The International Tinnitus Journal

Medical Significance of Tinnitus

The definition of tinnitus is considered to be dynamic and reflects the integration of clinical efforts of observation and neuroscience/ nuclear medicine identification of underlying mechanisms of tinnitus production. Tinnitus is defined in 1996 as a sensory disorder of auditory perception reflecting an aberrant auditory signal produced by interference in the excitatory/inhibitory processes involved in neurotransmission.Since 1979 the underlying mechanism is hypothesized as a dysynchronization which may occur in the peripheral or central nervous system, or both. Dysynchronization is a lack of synchrony or interference in timing of the discharge rate and phase locking of the auditory signal. This definition identifies tinnitus as a medical audiologic complaint and a symptom of neurotologic disease.