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Textbook of Tinnitus

Textbook of Tinnitus edited by Aage R. Møller, PhD, DMSc, Berthold Langguth, MD, Dirk DeRidder, MD, PhD, and Tobias Kleinjung, MD, 785 pp, with illus, $279, ISBN 978-1-60761-145-5, New York, New York, Springer, 2011. Summarizing this book in one sentence is easy: it is the most comprehensive textbook on tinnitus to date. This comprehensive work was initiated by a personal experience (or rather misfortune) and will no doubt contribute greatly to the future understanding, research, and management of tinnitus. The editors of this book are clearly authorities on the topic, and the whole team behind the book includes numerous contributors from well-respected centers across all 7 continents. I would happily sail around the world with such a crew! As the editors note, this is the first textbook of tinnitus. Therefore, conveying the vast amount of research and evidence of such a broad and multidisciplinary topic into a single book must have been a daunting task, and the editors must be congratulated for doing so. The book itself (all 95 chapters) is organized into 7 sections: Basics About Tinnitus, Tinnitus Seen by Different Specialties, Causes of Tinnitus, Differential Diagnosis of Tinnitus, Clinical Characteristics of Different Forms of Tinnitus, Management of Tinnitus, and Surgical Treatments. The foremost important message of the book can be summarized in the concept of neural plasticity in the development of tinnitus and its role in the treatment of tinnitus. The physiopathology of tinnitus is methodically and very well explained, stressing the importance of the central involvement of tinnitus and how this is used in the planning of the different modalities of treatment. There are 157 illustrations (59 in color) that successfully add to the understanding of the explanations in the text for those of us who possess a visual learning style. A large number of references, including systematic reviews and randomized controlled trials, have been used to add evidence-based weight to each topic, although with varying degree depending on individual contributors. Overall, there is a good balance of research and evidence base without losing the patient's perspective. In fact, there is a chapter written by a patient who has tinnitus in which he explains his own problem and how he manages his condition. Including a section for the role of different specialties is a clever decision by the editors because this book is really open to anyone with interest in the topic, which, in itself, is truly multidisciplinary. However, clinicians and researchers who deal with this issue on a daily basis will benefit the most. If there is one criticism of this book, in my view, it would be the repetition of the same topics throughout the different sections of the book. Many of the topics in this 785-page hardback have been shared between different chapters and authors, so reviewing one particular topic again in all its depth and extension can become quite a laborious task. I think the editors possibly had the best intention of dividing the text into clear sections to give a more defined shape to this book, but clearly the nature of the topic makes it difficult to look at it from one single perspective at a time rather than the more complex and intertwined connections that exist in reality. Finally, the book highlights the incredible advance in the understanding of the pathophysiological process of tinnitus. The extensive research into available treatment options, all explored in this book, has contributed within a relatively short period of time (compared with other conditions such as chronic pain) to an in-depth understanding of the pathophysiological basis of tinnitus and will undoubtedly help to create a plausible treatment in the future. Prose ★★★★ Illustrations ★★★ Science ★★★★ Usefulness ★★★★ Back to top Article Information Correspondence: Dr Martinez-Devesa, Department of Otolaryngology, John Radcliffe Hospital, West Wing, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DU, England (devesa@doctors.org.uk). Financial Disclosure: None reported. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Archives of Neurology American Medical Association

Textbook of Tinnitus

Martinez-Devesa, Pablo
Archives of Neurology , Volume 69 (2) – Feb 13, 2012
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Publisher
American Medical Association
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.
ISSN
0003-9942
eISSN
1538-3687
DOI
10.1001/archneurol.2011.1217
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Abstract

edited by Aage R. Møller, PhD, DMSc, Berthold Langguth, MD, Dirk DeRidder, MD, PhD, and Tobias Kleinjung, MD, 785 pp, with illus, $279, ISBN 978-1-60761-145-5, New York, New York, Springer, 2011. Summarizing this book in one sentence is easy: it is the most comprehensive textbook on tinnitus to date. This comprehensive work was initiated by a personal experience (or rather misfortune) and will no doubt contribute greatly to the future understanding, research, and management of tinnitus. The editors of this book are clearly authorities on the topic, and the whole team behind the book includes numerous contributors from well-respected centers across all 7 continents. I would happily sail around the world with such a crew! As the editors note, this is the first textbook of tinnitus. Therefore, conveying the vast amount of research and evidence of such a broad and multidisciplinary topic into a single book must have been a daunting task, and the editors must be congratulated for doing so. The book itself (all 95 chapters) is organized into 7 sections: Basics About Tinnitus, Tinnitus Seen by Different Specialties, Causes of Tinnitus, Differential Diagnosis of Tinnitus, Clinical Characteristics of Different Forms of Tinnitus, Management of Tinnitus, and Surgical Treatments. The foremost important message of the book can be summarized in the concept of neural plasticity in the development of tinnitus and its role in the treatment of tinnitus. The physiopathology of tinnitus is methodically and very well explained, stressing the importance of the central involvement of tinnitus and how this is used in the planning of the different modalities of treatment. There are 157 illustrations (59 in color) that successfully add to the understanding of the explanations in the text for those of us who possess a visual learning style. A large number of references, including systematic reviews and randomized controlled trials, have been used to add evidence-based weight to each topic, although with varying degree depending on individual contributors. Overall, there is a good balance of research and evidence base without losing the patient's perspective. In fact, there is a chapter written by a patient who has tinnitus in which he explains his own problem and how he manages his condition. Including a section for the role of different specialties is a clever decision by the editors because this book is really open to anyone with interest in the topic, which, in itself, is truly multidisciplinary. However, clinicians and researchers who deal with this issue on a daily basis will benefit the most. If there is one criticism of this book, in my view, it would be the repetition of the same topics throughout the different sections of the book. Many of the topics in this 785-page hardback have been shared between different chapters and authors, so reviewing one particular topic again in all its depth and extension can become quite a laborious task. I think the editors possibly had the best intention of dividing the text into clear sections to give a more defined shape to this book, but clearly the nature of the topic makes it difficult to look at it from one single perspective at a time rather than the more complex and intertwined connections that exist in reality. Finally, the book highlights the incredible advance in the understanding of the pathophysiological process of tinnitus. The extensive research into available treatment options, all explored in this book, has contributed within a relatively short period of time (compared with other conditions such as chronic pain) to an in-depth understanding of the pathophysiological basis of tinnitus and will undoubtedly help to create a plausible treatment in the future. Prose ★★★★ Illustrations ★★★ Science ★★★★ Usefulness ★★★★ Back to top Article Information Correspondence: Dr Martinez-Devesa, Department of Otolaryngology, John Radcliffe Hospital, West Wing, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DU, England (devesa@doctors.org.uk). Financial Disclosure: None reported.

Journal

Archives of Neurology – American Medical Association

Published: Feb 13, 2012

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