The Impact of Daily Hours of Sound Therapy on Tinnitus Relief for People With Chronic Tinnitus: A Randomized Controlled Study

Abstract

Purpose: Tinnitus is defined as the perception of sounds in the absence of extrinsic sound stimuli. Sound therapy is an option for tinnitus rehabilitation, which aims to mitigate the functional and emotional effects of tinnitus. Several studies have reported that a longer duration of sound therapy may result in a greater tinnitus relief effect. However, the relationship between the daily hours of sound therapy and the tinnitus relief effect remains unclear. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the tinnitus relief effect according to the time spent in daily performing sound therapy. Method: Fifty-eight chronic tinnitus participants were randomly assigned to three groups according to their daily hours of sound therapy (1-hr, 3-hr, and 5-hr groups), and mixing point-based sound therapy, which adjusts the volume of the external stimulus to blend with the participant's tinnitus sound, was administered for 3 months. The effectiveness of sound therapy was determined based on changes in the tinnitus loudness level, visual analog scale for loudness score, and the Korean version of the Tinnitus Primary Function Questionnaire (K-TPFQ) score between the baseline and 3-month time points. Results: Longer daily sound therapy hours were associated to a greater effect of sound therapy in the tinnitus loudness level and the total K-TPFQ scores, including the emotion and hearing subcategories. Particularly, the 3-hr and 5-hr groups showed a greater tinnitus relief than the 1-hr group. Conclusion: An increase in the daily sound therapy hours may increase the possibility of improving tinnitus relief effects.

Impact of a combination sound therapy on tinnitus distress: an exploratory one-year longitudinal study

“…Those that used the sound therapy more hours per day experienced more benefit. This relationship has been observed before (Jin et al, 2022). Hence, the non-compliant participants in our study likely pulled the average down.…”

Therapy effect of cochleural alternating acoustic beam therapy versus traditional sound therapy for managing chronic idiopathic tinnitus patients

“…Future studies should extend the trial duration beyond 12 months to better understand the long-term effects. Second, the daily treatment time for patients was relatively short; a longer daily sound therapy duration might enhance the potential for improving tinnitus relief 9 . There is evidence that continuous sound therapy for longer periods, such as 3 h per day for > 6 months, could yield better results 8 .…”

“…Sound therapy, assessed through subjective evaluations, has demonstrated effectiveness in tinnitus management. The efficacy of sound therapy improves with the duration of daily treatment; it can be effective as a standalone method without additional counseling 8 , 9 . Vernon 10 demonstrated that tinnitus masking, a standard monotone therapy, involves using external noise to distract the patient's attention and reduce the contrast between the tinnitus signal and background activity within the auditory system.…”

The Effectiveness of Microcurrent Stimulation Combined with Sound Therapy for Tinnitus Relief: A Preliminary Study

“…Sound therapy is a typical rehabilitation approach for patients with chronic tinnitus, aiming to habituate patients to tinnitus and reduce focus on it [7][8][9]. In a study by Jin et al (2022), 14 of 38 participants with chronic tinnitus who received sound therapy for at least 3 h daily for 3 months reported significant tinnitus relief [9]. In another study, 5 of 15 participants with chronic tinnitus who received sound therapy reported significant relief from tinnitus [8].…”

“…Whether rehabilitation combining sound and electrical stimulation is more effective than traditional sound therapy remains unclear. Studies on sound therapy alone have also reported significant tinnitus relief in 30-50% of participants when assessing individualized tinnitus relief [9,11]. However, studies on sound therapy alone and those combining sound and electrical stimulation are not directly comparable because of differences in participant characteristics, rehabilitation duration, and assessment methods.…”