Tinnitus and Emotional Processing – Are They Related?
Millions of people around the world suffer from tinnitus, which can be very debilitating depending on the severity. If you have tinnitus and it doesn’t bother you then that might have something to do with the way your brain processes emotions. The University of Illinois conducted a study that revealed that people who have tinnitus also process emotional sounds differently. The study also showed that there are differences in the areas of the brain that are used for processing emotions.
Once a person develops tinnitus, the brain has to find ways to adapt. Tinnitus is a symptom of an underlying health condition or a result of being exposed to loud sounds or taking ototoxic medications. Tinnitus is the experience of hearing sounds such as ringing or buzzing in the ears even though there is no sound present.
How Does Tinnitus Effect Emotional Processing?
During the study, participants had an MRI, and researchers were able to see changes in the blood oxygen levels in the brain. Researchers studied the brain activity of people both with and without tinnitus. Participants in the study were subjected to an equal amount of pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral sounds. Examples of sounds include things like children giggling, a baby crying, and a bottle of water opening.
The results of the MRI of people with tinnitus showed that certain parts of brain activity increased when exposed to emotional-triggering sounds. Researchers looked at the results and compared them to each other based on the varying degrees of severity of tinnitus for the patients. After researchers compared the tinnitus participants, they then compared the non-tinnitus partakers. All of the comparisons were to see how people reacted and adjusted to the sounds they heard. Some people with tinnitus got used to the sounds while others did not. This is all based on the severity of the person’s tinnitus.
How are Tinnitus and Emotional Processing Connected?
The level of severity of tinnitus varies for each person, which means that each person’s experience with tinnitus is unique. For some people, they are bothered by their tinnitus, and it only irritates them occasionally, while other people have a reduced quality of life because of their tinnitus. Some experience symptoms from their tinnitus such as depression, anxiety, trouble sleeping, irritability, and mood swings.
Before the study began, participants with tinnitus were first given surveys to determine their symptoms and quality of life. After the study, participants were given a second MRI with varying sounds, and it revealed that people with less severe tinnitus had a different way of processing emotional information. Patients whose tinnitus was less severe seemed to use more of the brain’s frontal lobe to handle the emotional sounds. This is notable because typically the frontal lobe is used for paying attention during situations, planning, and controlling impulses.
In conclusion, this evidence from this research indicates that increased frontal lobe activity can help control emotional responses and reduce tinnitus symptoms.
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