Tinnitus, also known as ringing in the ear, is a phantom hearing experience that can occur in the absence of an internal or external sound. It often accompanies hearing loss with severity ranging from mild to severe. While it can exist as a relatively harmless condition, it can be extremely debilitating and destructive as it progresses. Tinnitus research has attracted neuroscientists for decades because of the mystery surrounding its neural generators. In recent years, tinnitus research has made great strides and provided new insights into neural mechanisms and possible neural generators in the brain. The four main areas of research in this field include identifying the brain substructure underlying tinnitus, the neural mechanism underlying its origin, developing a general therapy, and personalizing therapy for individual patients. In the second half of the 1980s and early 1990s the first animal models of acute tinnitus were introduced. Since then, numerous physiological and behavioral animal models of tinnitus have been developed and have provided great help in unraveling the enigma surrounding tinnitus. The animal behavioral model provides information on the psychophysical attributes of tinnitus; while physiological models have improved understanding of what happens at the neuronal level. Different agents have been used to induce tinnitus in animal models including salicylate, quinine or even loud sound. Most of the behavioral models were based on the conditioned response of animals such as pressing on the bar, climbing behavior, licking behavior, etc. The long time it took to train the animal to perform that particular task was the intrinsic weakness of all behavioral procedures available up to that date. It is necessary to address the animal model that was based on the sta... middle of paper... the possible mechanisms in each of these levels, how they influence each other and contribute to the different defects related to tinnitus. All this information can be translated to use the phenomenon of plasticity to restore normal balance in inhibitory-excitatory pathways. Therefore, tinnitus is an ever-challenging and intriguing area of ​​research with growing interest poised for even more dramatic advances in the near future. I am particularly interested in the neuroplasticity changes that accompany tinnitus in relation to the excitatory amino acid GABA. The startle reflex would be particularly useful in achieving these goals. I would like to use this extremely useful animal model to better understand the acoustic correlates of tinnitus in the mouse animal model and be able to use it as a screening tool for possible tinnitus drugs.