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Updated: Jul 5, 2025

A Protocol for the Administration of Real-Time fMRI Neurofeedback Training
Published on: August 24, 2017
Genetic architecture distinguishes tinnitus from hearing loss
Royce E Clifford1,2, Adam X Maihofer3,4, Chris Chatzinakos5,6
1Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, Research Service, San Diego, CA, USA. r2clifford@health.ucsd.edu.
None:
Tinnitus is a heritable, highly prevalent auditory disorder treated by multiple medical specialties. Previous GWAS indicated high genetic correlations between tinnitus and hearing loss, with little indication of differentiating signals. We present a GWAS meta-analysis, triple previous sample sizes, and expand to non-European ancestries. GWAS in 596,905 Million Veteran Program subjects identified 39 tinnitus loci, and identified genes related to neuronal synapses and cochlear structural support. Applying state-of-the-art analytic tools, we confirm a large number of shared variants, but also a distinct genetic architecture of tinnitus, with higher polygenicity and large proportion of variants not shared with hearing difficulty. Tissue-expression analysis for tinnitus infers broad enrichment across most brain tissues, in contrast to hearing difficulty. Finally, tinnitus is not only correlated with hearing loss, but also with a spectrum of psychiatric disorders, providing potential new avenues for treatment. This study establishes tinnitus as a distinct disorder separate from hearing difficulties.
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