Inhibition-induced plasticity in tinnitus patients after repetitive exposure to tailor-made notched music

• Reduction in tinnitus related neural activity and subjectively perceived tinnitus loudness was achieved after three days of tailor-made notched music exposure.
• Auditory stimulation with tailor-made notched music evokes inhibition-induced plasticity in a widespread tinnitus network.
• Repetitive stimulation with tailor-made notched music results in an accumulation of inhibition-induced plasticity.

ObjectiveNotch-filtered music has been shown to induce frequency-specific inhibition. Here, we investigated which cortical structures are affected by tailor-made notched music (TMNM) in tinnitus patients and how this inhibition-induced plasticity develops over time.MethodsNine subjects suffering from chronic tonal tinnitus listened to music passing through a notch-filter centered at the patient’s individual tinnitus frequency (TMNM) for three hours on three consecutive days. Before and after each listening session, a tone at the tinnitus frequency and a control tone of 500 Hz were presented in the magnetoencephalograph. Subjective tinnitus loudness was measured via visual analog scales.ResultsTMNM exposure reduced subjective tinnitus loudness and neural activity evoked by the tinnitus tone in temporal, parietal and frontal regions within the N1m time interval. Reduction of temporal and frontal activation correlated significantly with tinnitus loudness decline. Reduction of tinnitus related neural activity persisted and accumulated over three days.ConclusionsInhibition-induced plasticity occurs in a cortical network, known to be crucial for tinnitus perception. This cortical reorganization evolves fast and accumulates across sessions.SignificanceThis study extends previous work on inhibition-induced plasticity, as it demonstrates the involvement of parietal and frontal areas and discovers a cumulative effect of cortical reorganization in tinnitus patients.