar. London, UK; The Tinnitus and Hyperacusis Centre 1999: 241-242
• 20 Lockwood A H, Wack D S, Burkard R F et al.. The functional anatomy of gaze-evoked tinnitus and sustained lateral gaze.  Neurology. 2001;  56 472-480
• 21 Biggs N D, Ramsden R T. Gaze-evoked tinnitus following acoustic neuroma resection: a de-afferentation plasticity phenomenon?.  Clin Otolaryngol Allied Sci. 2002;  27 338-343
• 22 Baguley D M, Phillips J, Humphriss R L, Jones S, Axon P R, Moffat D A. The prevalence and onset of gaze modulation of tinnitus and increased sensitivity to noise after translabyrinthine vestibular schwannoma excision.  Otol Neurotol. 2006;  27(2) 220-224
• 23 Bezerra Rocha C A, Sanchez T G, Tesseroli de Siqueira J T. Myofascial trigger points: another way of modulating tinnitus?.  Audiol Neurootol. 2008;  13 153-160
• 24 Cacace A T, Cousins J P, Parnes S M et al.. Cutaneous-evoked tinnitus phenomenology, psychophysics and functional imaging.  Audiol Neurootol. 1999;  4(5) 247-257
• 25 Kaada B, Hognestad S, Havstad J. Transcutaneous nerve stimulation (TNS) in tinnitus.  Scand Audiol. 1989;  18(4) 211-217
• 26 Moller A R, Moller M B, Yokota M. Some forms of tinnitus may involve the extralemniscal auditory pathway.  Laryngoscope. 1992;  102(10) 1165-1171
• 27 Rahko T, Kotti V. Tinnitus treatment by transcutaneous nerve stimulation (TNS).  Acta Otolaryngol Suppl. 1997;  529 88-89
• 28 Moller A R, Rollins P R. The non-classical auditory pathways are involved in hearing in children but not in adults.  Neurosci Lett. 2002;  319(1) 41-44
• 29 Cullington H. Tinnitus evoked by finger movement: brain plasticity after peripheral deafferentation.  Neurology. 2001;  56(7) 978
• 30 Rubinstein B. Tinnitus and craniomandibular disorders—is there a link?.  Swed Dent J Suppl. 1993;  95 1-46
• 31 Lockwood A H, Salvi R J, Coad M L, Towsley M L, Wack D S, Murphy B W. The functional neuroanatomy of tinnitus: evidence for limbic system links and neural plasticity.  Neurol (Tokyo). 1998;  50(1) 114-120
• 32 Coad M L, Lockwood A, Salvi R, Burkard R. Characteristics of patients with gaze-evoked tinnitus.  Otol Neurotol. 2001;  22(5) 650-654
• 33 Sanchez T G, Pio M R, Bento R F, Levine R A. Gaze-evoked tinnitus can resolve with a gaze-exercise program.  Am J Audiol. , In press
• 34 Cacace A T, Cousins J C, Moonen C TW, van Gelderen P, Winter D, Parnes S M. In-vivo localization of phantom auditory perceptions during functional magnetic resonance imaging of the human brain. In: Reich GE, JE Vernon Proceedings of the Fifth International Tinnitus Seminar 1995. Portland, Ore; American Tinnitus Association 1996: 397-401
• 35 Cacace A T, Parnes S M, Lovely T J, Winter D F, McFarland D J. Gaze-evoked tinnitus following unilateral peripheral auditory deafferentation: a case for anomalous cross-modal plasticity. In: Salvi R, Henderson D, Fiorino F, Colletti V Auditory System Plasticity and Regeneration. New York, NY; Thieme Medical Publishers 1996: 354-358
• 36 Herráiz C, Hernández-Calvín F J, Plaza G, Toledano A, De los Santos G. Interacción multisensorial en el acúfeno: evocación por movimientos oculares y estimulación somatosensorial.  Acta Otorrinolaringol Esp. 2003;  54 329-336
• 37 Cowand J L, Wrisley D M, Walker M, Strasnick B, Jacobson J T. Efficacy of vestibular rehabilitation.  Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 1998;  118 49-54
• 38 Bittar R SM, Pedalini M EB, Formigoni L G. Reabilitação vestibular: uma arma poderosa no auxílio a pacientes portadores de tontura.  Rev Bras Otorrinolaringol (Engl Ed). 1999;  65 266-269
• 39 El-Kashlan H K, Telian A S. Diagnosis and initiating treatment for peripheral system disorders: imbalance and dizziness with normal hearing.  Otolaryngol Clin North Am. 2000;  33(3) 563-578
• 40 Johansson M, Akerlund D, Larsen H C, Andersson G. Randomized controlled trial of vestibular rehabilitation combined with cognitive-behavioral therapy for dizziness in older people.  Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2001;  125 151-156
• 41 Bittar R SM, Pedalini M EB, Medeiros I RT, Bottino M A, Bento R F. Reabilitação vestibular na criança: estudo preliminar.  Rev Bras Otorrinolaringol (Engl Ed). 2002;  68(4) 496-499
• 42 Sanchez T G, Marcondes R A, Kii M A et al.. A different case of tinnitus modulation by tactile stimuli in a patient with pulsatile tinnitus. Presented at the II Meeting of Tinnitus Research Initiative 2007 Monaco;
• 43 Moller A R. Pathophysiology of tinnitus.  Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol. 1984;  93 39-44
• 44 Moller A R, Moller M B, Jannetta P J, Jho H D. Compound action potentials recorded from the exposed eighth nerve in patients with intractable tinnitus.  Laryngoscope. 1992;  102 187-197
• 45 Hotta T, Kameda K. Interactions between somatic and visual or auditory responses in the thalamus of the cat.  Exp Neurol. 1963;  8 1-13
• 46 Thompson R F, Smith H E, Bliss D. Auditory, somatic, sensory, and visual response interactions and interrelations in association and primary cortical fields of the cat.  J Neurophysiol. 1963;  26 365-378
• 47 Wright D D, Ryugo D K. Mossy fiber projections from the cuneate nucleus to the cochlear nucleus in the rat.  J Comp Neurol. 1996;  365 159-172
• 48 Young E D. Identification of response properties of ascending axons from dorsal cochlear nucleus.  Brain Res. 1980;  200 23-37
• 49 Young E D, Nelken I, Conley R A. Somatosensory effects on neurons in dorsal cochlear nucleus.  J Neurophysiol. 1995;  73 743-765
• 50 Jastreboff P J. Phantom auditory perception (tinnitus): mechanisms of generation and perception.  Neurosci Res. 1990;  8 221-254
• 51 Travell J, Simons D G. Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual, Upper Half of Body. Vol. 1. 2nd ed. Baltimore, Md; Williams & Wilkins 1999
• 52 Aronoff G M. Myofascial pain syndrome and fibromyalgia: a critical assessment and alternate view.  Clin J Pain. 1998;  14 74-78
• 53 Davidoff R A. Trigger points and myofascial pain: towards understanding how they affect headaches.  Cephalalgia. 1998;  18 436-448
• 54 Hong C Z. Consideration and recommendation of myofascial trigger point injection.  J Musculoskeletal Pain. 1994;  2 29-59
• 55 Eriksson M, Gustafsson S, Axelsson A. Tinnitus and trigger points: a randomized cross-over study. In: Reich GE, Vernon JA Proceedings of the Fifth International Tinnitus Seminar. Portland, Ore; American Tinnitus Association 1995: 81-83
• 56 Travell J, Simons D G. Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual, the Upper Extremities. Baltimore, Md; Williams & Wilkins 1983
• 57 Wang F, Audette J. Electrophysiological characteristics of the local twitch response in subjects with active myofascial pain of the neck compared with a control group with latent trigger points.  Am J Phys Med Rehabil. 2000;  79 203
• 58 Perl E R. Sensitization of nociceptors and its relation to sensation. In: Bonica JJ, Albe-Fessard D Advances in Pain Research and Therapy. New York, NY; Raven Press 1976: 17-28
• 59 Sola A E, Bonica J J. Myofascial pain syndromes. In: Bonica JJ The Management of Pain. Vol. 1. 2nd ed. Philadelphia, Pa; Lea and Febiger 1990: 352-357
• 60 Hubbard D R, Berkoff G M. Myofascial trigger points show spontaneous needle EMG activity.  Spine. 1993;  18 1803-1807
• 61 Adams D A, Wilmot T J. Ménière's disease: long-term results of sympathectomy.  J Laryngol Otol. 1982;  96 705-710
• 62 Moller A R. Similarities between chronic pain and tinnitus.  Am J Otol. 1997;  18 577-585
• 63 Rocha C A, Sanchez T G. Myofascial trigger points: another way of modulating tinnitus.  Prog Brain Res. 2007;  166 209-214