Global Health Asia-Pacific Issue 5 | 2022 Issue 5 | 2022 | Page 58

Tinnitus seems linked with sleep – understanding how could bring us closer to finding a cure

Authors : Linus Milinski , Doctoral Researcher in neuroscience , University of Oxford ; Fernando Nodal , Department Lecturer , Auditory Neuroscience Group , University of Oxford ; Victoria Bajo Lorenzana , Associate Professor of Neuroscience , University of Oxford ; Vladyslav Vyazovskiy , Professor of Sleep Physiology , University of Oxford .
This article was published in The Conversation in May 2022 : https :// theconversation . com / tinnitus-seems-linked-with-sleepunderstanding-how-could-bring-us-closer-to-finding-a-cure-182711 . Global Health Asia-Pacific is republishing it under Creative Commons licence .

Around 15 % of the world ’ s population suffers from tinnitus , a condition which causes someone to hear a sound ( such as ringing or buzzing ) without any external source . It ’ s often associated with hearing loss .

Not only can the condition be annoying for sufferers , it can also have a serious effect on mental health , often causing stress or depression . This is especially the case for patients suffering from tinnitus over months or years .
There ’ s currently no cure for tinnitus . So finding a way to better manage or treat it could help many millions of people worldwide .
And one area of research that may help us better understand tinnitus is sleep . There are many reasons for this . First , tinnitus is a phantom percept . This is when our brain activity makes us see , hear or smell things that aren ’ t there . Most people only experience phantom perceptions when they ’ re asleep . But for people with tinnitus , they hear phantom sounds while they ’ re awake .
The second reason is because tinnitus alters brain activity , with certain areas of the brain ( such as those involved in hearing ) potentially being more active than they should be . This may also explain how phantom percepts happen . When we sleep , activity in these same
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