Aims and objectives: The overall aim of this thesis is to investigate the neural substrates of tinnitus perception using advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques. The main objectives of this thesis dissertation are to (1) identify the impact of tinnitus perception on the quality of life, (2) investigate the morphological alterations in cortical and subcortical brain structures in tinnitus, (3) explore the auditory perception in tinnitus, (4) identify the perfusion pattern changes in tinnitus, (5) investigate the effect of tinnitus perception on brain functional connectivity, (6) explore the microstructure alterations in white matter structures in tinnitus and (7) investigate the relationship between tinnitus handicap scores and brain structure/function. Materials and methods: A total of 34 individuals with tinnitus, 20 healthy controls with mild to moderate hearing loss (MH), and 20 healthy controls with normal hearing (NH) participated in the work presented in this thesis. Pure tone air conduction audiometry was performed to assess the hearing level. Behavior assessments were undertaken of handedness, anxiety and depression, and tinnitus severity. Different MR images were acquired: T1-weighted images, T2-weighted images, functional images (resting-state and task-based fMRI), arterial spin labelling images (ASL) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Different MRI analysis techniques were applied including: voxel and surface based morphometry (VBM and SBM), shape appearance differences, independent component analysis (ICA), and tractbased spatial statistics (TBSS).
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:721975 |
Date | January 2016 |
Creators | Alhazmi, F. |
Contributors | Sluming, V. ; Kemp, G. |
Publisher | University of Liverpool |
Source Sets | Ethos UK |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
Source | http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3006286/ |
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