Clinical trial on tinnitus patients with normal to mild hearing loss: broad band noise and mixed pure tones sound therapy

Abstract

Background: Tinnitus treatments present a quandary for clinicians, but no thoroughly satisfactory medical treatments are offered to tinnitus patients.

Objective: We compared sound therapy effects of the broad band noise (BBN) and the mixed pure tones on tinnitus patients with normal to mild hearing loss, and the possible mechanisms were discussed.

Material and methods: This study was a double-blinded randomized controlled trial. The patients in two groups were followed up for three months. We used a BBN in group A, and mixed pure tones of nine different frequencies in group B. The Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) and Visual Analog Scale (VAS) measuring were used to evaluate the handicap, loudness and anxiety of tinnitus.

Results: The THI, VAS scores of group B after 3 months were lower than those at baseline. The VAS scores of group B were lower than those of group A at 8 and 12 weeks.

Conclusions: The mixed pure tones were more advantageous than BBN as the sound therapy for tinnitus patients with normal to mild hearing loss.

Significance: This trial provides a special and effective sound therapy method. Tinnitus patients with normal to mild hearing loss will experience more positive effects.

Trial registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry identifier: ChiCTR1800015554.

Chinese abstract

背景：耳鸣治疗对临床医生来说是一个难题, 没有一种完全令人满意的治疗方法可以提供给耳鸣患者。

目的：比较宽带噪声（BBN）和混合纯音对正常至轻度听力损失耳鸣患者的治疗效果, 探讨其可能的机制。

材料与方法：本研究为双盲随机对照试验。两组患者随访3个月。我们队A组采用BBN, 对B组采用混合9种不同频率的纯音, 采用耳鸣障碍量表（THI）和视觉模拟量表（VAS）对耳鸣障碍、响度和焦虑进行评定。

结果：B组3个月后的THI、VAS评分均低于基线水平。在8周和12周时, B组的VAS评分低于A组。

结论：混合纯音对听力正常到轻度下降的耳鸣患者的治疗效果优于BBN。

意义：本试验提供了一种特殊有效的声学治疗方法。正常至轻度听力损失的耳鸣患者将会获得更多正面影响。

Keywords:

• Tinnitus
• sound therapy
• broad band noise
• mixed pure tones
• hearing
• clinical trial

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge our doctors, Hua Yang, Yi Wang, Yinyin Shang, Bin Wang, Ruzhen Gao, Xingmin Chen, Jian Wang, Hong Huo, Xiaoli Zhu, Xu Tian, Yue Fan and Yang Zhao, and our technicians, Suju Wang and Bingya Guo. We also thank the 36 tinnitus patients for taking part in our trial.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant number 81870729].