Author(s): Douglas E. Mattox, Pawel Jastreboff and William Gray
Several assumptions about tinnitus and signal perception are fundamental in the "neurophysiological" approach to tinnitus as described by lastreboff (1990). First, for the vast majority of patients, we have been unable to modify the peripheral (or central) generators of tinnitus with medication, surgery, biofeedback or other standard psychological measures. Second, cognitive function can attend to only one task at a time (for example, try to dictate and sign a prescription at the same time). Third, the constant barrage of input from all the sense organs is continuously filtered at a subcortical level. And, fourth, the filtering of these signals results in selective perception of a few signals from the multitude that are available (for example, unless brought to our attention we ignore an air conditioner fan, or the sensation of our tongue resting against the hard palate).