Tinnitus Pathways Overview

Neuro scientists have been in intense discussion on neuro boards on what causes tinnitus. The pathways that lead to the brain and pathways within the brain.

Mix and match: Any one or all.
1. Some get tinnitus from noise exposure where hearing cells die and end up with a hearing deduction.
2. Some get tinnitus from limbic - emotions
3. Some get tinnitus from physical or disease conditions

It's known that there are two pathways where tinnitus leads to the brain. One is by the auditory nerve also sometimes in reference as the cochlear nerve, vestibulocochlear and vestibular nerve or VIII cranial nerve.

But there's another pathway called the parallel pathway - a somatic pathway. Poster A may have tinnitus that utilizes the auditory pathway from ear damage, but poster B with a physical condition may have more tinnitus influence thru the parallel pathway. If one has tinnitus that increases or decrease from movement then there is some influence to the parallel pathway. The parallel pathway can also be in use if one's tinnitus increases or decreases at certain times.

Then what happens within the brain.

When the brain receives a sensory stimulus indicating a danger, it is routed first to the thalamus. From there, the information is sent over two parallel pathways: The thalamo-amygdala pathway (the short route) and the thalamo-cortico-amygdala (the long route). This is well accepted by neuro scientists.

Tinnitus caused by too little inhibition of brain auditory circuits, study finds

So what's the point in knowing what pathways are used with one's tinnitus.