That ringing in your ears might not be from loud music; it could be a sign your brain’s wiring is just misfiring.
March 20, 2026
Original Paper
Tinnitus: An Unrecognised Symptom of Functional Neurological Disorder
medRxiv · 10.64898/2026.03.16.26348516
The Takeaway
While most people assume ringing in the ears is caused by physical damage from loud noises, this study found it is significantly more common in patients with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND). This suggests that for many, tinnitus is a 'software' glitch in the brain’s sensory processing rather than a 'hardware' problem in the ear, changing how we might need to treat it.
From the abstract
Background Functional neurological disorder (FND) is a common neurological condition characterised by symptoms which vary characteristically with attention. In the sensory realm, these symptoms frequently take the form of 'phantom' perception in the absence of sensation. While the condition is generally regarded not to cause auditory symptoms, tinnitus is a phantom perception which varies with symptom-focused attention, and is suggested to have similar underlying mechanisms to those proposed for