Mapping Phantom Sounds

Deciphering the aberrant brain circuitry that creates an annoying ringing in the ears – tinnitus – is tricky. In theory, it would require a sufferer to have electrodes inserted into their brain, but such invasive investigations would be unethical. Now, a rare patient, who required electrode monitoring for their severe epilepsy and who also suffers from tinnitus, has provided a unique opportunity. Researchers compared the patient’s brain activity during tinnitus with that in response to real sound – matched in frequency to the tinnitus – and ruled out possible confounding activity caused by the epilepsy. The resulting activity map (pictured) revealed that whereas response to an actual sound involved activity solely in the primary auditory cortex, perception of tinnitus involved numerous widespread regions of the brain. Though tinnitus appears to be much more complicated than previously thought, the map should help guide the way to a deeper understanding of the condition.

Written by Ruth Williams

Ruth Williams

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Ruth is a freelance science journalist based in the US. She's a regular correspondent for The Scientist, and her work has appeared in The Lancet, Nature, Scientific American Mind, BBC Focus and elsewhere. Twitter @rooph

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• Image by William Sedley and colleagues
• The University of Iowa, USA
• Originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Published in Current Biology, May 2015