What is Tinnitus? Who is affected?
Tinnitus is the sense of noise or ringing in the ears. In a person experiencing tinnitus, the brain creates phantom sounds and the brain interprets noise differently. For some of those patients, it intrudes on activities of daily living, worsens behavioral and emotional distress, disrupts sleep, and impairs concentration. Currently, tinnitus diagnosis and severity are mostly determined by self-reported symptoms and validated surveys.
What is the study's goal?
Tinnitus is invisible to the people around you so we are looking for a way to visualize it so that we can diagnose it, design effective treatments, determine what treatments may be more effective for different people impacted, etc. This could help us design treatments and see if they are working.
Who may be eligible for the study?
We are seeking individuals:
- 18 to 75 years old
- With tinnitus ("ringing in the ears")
- Without tinnitus to serve as a control
- Availability to participate in three visits and willingness to travel to St. Paul for one of the visits
How long is the research study?
Participation in the study will take 3 separate visits. The total length of time to complete this study is anywhere between 2.5-4 hours over the course of 1 week or more depending on how quickly we are able to schedule your neuroimaging appointments.
What are participants asked to do?
You will be asked to first complete an online eligibility questionnaire. If eligible you will be invited to come to campus to complete a hearing screening test. If you pass the hearing test, then you will be asked to complete questionnaires afterwards. If eligible, you will also be asked to complete the neuro-imaging potion of the study, which includes a magnetoencephalography (MEG) scan and a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. See "Study Visits" page for more information.
Will participants be paid for the Tinnitus study?
Payment is provided after completion of each task at the end of the visits. Total payment is $300 for all three visits.