Alleviation of Tinnitus With High-Frequency Stimulation of the Dorsal Cochlear Nucleus: A Rodent Study.
Gusta van Zwieten, Ali Jahanshahi, Marlieke L van Erp and 4 others
PMID 30868944WHAT IT FOUND
High-frequency stimulation of the dorsal cochlear nucleus reduced tinnitus-like behavior in rats with noise-induced hearing loss.
This did not change hearing thresholds or alter neural activity markers in the brain, suggesting the mechanism is not simple restoration of input or inhibition.
Key findings
01Bilateral high-frequency stimulation of the dorsal cochlear nucleus significantly decreased the gap:no-gap ratio, a measure of tinnitus-like behavior, in rats after noise exposure.
02The stimulation did not affect hearing thresholds, as measured by auditory brainstem responses.
03There was no significant effect of the stimulation on c-Fos expression, a marker of neural activity, in the inferior colliculus, medial geniculate body, or primary auditory cortex.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study was conducted in rats, and the results may not translate to humans. The sample size was small (10 rats), limiting statistical power. There was no control group for the immunohistochemical analysis to compare against a healthy state. The mechanism of action is unclear, as neural activity markers did not change. The surgical approach to the DCN in humans is invasive and complex, and has not been performed for tinnitus in a clinical setting.
Declared interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests. The study was approved by the Animal Experiments and Ethics Committee of Maastricht University.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret this as evidence that dorsal cochlear nucleus stimulation is a viable treatment for human tinnitus. This is an animal study with a small sample size, and the mechanism of action remains unknown.