The Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO) 2024 MidWinter Conference

[TuxedoCat]

I guess I'm still uncertain about how reliable the NHANES dataset is for analyzing people with and without tinnitus on a large scale, but it's intriguing nonetheless.

Hi @ZFire.

The NHANES definition of tinnitus is one of several others that make pooling data across countries difficult. Last year at the ARO, Christopher Cederroth related that they ran into this while studying whether there is a genetic basis for tinnitus. I recall a new study was needed because of the varying definitions. Maybe someday there will be a way for agreeing to one definition.

TC

 

[StoneInFocus]

Hey @StoneInFocus, I'm sorry that I haven't gotten back to you here. I had to prioritize a fundraiser that came up from the conference, my own work in the last few weeks, and trying to finish up the write-up on the ARO 2024 as soon as possible. I didn't get Megan Beers Wood's poster talk at the conference. I was primarily on desk duty as I couldn't dictate or understand a lot of the content of the talks, and I soon realized my skills were best used to network.

I did, however, find the transcript and poster for you. See attached.

She did a presentation we were invited to at a Hyperacusis Research dinner. There's a little more info on it here.

By this stage, it was late in the evening after a very long conference day, and I didn't have my notebook with me, so forgive my memory and lack of detail. If I recall correctly, the conclusion was that different types of mice could be used to advance the study (@TuxedoCat might be in a better position to elaborate).

I saw your other thread about your discussion with her, so maybe she'll be happy now to give you a more detailed update. She's a super friendly person and very committed to her research.

Hey, didn't Megan Beers Wood give three separate talks at ARO?

 

[TuxedoCat]

The first is by Stéphane Maison, Charles Liberman, Neural Signatures of Tinnitus in Subjects with Normal Hearing. It would be interesting to find out a bit more and ask them what solutions could reduce the cerebral hyperactivity that produces tinnitus. Bimodal stimulation? Molecules that open potassium channels? Other solutions? Finally, to get their point of view on the localisation of tinnitus. Is tinnitus located in the cochlear nuclei?

I know you had other questions for him. Since he has opened a dialog with Tinnitus Hub, I can reach out to him for answers.

Hi @Josh59,

I've heard back from Stephane Maison. The publication associated with his ARO poster is available at this link.

About solutions that could reduce hyperactivity in the brain he replied:

There's been several studies aimed at "retraining" the brain to address this maladaptive plasticity (central hyperactivity as a result of a peripheral deficit). This hyperactivity is present at many levels of the CNS, not just the cochlear nucleus. My recommendation would be to look at the work of Dr. Dan Polley on this matter.

I ran a PubMed search on Polley DB and got about 79 hits. Some of the publications are available free online. If you are so inclined, you might want to start there. I'm very curious about Dan Polley's work, so I'll be reading, too.

Whether a top-down or bottom-up approach explains tinnitus was somewhat of a topic at the ARO last year. @Hazel asked Achim Schilling about it, and his explanation is here.

We also understood he is working on a computational model of tinnitus which would take into account both approaches.

Best,
TC

 

[xela1225]

Hi, everyone. I saw this news.