Abnormal brain activity in an animal model: closing the loop on Tinnitus

To make the adult auditory cortex act like that of a young animal, we are experimenting with stimulating known "modulation pathways" of the brain, which, in normal development, release chemicals that enable experience-mediated changes' At a later stage, we will couple drugs that may help enhance modulation with sound stimulation. We hope that, together, drugs and sound stimulation will retrain the auditory cortex, decrease the abnormal stimulation and, hence, reduce the tinnitus.