Electroencephalographic correlates of stress and anxiety induced by chronic tinnitus.

Chronic tinnitus is a condition that is still poorly understood and raises many questions involving a large number of neurological, cognitive, psychiatric, and psychological mechanisms, ranging from brain plasticity phenomena to mechanisms of attention, inhibition, and perception, accompanied by symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression. Studying the pathophysiological mechanisms of chronic tinnitus and the associated stress and anxiety therefore seems to be of paramount importance in acquiring the knowledge necessary to develop diagnostic tools and effective treatment options. It is precisely with this in mind that the study described in this thesis was conducted. This investigation into the state of stress and anxiety related to tinnitus will begin with an in-depth theoretical study that will allow us to formulate the hypotheses we have explored. These hypotheses, described in the “Objectives” section, required the design of a specific methodology using advanced EEG/MEG signal processing tools. These tools, as well as the experimental protocol we used, are presented in detail in the “Methods” chapter, in which we propose a new method of EEG signal processing called “Brodmann area spectral mapping.” The results we obtained were then briefly stated, with their interpretation provided in the “Discussion” chapter that follows.