Pain-Free Living

The Relationship Between Chronic Pain and Tinnitus

New research from Georgetown University and Germany’s Technische Universität München has found a relationship between chronic pain and tinnitus, or ringing in the ears.

Josef Rauschecker, an expert in tinnitus and lead author of the review, says that in both disorders, the brain responds to an injury by reorganizing its sensory apparatus. Tinnitus can occur from ear damage after loud noise, and chronic pain can result from an injury that still persists in the brain despite being healed externally. Both occur because the brain cannot adequately reduce the sensations produced by the initial injury.

Both tinnitus and chronic pain are caused by changes in two regions of the front of the brain — the nucleus accumbens, or the reward and learning center, and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which is involved in decision-making. Structural MRI studies have shown that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex is smaller in people with either condition, specifically indicating that less gray matter (a type of brain tissue involved in processes such as muscle control and sensory perception) is present. And MRIs of those with tinnitus or chronic pain show more brain activity in the nucleus accumbens.

Previous studies have shown that these regions of the brain are also linked to depression, insomnia, and anxiety.

The review, published last week in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences, could help in the development of therapies for these two conditions, which so far have been difficult to treat.

 

Last Reviewed October 1, 2015

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