Effectiveness of sound therapy in patients with tinnitus resistant to previous treatments: importance of adjustments

Flavia Alencar de Barros Suzuki, Fabio Akira Suzuki, Fernando Kaoru Yonamine, Ektor Tsuneo Onishi, Norma Oliveira Penido

The difficulty in choosing the appropriate therapy for chronic tinnitus relates to the variable impact on the quality of life of affected patients and, thus, requires individualization of treatment. To evaluate the effectiveness of using sound generators with individual adjustments to relieve tinnitus in patients unresponsive to previous treatments. A prospective study of 10 patients with chronic tinnitus who were unresponsive to previous drug treatments, five males and five females, with ages ranging from 41 to 78 years. Bilateral sound generators (Reach 62 or Mind 9 models) were used daily for at least 6h during 18 months. The patients were evaluated at the beginning, after 1 month and at each 3 months until 18 months through acuphenometry, minimum masking level, the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory, visual analog scale, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. The sound generators were adjusted at each visit. There was a reduction of Tinnitus Handicap Inventory in nine patients using a protocol with a customized approach, independent of psychoacoustic characteristics of tinnitus. The best response to treatment occurred in those with whistle-type tinnitus. A correlation among the adjustments and tinnitus loudness and minimum masking level was found. Only one patient, who had indication of depression by Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, did not respond to sound therapy. There was improvement in quality of life (Tinnitus Handicap Inventory), with good response to sound therapy using customized settings in patients who did not respond to previous treatments for tinnitus.