Here is an article from John Hopkins University School of Medicine...about learning to hear and a possible pathway to causing tinnitus.
Although this self-stimulation process disappears after hearing begins, Bergles says that if this pathway were reactivated following injury, it could lead to tinnitus, or "ringing" in the ear. Further understanding of this early signaling, he says, may lead to new strategies for improving the integration and performance of cochlear implants and speeding recovery from sound-induced trauma.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-11-cells-ear.html#jCp
Although this self-stimulation process disappears after hearing begins, Bergles says that if this pathway were reactivated following injury, it could lead to tinnitus, or "ringing" in the ear. Further understanding of this early signaling, he says, may lead to new strategies for improving the integration and performance of cochlear implants and speeding recovery from sound-induced trauma.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-11-cells-ear.html#jCp