Auricular Acupressure Combined with Self-Help Intervention for Treating Chronic Tinnitus: A Longitudinal Observational Study

Schlee, Winfried; Simões, Jorge; Pryss, Rüdiger

doi:10.3390/jcm10184201

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…It is possible that the availability and usage of these devices differs between countries, which might have influenced individual tinnitus perception. That hearing aids or cochlear implants as well as other influences on and in the ear can have an impact has previously been shown in other studies [ 46 ]. Therefore, we will include hearing aids or cochlear implants as factors in future studies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Prediction of Tinnitus Perception Based on Daily Life MHealth Data Using Country Origin and Season

Allgaier

Schlee

Probst

et al. 2022

JCM

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Tinnitus is an auditory phantom perception without external sound stimuli. This chronic perception can severely affect quality of life. Because tinnitus symptoms are highly heterogeneous, multimodal data analyses are increasingly used to gain new insights. MHealth data sources, with their particular focus on country- and season-specific differences, can provide a promising avenue for new insights. Therefore, we examined data from the TrackYourTinnitus (TYT) mHealth platform to create symptom profiles of TYT users. We used gradient boosting engines to classify momentary tinnitus and regress tinnitus loudness, using country of origin and season as features. At the daily assessment level, tinnitus loudness can be regressed with a mean absolute error rate of 7.9% points. In turn, momentary tinnitus can be classified with an F1 score of 93.79%. Both results indicate differences in the tinnitus of TYT users with respect to season and country of origin. The significance of the features was evaluated using statistical and explainable machine learning methods. It was further shown that tinnitus varies with temperature in certain countries. The results presented show that season and country of origin appear to be valuable features when combined with longitudinal mHealth data at the level of daily assessment.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Prediction of Tinnitus Perception Based on Daily Life MHealth Data Using Country Origin and Season

Allgaier

Schlee

Probst

et al. 2022

JCM

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“…This means patients receiving tDCS, in whichever application form, as well as most of the control group receiving sham tDCS, improved. Schlee et al [71], in contrast, concluded that the use of an acupressure device in conjunction with a self-help smartphone app caused a significant negative linear trend for both tinnitus loudness (P<.001; Cohen d=0.861) and tinnitus distress (P=.005; Cohen d=0.478). Table 5 provides detailed information of the included studies.…”

Section: Results Of Individual Studiesmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Only 2 studies [70,71] performed research concerning the use of a self-help device as a telerehabilitation treatment form. Hyvärinen et al [70] examined the use of a self-administrable form of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for a sample of 43 participants with chronic tinnitus.…”

Section: Characteristics Of Included Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hyvärinen et al [70] examined the use of a self-administrable form of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for a sample of 43 participants with chronic tinnitus. The second study, Schlee et al [71], used an auricular acupressure device in combination with a self-help smartphone app as a treatment for a sample of 39 patients with chronic tinnitus. The details of both studies are presented in Table S3 in Multimedia Appendix 3.…”

Section: Characteristics Of Included Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effectiveness of Telerehabilitation Interventions for Self-management of Tinnitus: Systematic Review

et al. 2023

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Background Tinnitus is a highly prevalent symptom affecting 10%-20% of the adult population. Most patients with tinnitus have chronic tinnitus, which can directly or indirectly disrupt their daily life and negatively affect the health-related quality of life. Therefore, patients with tinnitus are frequently in need of costly and time-consuming treatments. As an answer, telerehabilitation interventions are on a rise to promote self-management in patients with tinnitus and reduce their dependency on in-person care. Objective This systematic review aimed to provide an overview of the research concerning the effectiveness of telerehabilitation interventions for self-management of tinnitus. Methods This systematic review adheres to the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. Studies were eligible for inclusion if study participants were adult patients with complaints of primary subjective tinnitus and the study intervention comprised any possible telerehabilitation form for the self-management of tinnitus complaints. A search for eligible studies was conducted on PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library. The Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 tool was used to the assess risk of bias. Results In total, 29 articles were found eligible, and of these, 5 (17%) studied multiple telerehabilitation forms. Internet-based cognitive behavioral treatment with guidance by a psychologist or audiologist was examined in 17 studies (n=1767), internet-based cognitive behavioral treatment without guidance was examined in 4 studies (n=940), self-help manuals were examined in 1 study (n=72), technological self-help devices were examined in 2 studies (n=82), smartphone apps were examined in 8 studies (n=284), and other internet-based interventions were examined in 2 studies (n=130). These rehabilitation categories were proven to be effective in decreasing tinnitus severity and relieving tinnitus distress as measured by tinnitus questionnaires such as Tinnitus Functional Index, Tinnitus Handicap Inventory, or Tinnitus Reactions Questionnaire. However, dropout rates were often high (range 4%-71.4%). All studies reported between some concerns and high concerns of risk of bias, resulting in low to moderate certainty levels. Conclusions Overall, there is low to moderate quality evidence that telerehabilitation interventions effectively reduce tinnitus severity and distress. These interventions form a possible tool to improve the self-management capacities of the patient and the accessibility of tinnitus care as a replacement or an addition to in-person care. Nevertheless, barriers such as lack of time, engagement, motivation, and openness of the patient causing high dropout should be considered. Trial Registration PROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews CRD42021285450; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=285450

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“…Additionally, the app contains an Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) module that tracks changes in tinnitus symptoms on a daily basis. The feasibility of EMA to measure the course of tinnitus has already been investigated in several studies [ 23 , 24 , 35 ] and has also been used to evaluate tinnitus treatments [ 36 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pilot study of a smartphone-based tinnitus therapy using structured counseling and sound therapy: A multiple-baseline design with ecological momentary assessment

et al. 2023

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Tinnitus affects a considerable part of the population and develops into a severe disorder in some sufferers. App-based interventions are able to provide low-threshold, cost-effective, and location-independent care for tinnitus patients. Therefore, we developed a smartphone app combining structured counseling with sound therapy and conducted a pilot study to evaluate treatment compliance and symptom improvement (trial registration: DRKS00030007). Outcome variables were Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) measured tinnitus distress and loudness and Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) at baseline and final visit. A multiple-baseline design with a baseline phase (only EMA) followed by an intervention phase (EMA and intervention) was applied. 21 patients with chronic tinnitus (≥ 6 months) were included. Overall compliance differed between modules (EMA usage: 79% of days, structured counseling: 72%, sound therapy: 32%). The THI score improved from baseline to final visit indicating a large effect (Cohens d = 1.1). Tinnitus distress and loudness did not improve significantly from baseline phase to the end of intervention phase. However, 5 of 14 (36%) improved clinically meaningful in tinnitus distress (ΔDistress ≥ 10) and 13 of 18 (72%) in THI score (ΔTHI ≥ 7). The positive relationship between tinnitus distress and loudness weakened over the course of the study. A trend but no level effect for tinnitus distress could be demonstrated by a mixed effect model. The improvement in THI was strongly associated with the improvement scores in EMA of tinnitus distress (r = -0.75; 0.86). These results indicate that app-based structured counseling combined with sound therapy is feasible, has an impact on tinnitus symptoms and reduces distress for several patients. In addition, our data suggest that EMA could be used as a measurement tool to detect changes in tinnitus symptoms in clinical trials as has already been shown in other areas of mental health research.

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Auricular Acupressure Combined with Self-Help Intervention for Treating Chronic Tinnitus: A Longitudinal Observational Study

Cited by 4 publications

References 24 publications

Prediction of Tinnitus Perception Based on Daily Life MHealth Data Using Country Origin and Season

Prediction of Tinnitus Perception Based on Daily Life MHealth Data Using Country Origin and Season

Effectiveness of Telerehabilitation Interventions for Self-management of Tinnitus: Systematic Review

Pilot study of a smartphone-based tinnitus therapy using structured counseling and sound therapy: A multiple-baseline design with ecological momentary assessment

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