Aura and Sensory Phenomena Across Headache Disorders: Mechanisms, Comorbidities, and Therapeutic Innovations

Recent advances in headache and sensory neuroscience have revealed that aura and sensory disturbances are complex phenomena present across a spectrum of primary headache disorders, extending beyond migraine to conditions such as cluster headache and tension-type headache. These transient episodes may involve visual, sensory, language, or motor disruptions, yet their underlying neurobiology—including mechanisms like cortical spreading depression, altered thalamocortical processing, and genetic susceptibility—remains incompletely understood. Despite progress in characterizing diverse symptoms such as photophobia, allodynia, tinnitus, vertigo, and visual snow, significant variability in presentation and response to treatment persists, shaped by genetic, environmental, and hormonal factors, and influenced by comorbid conditions such as chronic pain or neuropsychiatric disorders. The emergence of novel therapies, including CGRP-targeting agents, neuromodulation, and digital therapeutics, has created new possibilities for personalized care, but challenges in diagnosis, patient stratification, and holistic management continue, especially for children, adolescents, and older adults.

This Research Topic aims to foster a comprehensive and multidisciplinary understanding of aura and sensory phenomena in migraine and other headache disorders. The objective is to integrate insights from genetics, neurobiology, clinical neurology, psychology, and digital health to clarify underlying mechanisms, improve phenotyping, and advance therapeutic approaches. By drawing on basic, translational, and clinical science, this initiative seeks to close existing knowledge gaps in pathophysiology, diagnosis, comorbidity (including chronic pain and neuropsychiatric disorders), and management across diverse patient populations.

We welcome contributions across a diverse range of manuscript types supported by the journal—including Original Research, Brief Research Reports, Perspectives, Protocols, Mini-Reviews, and more—exploring aura and sensory disturbances in primary headache disorders, including their genetic and molecular foundations, comorbid chronic pain conditions, emerging treatment strategies, and technology-driven assessment methods. We encourage submissions addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
- Comparative studies of aura and sensory phenomena across headache disorders
- Genetic, epigenetic, and molecular mechanisms underlying sensory disturbances
- Clinical characterization and patient stratification using digital and wearable tools
- Neuropsychiatric, vestibular, and chronic pain comorbidities
- Pediatric, adolescent, and geriatric population-specific studies
- Innovations in pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies
- Multidisciplinary care models and holistic management strategies

Articles accepted after peer review will be published and appear online as soon as approved for publication.

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Topic Editor Jessica Ailani has received financial support for research from Mi-Helper from 2025 to 2026. She has also served as an investigator on research grants awarded to her institution from Parema, Ipsen, Lundbeck, Pfizer, Merz, and ShiraTronic from 2024 to 2026. The other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review

Keywords: aura, headache, migraine, cluster headache, tension-type, photophobia, allodynia, tinnitus, vertigo, visual snow

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.