I don't think you understand what neuro-plastic models are proposing.
in a nutshell the brain compensating to hearing loss by making a phantom noise
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ear plugs, ear wax, middle ear bone disfunction, hair cell damage, synapse damage, Audiotory nerve damage, central hearing damage in the brain all can cause tinnitus because they all share one thing in common
(depriving hearing input.)
Its stating tinnitus likely has something to do with higher brain functions compensating for hearing deprivation no matter what form of hearing loss it is. That's the most logical explanation because ear wax, acoustic trauma and AN sevaration all can be explained in one hypothesis as opposed to NMDA models which to my knowledge don't have an explanation.
What and why the brain is doing this is very poorly understood but it's suggested tinnitus and phantom limb pain, chronic pain are similar and need to be cross discipline researched. I am personally subscribed to the idea and would be very surprised if models of tinnitus being neurological phantom compensation for hearing loss are wrong.
I am just curious why auris medical had a largely separate model of tinnitus that doesn't match with the hypothesis
once again I am not qualified in any sense to come to conclusions of my own, I am just curious on why there are contradictions, one group says less input from the audiotory nerve and the other says more. If i'm missing something I'd love to be corrected if I'm missing something and would change my mind in a hearbeat if this model could be disproved by a future study but so far it holds its ground. Tinnitus isn't showing evidence of being peripheral but rather central.