January 2021: Vote on Your Favourite Research Paper!

It's such a diverse problem. Some things on this list are new to me. I couldn't imagine.

I put my vote on the hyperacusis issue. I get hyperacusis when I have a tinnitus spike.

 

It's difficult to pick one, but I chose "The neural networks underlying tinnitus distress revealed using music and rest."

It reminded me of what Rick Beato said in that video I posted, that he would notice how his tinnitus reduced after a mixing session followed by sleep. He is clued up on the science of stuff also.

In fact, I think he'd be an excellent candidate for the Tinnitus Talk Podcast considering he has over 2 million followers.

At the very least, he is worth reaching out to to see if he'd be interested in doing another tinnitus-related video on his main channel, rather than his live one. If we could get him onboard it would bring in a considerable amount of views.

 

The problem with these votes is that most people vote for the topic they find most interesting (nothing personal! nor do I think that this is a bad initiative).

This paper interviewed 74 people with tinnitus and decreased sound tolerance. They conclude that there is a positive correlation between tinnitus and hyperacusis. Nothing new here. While it's good to have a scientific confirmation of this, it adds nothing to a cure for either.

To add: I think very few of us know how to differentiate between a crappy and a great paper, myself included.

I need to read more of the papers before I cast my vote.

 

Hell, you have to have a PhD to vote. LOL.

 

That's what I did.

 

I voted because I had hyperacusis recently when my spike happened. I have very minimal hyperacusis only to a few sounds. Like plates hitting each other. I can live with tinnitus but not with spikes and hyperacusis.

I wish they would do more studies about diet and tinnitus. My spike happened after eating too much sugar. I don't think it was random.

 

First on list is by far my favorite:
Increased serum lipid levels in patients with subjective tinnitus

Cholesterol, triglyceride, and low-density lipoprotein levels (serum lipid levels are often higher pre tinnitus and with tinnitus.

Frequency of hypertension, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein and triglyceride averages and mean frequencies obtained by hearing test are significantly higher. Comparison of THI and VAS groups showed that intima-media thickness was significantly different between those having a mild tinnitus and those having a severe tinnitus. Increased intima-media thickness was associated with the severity of subjective non-pulsatile tinnitus and hearing loss. For this reason, researchers suggest that the carotid system should also be examined in subjective non-pulsatile tinnitus patients. Some researchers have found in certain non hypertension groups that lowering of serum lipid levels will often lower severe tinnitus.

 

There was no clear winner since none of the studies really advanced research in the direction of a medical solution of tinnitus. Unfortunately again, many studies address tinnitus management which doesn't help to solve the problem. I mean most members here could write a summary of what you can do to help you cope, so actually we should get paid.

I actually think we should also vote each month which papers we consider useless, or rate the usefulness of papers on a 1-5 scale. Sending a message to those scientists. I mean, this time we have a TRT study about patient trust in TRT, after TRT has been shown to be not more useful than standard of care (information, psychological support) in a study last year. If TRT's effectiveness over standard of care has been disproven or at least is in serious question, you do not make a study about how to improve the effect of TRT (by increasing trust in TRT) because as per current opinion there is no effect upon which to improve. You first have to show that the study that disproved effectiveness was flawed but you'd probably end up reinforcing that one, that TRT is useless.

If tinnitus patients never evaluate the work of researchers (studies), how are they supposed to realize that they're wasting money? In a perfect world they would obviously ask patient organisations what tinnitus patients actually need and then act upon the needs we communicate them, but at least that way we can show them that what they believe we need is far away from what we actually need.

In the end I picked the veteran one. It should help a bit if people realize what effects tinnitus has on wellbeing/mental health.

 

Zero point in doing that.

This poll already shows that in reverse; papers that receive the least votes are the most useless. It's the whole point of this exercise, I think.

 

Even though it wasn't my top choice I would be interested in mobile phones and their effect on tinnitus.

Have these articles been published? If so, where can I find them? A lot of them seem interesting.

 

None of this actually addresses a cure for tinnitus.

 

Good point. I voted for this one because I find my hyperacusis more debilitating than my tinnitus. The paper may be largely stating the obvious. What I really want to know is, supposing an effective cure is found for tinnitus, will it cure my hyperacusis at the same time, or will it still leave me with that condition?

 

Ultimately, I voted for:

Mental health symptoms among veteran VA users by tinnitus severity: A population-based survey.

I think it needs to be emphasized just how prevalent tinnitus is in the veteran community (and also the general public). Almost 50% of the 891 veterans they surveyed reported severe or very severe tinnitus. That in conjunction with the increased likelihood of PTSD and depression, indicates that tinnitus should be considered a mental health crisis that needs to be addressed.

 

According to Wikipedia, hyperacusis and tinnitus are separate conditions. I haven’t seen any theories about their correlation. My personal experience is that they are two sides of one coin and I often wonder whether maybe people with tinnitus should be careful around sounds. Since tinnitus is so prevalent amongst the general population, I think it’s a valid inquiry.

 

These papers sparked my interest:

• Increased serum lipid levels in patients with subjective tinnitus
• Prediction of acoustic residual inhibition of tinnitus using a brain-inspired spiking neural network
• Spontaneous brain activity underlying auditory hallucinations in the hearing-impaired
• The neural networks underlying tinnitus distress revealed using music and rest
• Tinnitus elicited by sensory deprivation in an entropy maximization recurrent neural network
• Investigating fluoxetine and alprazolam in treatment of chronic tinnitus: A placebo-controlled study
• Decreased sound tolerance in tinnitus patients

After reading the abstracts, these 3 remained:

• Prediction of acoustic residual inhibition of tinnitus using a brain-inspired spiking neural network
• Spontaneous brain activity underlying auditory hallucinations in the hearing-impaired
• Tinnitus elicited by sensory deprivation in an entropy maximization recurrent neural network

I'd probably vote for all 3 if I could, but I choose:

• Tinnitus elicited by sensory deprivation in an entropy maximization recurrent neural network

Mainly because I think this is an exciting new approach to brain research.

 

A marge majority of people who have hyperacusis say they also have tinnitus. See this (obviously small and not scientific) poll:

Poll: Do You Have Hyperacusis without Tinnitus?

Don't get me wrong, I don't consider the paper a waste of resources. But others are better imo.

 

Yes, I’m aware from speaking to other people with hyperacusis, however listening to people with tinnitus, it doesn’t seem as most of them are particularly worried about exposing themselves to sounds. Is it because it really doesn’t hurt them or because they don’t realise it’s sensitising them and making their condition worse. I have a friend who said in the beginning of her tinnitus she went ‘ouch’ when exposed to loud sounds and she has changed her kettle to a more silent one... I’m not sure what she’s going through as she’s not explained it adequately but she seems to cope with a hearing aid to amplify external sounds and only experiences some minor suffering from the tinnitus. She said she felt lucky to speak to a knowledgeable and well respected audiologist at the time.

There needs in any case be further studies on the way the two interact and whether they enforce each other. Is hyperaucis a more reactive response to stimuli that other people respond to with tinnitus? We don’t know but I think it’s pretty important to gather research on this aspect of the disorder as it would logically branch into the actual mechanisms behind the two, and perhaps finally we can move on from this paralysing lack of insight.

I’ll admit I didn’t put that much mind into my choice. I’m quite debilitated by brain fog and tinnitus and other issues.

 

Sorry for being dumb! lol.

 

I voted for "At-home meditation for tinnitus management" because I hope that I could cure myself, without medication. It won't work, I'm sure, but I hope it might.