The Fear of Tinnitus Questionnaire: Toward a Reliable and Valid Means of Assessing Fear in Adults with Tinnitus

Fuller, Thomas; Cima, Rilana; Bussche, Eva Van den

doi:10.1097/aud.0000000000000728

Cited by 15 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 68 publications

(77 reference statements)

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“…It might be necessary to screen for hyperacusis in acute tinnitus patients and to find out which aspects of hyperacusis are relevant (in our sample this was fear-related, even if general anxiety did not predict remission). Interestingly, we did no see a significant effect of personality or anxiety even if there is evidence that these variables are involved in decompensated tinnitus (24,25). It would be highly interesting to see whether ear pressure could be validated by means of diagnostic tests.…”

Section: Perspective For Future Studiesmentioning

confidence: 77%

From Acute to Chronic Tinnitus: Pilot Data on Predictors and Progression

et al. 2020

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Little is known about the transition from acute tinnitus to chronic tinnitus. By means of this study, we are attempting to close this gap by presenting prospective pilot data of patients with acute tinnitus, followed by tracking their condition's trajectory over a period of 6 months. Forty-nine patients presenting with acute tinnitus (duration < 28 days) were recruited in two clinics. We recorded demographic and clinical tinnitus-related data as well as data on personality, health, treatments, and life-style, during patients' first appearance in the clinic and again three and 6 months thereafter. Standard audiograms were performed at the first and the second visit. Nine (18.4%) patients showed full remission of their tinnitus. These patients differed from patients with a chronic course of tinnitus by shorter tinnitus duration, lower fear-related hyperacusis, higher proportion of female gender, increased ear pressure, and lower levels of alcohol consumption. Among the patients with a chronification of tinnitus, there was no change in tinnitus characteristics. However, their tinnitus distress improved moderately over time. These preliminary data are in line with earlier studies that have shown that only a small proportion of those patients presenting in the clinic with acute tinnitus experience a full remission. The results of this study can be of service in deducing hypotheses for the transition from acute to chronic tinnitus and in developing designs for interventional studies.

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Section: Perspective For Future Studiesmentioning

confidence: 77%

From Acute to Chronic Tinnitus: Pilot Data on Predictors and Progression

et al. 2020

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“…The main results of this review indicate that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) may be effective in reducing the impact of tinnitus on quality of life at the end of treatment, and that there are few if any adverse effects from receiving CBT (although further research on this is recommended below). These results provide further evidence or justification for recommendations made in two prominent clinical guidelines endorsing the provision of CBT for patients with chronic bothersome tinnitus (Cima 2019;Tunkel 2014). Consequently, policy-makers and service providers should feel confident that CBT for tinnitus is beneficial for patients at least in the short term.…”

Section: Implications For Practicesupporting

confidence: 58%

“…That said, CBT does not appear to affect the perceived loudness of tinnitus and thus, if one was to judge the best treatment for tinnitus using the outcome of perceived loudness, one might reach a different conclusion. Cima et al (2019) and ; levels of evidence in the following key refer to the Oxford Centre of Evidence-based medicine criteria. Key: + refers to levels of evidence 2b, 2c, 3a for the use of the treatment; ++ refers to levels of evidence 1a, 1b, 2a for the use of the treatment; ?…”

Section: Assessment Of Tinnitus Disabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…in the study of the relationship between tinnitus-related catastrophizing and fear, referred to pain-related fear as the: fearful reactions toward pain and painrelated activities and fear of (re)injury, including fearful beliefs about causes of pain (p.634) and by analogy applied this definition to fear of tinnitus. In chapter 4, we defined fear as: an emotional state or response triggered by existing or imminent threats to one's health or safety (p. 1467;Fuller, Cima, Van den Bussche, & Vlaeyen, 2019). Each of the definitions of fear refer to the emotional response, but it is only the definition of fear by that is broader in nature and includes "fear-related beliefs" as part of fear.…”

Section: Assessing Tinnitus-related Fear and Catastrophizingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fuller¹

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“…Several other standardized tinnitus-and health-related questionnaires will be used as secondary outcomes in the course of this RCT: Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI) [42] Mini Tinnitus Questionnaire (mini-TQ) [43] Tinnitus numeric rating scales (NRS) [44] World Health Organization -Quality of Life abbreviated (WHOQoL-Bref; https://www.who.int/healthinfo/survey/WHOQOL_BREF.pdf?ua=1) Clinical Global Impression Scale -Improvement (CGI-I) [45] Patient Health Questionnaire for Depression (PHQ-D/PHQ-9) [46,47] Sample description and other measures European School of Interdisciplinary Tinnitus Research Screening Questionnaire (ESIT-SQ) [48] Tinnitus Sample Case History Questionnaire (TSCHQ) [49] Questionnaire on Hypersensitivity to Sound (GUF) [50] Big Five Inventory-2 (BFI-2) [51] Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) [52] Social Isolation Electronic Survey (SOISES) [53] -a subset of 11 questions sensitive for tinnitus distress change will be used, further designated as Mini-SOISES Attitudes Towards Ampli cation Questionnaire (ATAQ) -a subset of questions (baseline: 8; end of treatment: 7) associated with hearing aids taken from the Attitudes towards Loss of Hearing Questionnaire (ALHQ) [54] Fear of Tinnitus Questionnaire (FTQ) [55] Electrophysiological measures Two types of electrophysiological measures are performed in the course of this RCT -auditory brain stem responses (ABR) and auditory middle latency responses (AMLR). ABRs represent the synchronized neural activity along the auditory pathway evoked by a serial presentation of acoustic stimuli (e.g., clicks).…”

Section: Secondary Outcomementioning

confidence: 99%

Unification of treatments and interventions for tinnitus patients (UNITI): a study protocol for a multi-center randomized clinical trial

Schoisswohl

Langguth

Schecklmann

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Background Tinnitus represents a relatively common condition in the global population accompanied by various comorbidities and severe burden in many cases. Nevertheless, there is currently no general treatment or cure, presumable due to the heterogeneity of tinnitus with its wide variety of etiologies and tinnitus phenotypes. Hence, most treatment studies merely demonstrated improvement in a subgroup of tinnitus patients. The majority of studies are characterized by small sample sizes, unstandardized treatments and assessments or applications of intervention targeting only a single organ level. Combinatory treatment approaches, potentially targeting multiple systems as well as treatment personalization might provide remedy and enhance treatment responses. The aim of the present study is to systematically examine established tinnitus therapies both alone and in combination in a large sample of tinnitus patients. Further it wants to provide the basis for personalized treatment approaches by evaluating a specific decision support system developed as part of an EU-funded collaborative project (Unification of treatments and interventions for tinnitus patients; UNITI-project). Methods/ Study design: This is a multi-center parallel-arm randomized clinical trial conducted at five different clinical sites over the EU. The effect of four different tinnitus therapy approaches (sound therapy, structured counselling, hearing aids, cognitive behavioral therapy) applied over a time period of 12 weeks as a single or rather a combinatory treatment in a total number of 500 chronic tinnitus patients will be investigated. Assessments and interventions are harmonized over the involved clinical sites. The primary outcome measure focuses on the domain tinnitus distress assessed via the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory. Discussion Results and conclusions from the current study might not only provide an essential contribution to combinatory and personalized treatment approaches in tinnitus but could also provide more profound insights in the heterogeneity of tinnitus, representing an important step towards a cure for tinnitus. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04663828. Registered on 11. December 2020

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The Fear of Tinnitus Questionnaire: Toward a Reliable and Valid Means of Assessing Fear in Adults with Tinnitus

Cited by 15 publications

References 68 publications

From Acute to Chronic Tinnitus: Pilot Data on Predictors and Progression

From Acute to Chronic Tinnitus: Pilot Data on Predictors and Progression

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Unification of treatments and interventions for tinnitus patients (UNITI): a study protocol for a multi-center randomized clinical trial

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