Auditory Gating in Tinnitus

Tinnitus is hearing a sound without an external source. Although the exact underlying causes of tinnitus are debated, one mechanism may be decreased central inhibition. Inhibition occurs at multiple levels of the central nervous system, with one level being auditory sensory gating. Sensory gating is when the brain automatically filters, or gates, sounds that are repetitive or unimportant, such as background noise.

A 2016 Emerging Research Grants scientist, Julia Campbell, Ph.D., Au.D., CCC-A, FAAA, has been investigating the role of auditory gating in tinnitus patients, those with typical hearing, and also those with typical hearing but difficulty hearing speech in noise. She shares her team's research including the goal of evaluating the clinical utility of gating as a measure of tinnitus in patients with varying degrees of hearing loss. Campbell is an assistant professor of communication sciences and disorders in the Central Sensory Processes Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin. Her 2016 Emerging Research Grant was generously funded by the Les Paul Foundation.

HHF’s research webinars are a live webinar series that shares the latest developments in hearing and balance research through our community of funded researchers. All sessions include an interactive Q&A with the speaker.

The series is moderated by Anil K. Lalwani, M.D., a member of HHF's Board of Directors and the head of HHF's Council of Scientific Trustees, which oversees the ERG program. He is a professor and the vice chair for research in the division of otology, neurology, and skull base surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, and a codirector at the Columbia Cochlear Implant Program.

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