Neural Synchronization Stability in the Tinnitus Decompensation

Neural correlates of psychophysiological tinnitus models in humans may be used for their neurophysiological validation as well as for their refinement and improvement to better understand the pathogenesis of the tinnitus decompensation and to develop new therapeutic approaches. In this study, we try to identify neural correlates of cortico-cortical top-down projections based on the Jastreboff tinnitus model combined with the adaptive resonance theory of Grossberg which has not been applied to the problem of tinnitus so far. In particular, the neural synchronization stability. In single sweep sequences of late auditory evoked potentials is evaluated by the wavelet phase coherence in the time-scale domain. The synchronization stability, which is according to the underlying model linked to the focus of attention on the tinnitus signal, discriminated between a group of compensated and decompensated tinnitus patients. It is concluded that top-down processes according to the adaptive resonance theory basically represent the influences of the limbic and autonomic nervous system in the Jastreboff tinnitus model. The neural correlates of these processes are globally reflected in the synchronization stability of late auditory evoked potentials and may be useful as objective tinnitus decompensation measure