Pilot Study of Acoustic Therapies for Tinnitus Suppression

Schad ML, Martin JL, Groon K, Morse-Fortier C, Thielman E, Pendergraft P, Gordon S, Henry JA. Pilot Study of Acoustic Therapies for Tinnitus Suppression. Poster session presented at: American Auditory Society Annual Meeting; 2015 Mar 6; Scottsdale, AZ.

Acoustic therapies in conjunction with counselling have been shown to benefit patients suffering from tinnitus. Although extensive research has been done regarding tinnitus, there is no standardized form of acoustic therapy. This pilot study assesses the potential efficacy of two types of acoustic therapies, based on previous studies, to suppress and reduce the functional effects of tinnitus with the use of tinnitus pitch matching (PM). These therapies were administered without counselling. The acoustic therapies were individually tailored to each participant and delivered using an iPod Nano. The types of acoustic therapies were notched noise (1-12 kHz notched within a 1 octave range centered around the PM frequency) and matched noise (1 octave wide band of noise centered around the PM frequency). The placebo noise consisted of low frequency noise (250-700 Hz noise band), well below the participants' PM frequency. Thirty participants were randomized into one of these three groups and instructed to listen to the acoustic therapy for 6 hours a day for 2 weeks. Outcome measures were recorded at 0, 2 and 4 weeks. The results will serve as preliminary evidence for a larger study.