Effect of sound generator on tinnitus and hyperacusis

Abstract

Objective: Sound generator (SG) plays a role as effective sound therapy of tinnitus retaining therapy (TRT) in patients with severe tinnitus (Category 1) or hyperacusis (Category 3). This study was performed to evaluate the therapeutic effect of SGs.

Methods: A total of 120 tinnitus patients who visited our tinnitus clinic and were treated with SG along with TRT from January 2008 to December 2016 were included. The patients were divided into two groups by tinnitus category; 78 patients of category 1 and 42 patients of category 3. Their medical records including questionnaires regarding tinnitus severity were retrospectively reviewed to evaluate the therapeutic effect of SGs on tinnitus and hyperacusis.

Results: Category 3 patients included more female patients, were younger than category 1 patients (p = .001), and were prescribed SG earlier due to their severe symptom of hyperacusis. (p = .004) All patients showed significant improvements on all categories of tinnitus visual analogue scale (VAS) scores and tinnitus handicap inventory (THI) scores after six months use of SG (p < .05). Loudness discomfort levels measured by pure tone audiometry were significantly improved in category 3 group after six months use of SGs.

Conclusion: SG with TRT seems to be an effective treatment modality for all tinnitus patients, especially those with comorbid hyperacusis.

Chinese abstract

目的：声音发生器（SG）在对重度耳鸣（1类）或听觉过敏（3类）患者进行耳鸣治疗（TRT）中起着有效声音治疗的作用。本研究的目的是评估SG的治疗效果。

方法：本研究包括了在2008年1月至2016年12月期间访视我院耳鸣诊所 的120名耳鸣患者。他们接受了SG治疗并配以TRT治疗。患者按耳鸣类型分为两组, 第1类78例, 第3类42例。回顾性复审了其关于耳鸣严重程度问卷的医疗记录, 以评估SG对耳鸣和听觉过敏的治疗效果。

结果：第3类患者比第1类有更多的女性, 其年龄更小（p = 0.001）, 由于其严重症状而较早给予SG。 （p = .004）所有患者在使用SG六个月后对在所有类别的耳鸣视觉模拟量表（VAS）评分和耳鸣障碍清单（THI）评分方面均有显着改善（p < 0.05）。第3类患者在使用SG6个月后, 通过纯音测听测量的响度不适度有显著改善。

结论： SG辅以TRT似乎是所有耳鸣患者, 特别是那些患有共病性听觉过敏的患者的有效治疗方式。

Keywords:

• Sound generator
• tinnitus
• hyperacusis

Disclosure statement

All authors approved this manuscript and there is no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program of the National Research Foundation under Grant NRF–2015R1B1A1A01059494.