gms | German Medical Science

24. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Audiologie

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Audiologie e. V.

14.09. - 17.09.2022, Erfurt

A MEG study on frequency specificity of network activity in chronic tinnitus patients: preliminary results

Meeting Abstract

  • presenting/speaker Daniela Korth - Universitätsklinikum Jena, Jena, DE
  • Vasiliki Salvari - Institut für Biomagnetismus und Biosignalanalyse, Münster, DE
  • Evangelos Paraskevopoulos - Aristoteles-Universität Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, GR
  • Andreas Wollbrink - Institut für Biomagnetismus und Biosignalanalyse, Münster, DE
  • Daniela Ivansic - Universitätsklinikum Jena, Jena, DE
  • Orlando Guntinas-Lichius - Universitätsklinikum Jena, Jena, DE
  • Carsten Klingner - Universitätsklinikum Jena, Jena, DE
  • Christo Pantev - Institut für Biomagnetismus und Biosignalanalyse, Münster, DE
  • Christian Dobel - Universitätsklinikum Jena, Jena, DE

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Audiologie e.V.. 24. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Audiologie. Erfurt, 14.-17.09.2022. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2022. Doc202

doi: 10.3205/22dga202, urn:nbn:de:0183-22dga2025

Veröffentlicht: 12. September 2022

© 2022 Korth et al.
Dieser Artikel ist ein Open-Access-Artikel und steht unter den Lizenzbedingungen der Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (Namensnennung). Lizenz-Angaben siehe http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.


Gliederung

Text

Objective: Tinnitus has been associated with a pathology of cortical brain networks that involves structural changes of auditory and non-auditory areas of the brain [1]. Numerous resting state studies have replicated a tinnitus network being maladaptively organized compared to healthy-controls [2]. Yet, it is still unknown whether the cortical reorganization is attributed to the patients individual tinnitus frequency specifically or if it is frequency irrelevant.

Methods: By employing magnetoencephalography (MEG), the current study aimed at objectively assessing frequency-specificity of cortical activation patterns by using the tinnitus tone (TT) of the patients respective individual tinnitus frequency and a 500 Hz-control tone (CT) as auditory stimuli, across 54 tinnitus patients. The obtained MEG data were analyzed with regard to event-related fields in brain source space and functional connectivity with a graph-based whole-head data-driven approach. Patients were asked to answer psychometric questionnaires to provide behavioral evidence regarding psychopathological symptoms.

Results: The results of the event-related source space analysis revealed a statistically significant cortical activation pattern by TT stimulation that involved fronto-parietal regions being related to higher level cognitive function of attention and emotion in the context of tinnitus processing. Activation patterns during CT stimulation mainly involved activation in auditory-related brain regions. Functional connectivity identified a reorganized cortical brain network for TT stimulation comprising left fronto-temporal, fronto-parietal and tempo-parietal junctions, which is in consistence with previous findings of an atypical widespread tinnitus network. Behavioral measures predicted activity in tinnitus-related brain regions.

Conclusion: Overall, the results suggest frequency-specificity of tinnitus-related cortical patterns.


References

1.
Husain FT, Schmidt SA. Using resting state functional connectivity to unravel networks of tinnitus. Hear Res. 2014; 307:153–62.
2.
Mirz F, Gjedde A, Ishizu K, Pedersen CB. Cortical networks subserving the perception of tinnitus--a PET study. Acta oto-laryngologica. 2000; 543:241–3.