An fMRI Investigation of the Effects of IV Lidocaine on Tinnitus

Inclusion Criteria:

-Age ≥ 18

* Ability to provide informed consent
* English speaker
* Falls under one of the four groups a. Normal Hearing without Tinnitus (NH/T-) i. Normal Hearing as defined as pure tone thresholds of 25 dB or less across all tested frequencies ii. Subjective confirmation of lack of tinnitus\* 1. Never or rarely b. Normal Hearing with Tinnitus (NH/T+) i. Normal Hearing Normal Hearing as defined as pure tone thresholds of 25 dB or less across all tested frequencies ii. Subjective confirmation of tinnitus\* 1. Often, always c. Unilateral hearing loss and ipsilateral unilateral tinnitus (uHL/uT+) i. Unilateral hearing loss as defined by pure tone thresholds of 50 dB or greater across 3 frequencies in the bad ear and 25 dB or less in good ear ii. Subjective confirmation of tinnitus in the good ear\* 1. Often, always d. Bilateral hearing loss and bilateral tinnitus (bHL/bT+) i. Bilateral hearing loss as defined by pure tone thresholds of 50 dB or greater across 3 frequencies in both ears ii. Subjective confirmation of tinnitus in both ears\*

  1. Often, always

     * Tinnitus will be confirmed via Likert-scale: Never - Rarely - Sometimes - Often - Always

Exclusion Criteria:

* Currently undergoing tinnitus treatment with other pharmacologic agents

  a. Patients may be eligible if they complete a 60 day washout period from pharmacologic agents treating tinnitus
* Inability to tolerate fMRI or other contraindications of fMRI including claustrophobia or presence of ferromagnetic objects in the body that cannot be removed.
* Contraindications to IV lidocaine administration such known allergy to lidocaine
* History of myocardial infarction or cardiac arrhythmias including Wolff-Parkinson-White, severe sinoatrial, atrioventricular or intraventricular heart block in the absence of a pacemaker
* History of seizure disorder
* Resting BP of \<100/50
* Currently taking antiarrhythmics
* Have taken antibiotics within 48 hours of infusion
* Known hepatic failure
* Pregnant or lactating women
* Patient with other neurological or psychiatric disorders, such as stroke, brain tumor, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder.
* Patients who cannot fill out the questionnaires