Chapter 1 Historical Re fl ections on Current Issues in Tinnitus

Tinnitus research has acquired steady interest in the last six decades. A survey of PubMed under “tinnitus” listed a total of 7489 entries by May 6, 2011, covering clinical notes, management, and basic research. Figure 1.1 shows the number of annual entries. Before 1950, only 67 papers were listed, 2 of which dated back from 1880 (Hemming, 1880 ; Sexton, 1880 ) . Since 1950, the number of tinnitus-related papers has been doubling every decade. In the 1950s, the average number of papers per year was 16; in the 1960s it increased to 34, and in the 1970s it was 50. The doubling trend followed in the 1980s, with 109 papers per year, 161 in the 1990s, and 311 in the fi rst decade of the 21st century. The year 2010 produced 411 papers, and an extrapolation of the 155 papers for the fi rst 4 months in 2011 suggests that the number of papers per year likely will exceed 500 for the fi rst time. The number of basic research papers is about 15%, or about 1000 papers in the survey period. What has this body of research contributed to our understanding of tinnitus mechanisms and treatment? This book is divided into two parts to address systematically the current issues in tinnitus research.