Caffeine stimulates, among other things, a part of the brain that regulates attention. That is why it used to be used as a treatment for ADD. If you drink coffee, or stop drinking coffee, does it have any effect on the tinnitus?
Chimerix wrote:Fred588 wrote:Speculatively, I would suggest that it be remembered that sensory PERCEPTION is the brain's interpretation of input, in this case presumably coming from the ear or ears. This should mean that while something to do with the ear itself MAY be involved (and be thus amenable to treatment) the symptom could be arising in the sensory cortex or in any other part of the very complex system of sensory perception. For example, there is a part of the brain that regulates how much we pay attention to certain input. This is why, for example, people who live on cow ranches will report they do not smell the cows until someone brings up the subject. If the symptom arises from anywhere other than the ears then treatments involving the ears will do nothing, except perhaps lighten one's wallet.
The working theory, as I've gleaned it from numerous available sources, seems to be that the brain does not like an absence of stimuli. So, if your hearing is damaged and you no longer are receiving that stimulus, or at least not enough of it, the brain compensates by fabricating a sound. There are other factors which can exacerbate tinnitus, including stress, but it is overwhelmingly tied to hearing loss. The brain compensates, of you want to call it that, by introducing perceived sound.
If there's a name for the overall phenomenon, I've not found it yet, but it seems to me that this is akin to people who have lost limbs having phantom sensations, or people who have gone blind "seeing" phantom colors. I have some nerve damage that rendered part of my neck and throat paralyzed. That area is numb, I can't feel any tactile sensation when I touch it, but sometimes it causes me pain.
Brains are funny things.
