Auditory network connectivity in tinnitus patients: A resting-state fMRI study

Figures & data

Table 1. Group demographics, questionnaire scores, and tinnitus characteristics. M = male, F = female, L = left, R = right, In head = central tinnitus.

	No tinnitus group					Tinnitus group					Tinnitus characteristics
	Sex	Age	HQ	BAI	BDI	Sex	Age	HQ	BAI	BDI	Laterality	Duration (years)	THQ	TCHQ % annoy
	F	68	6	2	0	M	72	24	10	4	L	15	25.1	28
	F	71	9	8	3	M	64	14	2	2	L&R	2	35.5	10
	M	58	13	2	0	M	72	14	2	2	L&R	2	60.4	70
	M	68	19	0	3	F	67	8	6	0	L&R	4	61.3	50
	M	75	8	3	0	F	73	11	4	2	In head	70	21.1	5
	M	68	9	0	0	F	57	18	11	0	In head	2	63.3	50
	M	60	2	0	0	M	71	22	3	0	In head	6	68.4	30
	F	75	18	13	4	M	71	11	5	0	L&R	10	32.2	20
	M	66	8	0	0	M	64	11	0	0	L&R	20	30	20
	M	74	2	0	1	F	72	17	3	0	R	13	50.6	35
	M	70	11	14	0	M	49	10	4	2	L&R	2	57.5	50
	–	–	–	–	–	F	58	15	1	1	L&R	40	18.7	25
Mean	8 M / 3 F	68.5	9.6	3.8	1	7 M / 5 F	65.8	14.6	4.3	1.1	–	15.5	43.7	32.8
SD	–	–	5.54	5.34	1.55	–	–	4.9	3.36	1.31	–	20.4	18.32	19

Figure 1. Mean average hearing thresholds for tinnitus and no tinnitus groups. Post hoc t-tests of average hearing thresholds found no significant differences between or within participant groups (P > 0.05). Error bars represent one standard error of the mean.

Figure 2. (A) Auditory network component and time-course. (B) Whole group one-sample t-test of auditory component, masked with auditory template (P < 0.05, uncorrected). Primary auditory cortex regions (circled in green). Nonprimary auditory cortex regions (circled in blue). (C) Whole group one-sample t-test of auditory network component (P < 0.001, uncorrected). (D) Tinnitus > No tinnitus two-sample t-test (P < 0.01, uncorrected, 48 voxel extent threshold) showing increased connectivity in the right supramarginal gyrus and increased connectivity in the left posterior middle temporal gyrus.

Figure 3. (A) Average bivariate correlation coefficients (beta values) for each paired ROI. The ‘auditory network’ refers to a combined mean average derived from the BOLD time-series of primary auditory and auditory association cortical seed regions. (B) Average partial correlation coefficients for each paired ROI. Error bars represent one standard error of the mean. PAC = primary auditory cortex, NAC = nonprimary auditory cortex, L = left, R = right, Ti = tinnitus group, No Ti = no tinnitus control group.