OSCR

White Matter Alterations Are More Robust Than Gray Matter Differences in Tinnitus and Hearing Loss: An MRI Study of Military Personnel.

Overview

Authors: Emilia Kaniewska1,2, Gibbeum Kim1,2, Rafay A Khan2,3, Yihsin Tai4, Caterina M Willson5, Carlos Esquivel6, Paul M Sherman7,8,9, Fatima T Husain1,2
ORCID iDs: Yihsin Tai, Fatima T Husain
  1. Department of Speech and Hearing Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 901 S. Sixth Street, Champaign, IL 61820 USA
  2. Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL 61801 USA
  3. Neuroscience Program, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL 61801 USA
  4. Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306 USA
  5. Department of Defense Hearing Center of Excellence, San Antonio- Lackland, TX 78236 USA
  6. Department of Otolaryngology, UT Health San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249 USA
  7. United States Air Force, Arlington County, VA USA
  8. American College of Radiology, Preston White Dr, Reston, VA 20191 USA
  9. Aerospace Medical Association, North Palm Beach, FL USA
Institutions: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (United States); Ball State University (United States); United States Department of Defense (United States); The University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center (United States); American College of Radiology (United States); Aerospace Medical Association (United States); United States Air Force (United States)
Journal: Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology : JARO, volume 27, issue 4, pages 611-629
Dates: received 16 December 2025; accepted 21 April 2026; published online 13 May 2026; in print August 2026
Type: Research article · Language: English
License: CC BY
Identifiers: DOI 10.1007/s10162-026-01052-0 · PMID 42128994 · PMCID PMC13504148 · OpenAlex W7160995038
Open access: hybrid, a free copy (OpenAlex)
Status: data only
Categories: structural MRI / diffusion (modality), human (organism), other condition (population)
Methods: Statistics, fMRI & imaging, Preprocessing
Keywords: Tinnitus, Hearing loss, Gray matter, White matter, Voxel-based morphometry, Diffusion tensor imaging
MeSH: Gray Matter*, Hearing Loss*, Military Personnel*, Tinnitus*, White Matter*, Adult, Diffusion Tensor Imaging, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged (* major topic)
Topic: Hearing, Cochlea, Tinnitus, Genetics (Sensory Systems, Neuroscience), according to OpenAlex
Funding: DoD CDMRP PRMRP (W81XWH-15-2-0032)
Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 63 references in the paper

Abstract

Purpose: Tinnitus and hearing loss are the most prevalent service-related auditory disabilities among American veterans. Previous studies have examined gray matter or white matter alterations in tinnitus and hearing loss relative to healthy controls, but typically in isolation, and none of them have focused specifically on a military-affiliated population.

Methods: We employed voxel-based morphometry to assess gray matter differences and diffusion tensor imaging to evaluate white matter integrity in tinnitus and/or hearing loss compared to controls in a sample of 68 military-affiliated adults (56 men, 10 women, two identifying as ‘other’ gender). Additionally, we conducted an exploratory, hypothesis-generating effect size analysis to describe the magnitude of group differences.

Results: Combined tinnitus and hearing loss was associated with decreased gray matter volume in the thalamus. White matter integrity was reduced in the forceps minor, right superior longitudinal fasciculus, and left inferior longitudinal fasciculus. Hearing loss alone was associated with white matter orientation changes in the right anterior thalamic radiation, left superior longitudinal fasciculus, and right corticospinal tract. Larger effect sizes were noted in white matter comparisons across tinnitus, hearing loss, and combined conditions, suggesting that white matter differences may be of greater magnitude than gray matter alterations.

Conclusion: These findings advance the understanding of the neural correlates of tinnitus and hearing loss in the military population, an understudied group with a high prevalence of tinnitus and hearing loss. They also present preliminary effect size estimates that may inform future studies on the neural correlates of tinnitus and hearing loss, indicating a larger overall magnitude in white matter and more subtle contributions from gray matter.

Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10162-026-01052-0.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

The paper links to its data, not to its authors' code: see the Data section.

Tracing map

A tracing map links a paper to the code its authors published: this paper has none, so it has no map.

Data

Datasets cited

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, Dr. Fatima T Husain.

Not applicable.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 1, 28 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 8 authors, 6 keywords, 12 MeSH terms, 1 funder, 60 references.

Cite

This paper

Kaniewska, E., Kim, G., Khan, R. A., Tai, Y., Willson, C. M., Esquivel, C., Sherman, P. M., & Husain, F. T. (2026). White Matter Alterations Are More Robust Than Gray Matter Differences in Tinnitus and Hearing Loss: An MRI Study of Military Personnel. Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology : JARO, 27(4), 611-629. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10162-026-01052-0

BibTeX

@article{kaniewska2026white,
author = {Kaniewska, Emilia and Kim, Gibbeum and Khan, Rafay A and Tai, Yihsin and Willson, Caterina M and Esquivel, Carlos and Sherman, Paul M and Husain, Fatima T},
title = {{White Matter Alterations Are More Robust Than Gray Matter Differences in Tinnitus and Hearing Loss: An MRI Study of Military Personnel}},
journal = {Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology : JARO},
year = {2026},
month = may,
volume = {27},
number = {4},
pages = {611--629},
publisher = {Springer},
issn = {1525-3961},
doi = {10.1007/s10162-026-01052-0},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s10162-026-01052-0},
pmid = {42128994},
pmcid = {PMC13504148}
}

RIS

TY - JOUR
AU - Kaniewska, Emilia
AU - Kim, Gibbeum
AU - Khan, Rafay A
AU - Tai, Yihsin
AU - Willson, Caterina M
AU - Esquivel, Carlos
AU - Sherman, Paul M
AU - Husain, Fatima T
TI - White Matter Alterations Are More Robust Than Gray Matter Differences in Tinnitus and Hearing Loss: An MRI Study of Military Personnel
T2 - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology : JARO
J2 - J Assoc Res Otolaryngol
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/05/13
VL - 27
IS - 4
SP - 611
EP - 629
SN - 1525-3961
PB - Springer
DO - 10.1007/s10162-026-01052-0
UR - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10162-026-01052-0
LA - en
ER -

CSL-JSON

{
"id": "10.1007/s10162-026-01052-0",
"type": "article-journal",
"title": "White Matter Alterations Are More Robust Than Gray Matter Differences in Tinnitus and Hearing Loss: An MRI Study of Military Personnel",
"container-title": "Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology : JARO",
"author": [
{
"family": "Kaniewska",
"given": "Emilia"
},
{
"family": "Kim",
"given": "Gibbeum"
},
{
"family": "Khan",
"given": "Rafay A"
},
{
"family": "Tai",
"given": "Yihsin"
},
{
"family": "Willson",
"given": "Caterina M"
},
{
"family": "Esquivel",
"given": "Carlos"
},
{
"family": "Sherman",
"given": "Paul M"
},
{
"family": "Husain",
"given": "Fatima T"
}
],
"container-title-short": "J Assoc Res Otolaryngol",
"volume": "27",
"issue": "4",
"page": "611-629",
"DOI": "10.1007/s10162-026-01052-0",
"PMID": "42128994",
"PMCID": "PMC13504148",
"ISSN": "1525-3961",
"publisher": "Springer",
"URL": "https://doi.org/10.1007/s10162-026-01052-0",
"language": "en",
"issued": {
"date-parts": [
[
2026,
5,
13
]
]
}
}

Similar papers

The papers with a page that share the most with this one: the tools found in their code, their categories, datasets, cited references and authors, the rarest counting most.

[1] doi:10.1186/s40478-026-02252-8 [code]
Temporal dynamics of neuroplasticity and neurodegeneration in the central auditory system following noise-induced hearing loss: a multimodal imaging and histological study.
Journal: Acta neuropathologica communications
In common: structural MRI / diffusion, other condition, 6 references
[2] doi:10.3389/fneur.2026.1808769
Pre-treatment structural brain biomarkers predict response to repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in subjective tinnitus.
Journal: Frontiers in neurology
In common: structural MRI / diffusion, other condition, 4 references
[3] doi:10.3758/s13415-026-01435-z
Differential brain responses to affective sounds in misophonia and hyperacusis: A task-based fMRI approach.
Journal: Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience
In common: 1 reference, author Fatima T Husain
[4] doi:10.1002/brb3.71293
EEG-Based Multifocal Tomographic Neurofeedback in Older Individuals With Chronic Tinnitus Does Not Lead to Persistent Electrophysiological Changes.
Journal: Brain and behavior
In common: other condition, 2 references
[5] doi:10.1093/braincomms/fcag232 [code]
Dynamic multivariate patterns of brain structure-neuropsychiatric symptom associations in long COVID.
Journal: Brain communications
In common: structural MRI / diffusion, other condition, 1 reference
[6] doi:10.1016/j.isci.2026.116995
EEG microstates and dynamic functional connectivity reveal stage-specific brain networks in subjective tinnitus.
Journal: iScience
In common: other condition, 1 reference
[7] doi:10.3390/brainsci16060644
Personalized Music-Embedded Sound Therapy Based on Gating Modulation and Neural Decoupling Reduces Tinnitus Severity.
Journal: Brain sciences
In common: other condition, 1 reference
[8] doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74099-5 [code]
Right amygdala ablation reduces maladaptive negative interpretation bias and symptoms in a patient with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Journal: Nature communications
In common: other condition, 1 reference
[9] doi:10.1186/s12888-026-07934-0
Disgust-reduction evaluative conditioning (DREC) and tDCS in contamination-based OCD: a randomized controlled trial.
Journal: BMC psychiatry
In common: other condition, 1 reference
[10] doi:10.1073/pnas.2528246123
Protecting episodic memory after sleep loss: Similar benefits of exercise and naps via distinct neural contributions.
Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
In common: 1 reference

Contribute

The authors of this paper can claim it, correct its record and validate its tracing map, and the maintainers of its code (its owner, or a public member of its organization) correct what it says of their repository; anyone signed in can ask for its removal. Every request goes to OSCR's own machine, which answers it; your account page follows them.

Sign in with ORCID to claim this paper as one of its authors, correct its record or validate its tracing map: when the paper's metadata lists your ORCID iD, you are recognized at once. Maintainers of its code: sign in with GitHub, then claim the repository on your account page.

Request its removal

To ask OSCR to remove this record, the copies of its authors' scripts or its tracing map, use the removal request page: signed in, you say who you are, what to remove and why, then review and confirm the request. Published rules decide every request (how).

Discussion, reproductions, activity

Discussion: questions and error reports about this paper and its code, from signed-in readers and its authors. It opens with sign-in.

Reproductions: reports from readers who ran the authors' code: what they reproduced, with which environment, commit and data. It opens with sign-in.

Activity: what happens around this paper: new versions of its record, its map's validation, discussions and reproductions. It opens with sign-in.