"We found essentially that almost all the hearing parts of the brain are involved, plus a number of other areas of the brain related to processing emotion and memory and attention."
-- "
Finally Researchers Finding New Clues About Tinnitus." WBUR, May 8, 2015.
T is solely caused by hearing loss. Period. Now you could ask what about those that have no hearing loss? How can you tell that they do not actually have
some hearing loss? How accurate is a standard hearing test nowadays anyway? Perhaps the damage of one single hair cell alone is enough to acquire some degree of T. Even if you couldn't perceive it 'cause it's too subtle (silent).
Keep in mind, 90% of those that acquire hearing loss get T. Same goes for those that lose a limb they get phantom pain. It's all about the nerves. If we acquire nerve damage our brain simply can't handle it. The brain desperately tries the make up for the lost signals. It doesn't get that the damage is beyond repair and that we suffer greatly.
Now why are there so many other areas simultaneously active in the brain of T patients?
Isn't it obvious? The auditory cortexes do affect other areas in the brain. Why? How come that music can stir our emotions so profoundly?
We have music, we have poetry, acting, we have voices, take a movie for example now imagine there was no atmospheric background music how would that feel? What happens when we hear someone crying or laughing? It's all on an emotional level. We are sensual beings.
Simply put, the sense of hearing is a very, if not the most, powerful sense we possess. Hence no wonder we suffer greatly. Well, those of us that have loud T, that is. It's all about the volume! Let me ask you this, do you think your neighbor would complain about your music (at 2 am in the morning) if they couldn't hear it through their walls? So it's common sense that volume matters. If my T was faint in the background, I wouldn't complain as much as I do here or suffer as greatly.
What about those that claim that volume doesn't matter?
They do not mean it
literally, what they mean is: it does not matter to them. And why should it? They can't hear it. Nobody can hear it, but you. Moreover, if they told you from the beginning that volume indeed matters they would discourage and disgruntle potential clients. It's like coca cola were to admit publicly that they essentially just sell sugar water, which is actually profoundly unhealthy when being consumed on a daily basis. Long term side effect is diabetes. Still it's being sold like bread.
However, there's one more factor
perception is reality. What does this actually mean?
It means there are T patients that know nothing about T or psychology and they may actually
experiencing mild T but believe that they have killer T. In that case, and let me be clear only in that case, psychology can be prudent. For instance, if you turn the faucet on can you still hear your T? If not, your T is probably not that bad at all. That's just one example and the list goes on. At some point you figure if you really have killer T or not. Unfortunately I do.
Now we can all go on speculate and debate on how one day there will be a final
real treatment for this insane ailment like they did 20 years ago, look at them now, but that won't change one thing. If we all were scientists, wasting our time with a solution for hearing loss, maybe we would do something fruitful. Unfortunately, most of us just waste their lifespan with mundane things; like arguing here. So there's little to no hope.
What about those that do research right now? I could go on for books about them but it's a waste of time.
Last but not least, a cure is as realistic as the possibility of us humans colonizing other solar systems in 2015. I know, call me a realist.