Role of Hearing Aids in Tinnitus Intervention: A Scoping Review

Shekhawat, Giriraj Singh; Searchfield, Grant D.; Stinear, Cathy M.

doi:10.3766/jaaa.24.8.11

Cited by 90 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…One study has even reported that the degree of tinnitus impact increases with the degree of hearing loss (Mazurek, Olze, Haupt, & Szczepek, 2010). Further, numerous studies have reported that provision of hearing aids for patients with bothersome tinnitus tends to mitigate their reactions to tinnitus (McNeill, Tavora-Vieira, Alnafjan, Searchfield, & Welch, 2012;Searchfield, Kaur, & Martin, 2010;Shekhawat, Searchfield, & Stinear, 2013). The conclusions from all of these studies are based on the assumption that scores on the tinnitus questionnaires indicate distress due to tinnitus alone.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tinnitus and Hearing Survey: A Screening Tool to Differentiate Bothersome Tinnitus From Hearing Difficulties

et al. 2015

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Purpose: Individuals complaining of tinnitus often attribute hearing problems to the tinnitus. In such cases some (or all) of their reported "tinnitus distress" may in fact be caused by trouble communicating due to hearing problems. We developed the Tinnitus and Hearing Survey (THS) as a tool to rapidly differentiate hearing problems from tinnitus problems. Method: For 2 of our research studies, we administered the THS twice (mean of 16.5 days between tests) to 67 participants who did not receive intervention. These data allow for measures of statistical validation of the THS. Results: Reliability of the THS was good to excellent regarding internal consistency (a = .86-.94), test-retest reliability (r = .76-.83), and convergent validity between the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (Newman, Jacobson, & Spitzer, 1996;Newman, Sandridge, & Jacobson, 1998) and the A (Tinnitus) subscale of the THS (r = .78). Factor analysis confirmed that the 2 subscales, A (Tinnitus) and B (Hearing), have strong internal structure, explaining 71.7% of the total variance, and low correlation with each other (r = .46), resulting in a small amount of shared variance (21%). Conclusion: These results provide evidence that the THS is statistically validated and reliable for use in assisting patients and clinicians in quickly (and collaboratively) determining whether intervention for tinnitus is appropriate.T innitus has been defined as head or ear noise lasting at least 5 min and occurring more than once a week (Dauman & Tyler, 1992). For most people who have tinnitus, the sound is constant or near-constant. Epidemiologic studies reveal that tinnitus is experienced by 10%-15% of the adult populations in different countries (Heller, 2003;Hoffman & Reed, 2004;Shargorodsky, Curhan, & Farwell, 2010). It is often reported that for about 80% of those who experience tinnitus, the tinnitus is not particularly bothersome, and clinical intervention for the tinnitus is not required (Cima, Vlaeyen, Maes, Joore, & Anteunis, 2011; Davis & Refaie, 2000;Jastreboff & Hazell, 1998;Krog, Engdahl, & Tambs, 2010). When intervention for tinnitus is desired by, and appropriate for, a given patient, the amount of intervention provided should depend on the individual's specific needs Tyler & Baker, 1983).Dobie's (2004) multilevel pyramid analogy is helpful in conceptualizing how tinnitus affects people differently (see Figure 1). The base of the pyramid contains those who have tinnitus but are not bothered by it. The next higher level contains people whose tinnitus is "bothersome," ranging from "mild" to "moderate" to "severe." The tip of the pyramid contains those relatively few individuals who are "debilitated" by their tinnitus. This pyramid analogy highlights the fact that most people who experience tinnitus do not need clinical intervention specific to the tinnitus. Those who do differ widely with respect to their clinical needs, ranging from answering a few questions (e.g., they want assurance that their tinnitus does not reflect some serious disease) to providin...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tinnitus and Hearing Survey: A Screening Tool to Differentiate Bothersome Tinnitus From Hearing Difficulties

et al. 2015

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“…Hearing aids too, although a standard component of usual care, have little quality evidence of effectiveness for tinnitus [18,19] and are only suggested as an option to be considered in the clinical guidelines by Tunkell et al [10]. The present evaluation raises questions on the feasibility of future research on hearing aids.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…The lack of standardisation has the benefit of meeting perceived patient need but an evidence-base to support commissioning of this flexible approach is lacking [18,19].…”

Section: Hearing Aids -Questions On Candidacymentioning

confidence: 99%

Equity and person-centeredness in provision of tinnitus services in UK National Health Service audiology departments

Hoare

Broomhead

Stockdale

et al. 2015

EJPCH

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Rationale, aim and objective: Chronic tinnitus is a prevalent condition broadly managed using individualised sound-based interventions, individualised or group education, counselling, or cognitive therapies. In the UK, therapy is largely delivered by audiologists or hearing therapists and, where available, clinical psychologists and physicians. Changes in the structure of the health service necessitate ongoing evaluation to monitor equity and person-centeredness of care. The purpose of the current evaluation was to describe provision and explore diversities in the services provided for tinnitus patients across the four countries of the UK and consider these relative to current commissioning and clinical practice guidelines. Method: A 37 item questionnaire was devised and distributed via email and social media to reach audiology departments in the UK and 147 valid responses were acquired during the 3 month period of the evaluation. Results: The structure and provision of tinnitus services varies widely across the four countries of the United Kingdom in terms of which clinicians provide the services. Outside of England there was no report of clinical psychology or audiovestibular physician involvement in services. There is also variability in access to psychological therapy or support (little training in CBT in Scotland and none in Northern Ireland), self-help groups (little involvement but interest from clinicians) and devices (e.g., one quarter of departments do not currently offer combination hearing aid devices for tinnitus). Clinicians are increasingly using validated questionnaires to evaluate the effectiveness of tinnitus management in their departments. Conclusions: Training in and the provision of psychological support for tinnitus patients by audiologists is particularly a concern for Scotland and Northern Ireland and has implications for the person-centeredness of audiology services. Capacity and need for research in paediatric tinnitus, combination devices, non-ear level sound devices and audiologist-delivered psychological therapy, are noted.

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“…Several therapeutic approaches-including counseling and behavioral therapy (Andersson & McKenna, 2006;Cima, Andersson, Schmidt, & Henry, 2014;Tyler, Stouffer, & Schum, 1989;Wilson, Henry, Andersson, Hallam, & Lindberg, 1998), the provision of hearing aids (Kochkin & Tyler, 2008;Kochkin, Tyler, & Born, 2011;Searchfield, Kaur, & Martin, 2010;Shekhawat, Searchfield, & Stinear, 2013), and sound therapy devices (Hoare, Searchfield, El Refaie, & Henry, 2014;Tyler, Stocking, Secor, & Slattery, 2014)-can be effective for many people.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Series of Case Studies of Tinnitus Suppression With Mixed Background Stimuli in a Cochlear Implant

et al. 2015

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Purpose Background sounds provided by a wearable sound playback device were mixed with the acoustical input picked up by a cochlear implant speech processor in an attempt to suppress tinnitus. Method First, patients were allowed to listen to several sounds and to select up to 4 sounds that they thought might be effective. These stimuli were programmed to loop continuously in the wearable playback device. Second, subjects were instructed to use 1 background sound each day on the wearable device, and they sequenced the selected background sounds during a 28-day trial. Patients were instructed to go to a website at the end of each day and rate the loudness and annoyance of the tinnitus as well as the acceptability of the background sound. Patients completed the Tinnitus Primary Function Questionnaire (Tyler, Stocking, Secor, & Slattery, 2014) at the beginning of the trial. Results Results indicated that background sounds were very effective at suppressing tinnitus. There was considerable variability in sounds preferred by the subjects. Conclusion The study shows that a background sound mixed with the microphone input can be effective for suppressing tinnitus during daily use of the sound processor in selected cochlear implant users.

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Role of Hearing Aids in Tinnitus Intervention: A Scoping Review

Abstract: The majority of studies reviewed support the use of hearing aids for tinnitus management. Clinicians should feel reassured that some evidence shows support for the use of hearing aids for treating tinnitus, but there is still a need for stronger methodology and randomized control trials.

Cited by 90 publications

References 52 publications

Tinnitus and Hearing Survey: A Screening Tool to Differentiate Bothersome Tinnitus From Hearing Difficulties

Tinnitus and Hearing Survey: A Screening Tool to Differentiate Bothersome Tinnitus From Hearing Difficulties

Equity and person-centeredness in provision of tinnitus services in UK National Health Service audiology departments

A Series of Case Studies of Tinnitus Suppression With Mixed Background Stimuli in a Cochlear Implant

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