A feasibility study of predictable and unpredictable surf-like sounds for tinnitus therapy using personal music players

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of predictable or unpredictable amplitude-modulated sounds for tinnitus therapy.

Design: The study consisted of two parts. (1) An adaptation experiment. Loudness level matches and rating scales (10-point) for loudness and distress were obtained at a silent baseline and at the end of three counterbalanced 30-min exposures (silence, predictable and unpredictable). (2) A qualitative 2-week sound therapy feasibility trial. Participants took home a personal music player (PMP).

Study sample: Part 1: 23 individuals with chronic tinnitus and part 2: seven individuals randomly selected from Part 1.

Results: Self-reported tinnitus loudness and annoyance were significantly lower than baseline ratings after acute unpredictable sound exposure. Tinnitus annoyance ratings were also significantly lower than the baseline but the effect was small. The feasibility trial identified that participant preferences for sounds varied. Three participants did not obtain any benefit from either sound. Three participants preferred unpredictable compared to predictable sounds. Some participants had difficulty using the PMP, the average self-report hours of use were low (less <1 h/day).

Conclusions: Unpredictable surf-like sounds played using a PMP is a feasible tinnitus treatment. Further work is required to improve the acceptance of the sound and ease of PMP use.

Keywords:

• Psychoacoustics/hearing science
• tinnitus
• noise
• assistive technology

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Disclosure statement

M. D. and K. K. have no conflict of interest; GDS is scientific director of Tinnitus Tunes, a tinnitus therapy company.

Additional information

Funding

The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Deafness Research Foundation New Zealand PhD Scholarship, American Tinnitus Association, Auckland Medical Foundation J M Cathie Trust.