Ringing ears may be eye problem too

WASHINGTON - The annoying ringing in the ears that marks tinnitus could be linked to the eyes as well.

Researchers at the State University of New York at Buffalo and the Veterans Administration found that a part of the brain associated with vision might be involved in tinnitus.

It could be a simple problem of miscommunication in the brain, they reported in the journal Neurology.

"This is the first research to show that a failure of the complicated way our brain systems talk to each other contributes to the cause of tinnitus," said Dr Alan Lockwood, who helped to write the study.

"Tinnitus is not the simple problem we hoped for," he said.

The condition, in which sufferers have a near constant ringing or buzzing in the ears, affects 50 million people in the United States alone.

It can cause depression, anxiety, sleep disruption and other problems.

"There is no drug that is effective for the relief of tinnitus," Dr Lockwood said.

"Maybe the system is so complex that no one drug can do the job."

Dr Lockwood's team studied eight patients who had gaze-evoked tinnitus (GET), in which the loudness and pitch of this buzzing increase when a patient looks to the side.

GET sometimes develops after surgery to remove tumours of the auditory nerve.

Normally, the visual and auditory parts of the brain communicate with each other to determine which one gets priority.

Looking to the side, or a lateral gaze, should suppress auditory brain activity. But in GET patients this does not happen.

The researchers think this failure of one sensory system to suppress another may be an important feature of tinnitus.

"It remains to be seen what other parts of the brain are involved in the cause of tinnitus," Dr Lockwood said.

"However, this is an important step in unravelling this complicated story."

- REUTERS