The Effectiveness of the Progression of Widex Zen Tinnitus Therapy: A Pilot Study

Tyler, Richard S.; Deshpande, Aniruddha K.; Lau, Chi; Kuk, Francis

doi:10.1044/2017_aja-16-0009

Cited by 13 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Tinnitus complaints significantly decreased in ten studies (Berberian et al 2017; dos Santos et al 2014; Henry et al 2015; Henry et al 2017; Oz et al 2013; Rocha and Mondelli 2017, 2020; Searchfield et al 2016; Shabana et al 2018; Tyler et al 2017). Two studies did not conduct analyses to investigate if hearing aid use and/or the masking function result into tinnitus relief (Jalilvand et al 2015; Sereda et al 2017).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Hearing More to Hear Less: A Scoping Review of Hearing Aids for Tinnitus Relief

Jacquemin

Gilles

Shekhawat

2021

Preprint

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Background Tinnitus, the perception of a sound in absence of an external auditory source, can significantly impact ones' quality of life. As tinnitus is often associated with hearing loss, hearing aids have been proposed for tinnitus relief in literature for more than 70 years. While there is a long history of clinical work and research on this topic, there is a need for recent literature to be reviewed and guide decision making in tinnitus management. Objective The aim of this scoping review is to provide an update of the available evidence on hearing aids for tinnitus, focusing on the effect of sound amplification, to draw conclusions for clinical practice and identify gaps in the field. A consultation exercise was included to discuss current issues that practitioners and carers themselves face but remain under-researched. Design This scoping review was conducted based on the six-stage framework of Arksey et al. (2005). Studies were included if they investigated hearing aids for tinnitus and were published after 2011. Databases of PubMed and Scopus were explored on the 16th of November 2020. The search was limited to English manuscripts. A total of 28 primary research studies were selected. Results Positive results of hearing aids for tinnitus relief were shown by 68 % of the studies, whereas 14 % demonstrated no change in tinnitus perception. As the quality of the evidence across studies was variable, no consensus can be reached regarding the use of hearing aids as a treatment for tinnitus. Nevertheless, recent studies were more likely to focus on optimizing the effect of hearing aids and better predicting which tinnitus patients benefit from hearing aids. The experts stated that the findings were in agreement with their view on the scientific evidence and they emphasized the importance of reaching consensus. Conclusions The majority of the studies supported the use of hearing aids for tinnitus relief. Hence, there was some scientific support for it, but the quality of evidence was questioned. Stronger methodology in future studies is needed to reach consensus and support clinical guidelines development.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Hearing More to Hear Less: A Scoping Review of Hearing Aids for Tinnitus Relief

Jacquemin

Gilles

Shekhawat

2021

Preprint

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“…Digitally-rendered, fractal sounds resembling musical chimes have also been used ( 41 ). Most trials of fractal sounds have shown benefit but have been open label, with large individual variability ( 19 , 42 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A State-of-Art Review of Digital Technologies for the Next Generation of Tinnitus Therapeutics

Searchfield

Sanders

Doborjeh

et al. 2021

Front. Digit. Health

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Background: Digital processing has enabled the development of several generations of technology for tinnitus therapy. The first digital generation was comprised of digital Hearing Aids (HAs) and personal digital music players implementing already established sound-based therapies, as well as text based information on the internet. In the second generation Smart-phone applications (apps) alone or in conjunction with HAs resulted in more therapy options for users to select from. The 3rd generation of digital tinnitus technologies began with the emergence of many novel, largely neurophysiologically-inspired, treatment theories that drove development of processing; enabled through HAs, apps, the internet and stand-alone devices. We are now of the cusp of a 4th generation that will incorporate physiological sensors, multiple transducers and AI to personalize therapies.Aim: To review technologies that will enable the next generations of digital therapies for tinnitus.Methods: A “state-of-the-art” review was undertaken to answer the question: what digital technology could be applied to tinnitus therapy in the next 10 years? Google Scholar and PubMed were searched for the 10-year period 2011–2021. The search strategy used the following key words: “tinnitus” and [“HA,” “personalized therapy,” “AI” (and “methods” or “applications”), “Virtual reality,” “Games,” “Sensors” and “Transducers”], and “Hearables.” Snowballing was used to expand the search from the identified papers. The results of the review were cataloged and organized into themes.Results: This paper identified digital technologies and research on the development of smart therapies for tinnitus. AI methods that could have tinnitus applications are identified and discussed. The potential of personalized treatments and the benefits of being able to gather data in ecologically valid settings are outlined.Conclusions: There is a huge scope for the application of digital technology to tinnitus therapy, but the uncertain mechanisms underpinning tinnitus present a challenge and many posited therapeutic approaches may not be successful. Personalized AI modeling based on biometric measures obtained through various sensor types, and assessments of individual psychology and lifestyles should result in the development of smart therapy platforms for tinnitus.

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“…It has been well documented that those tones contain three pure tones, which match the tinnitus frequency, and combined with white noise improve tinnitus symptoms ( Tao et al, 2017 ). Similarly, fractal tones tailored to the hearing loss of the participants have demonstrated a decrease in tinnitus severity ( Tyler et al, 2017 ), and prevention of tonotopic reorganization of the auditory cortex ( Eggermont and Roberts, 2004 ; Noreña and Eggermont, 2005 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative analysis of acoustic therapies for tinnitus treatment based on auditory event-related potentials

et al. 2023

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IntroductionSo far, Auditory Event-Related Potential (AERP) features have been used to characterize neural activity of patients with tinnitus. However, these EEG patterns could be used to evaluate tinnitus evolution as well. The aim of the present study is to propose a methodology based on AERPs to evaluate the effectiveness of four acoustic therapies for tinnitus treatment.MethodsThe acoustic therapies were: (1) Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT), (2) Auditory Discrimination Therapy (ADT), (3) Therapy for Enriched Acoustic Environment (TEAE), and (4) Binaural Beats Therapy (BBT). In addition, relaxing music was included as a placebo for both: tinnitus sufferers and healthy individuals. To meet this aim, 103 participants were recruited, 53% were females and 47% were males. All the participants were treated for 8 weeks with one of these five sounds, which were moreover tuned in accordance with the acoustic features of their tinnitus (if applied) and hearing loss. They were electroencephalographically monitored before and after their acoustic therapy, and wherefrom AERPs were estimated. The sound effect of acoustic therapies was evaluated by examining the area under the curve of those AERPs. Two parameters were obtained: (1) amplitude and (2) topographical distribution.ResultsThe findings of the investigation showed that after an 8-week treatment, TRT and ADT, respectively achieved significant neurophysiological changes over somatosensory and occipital regions. On one hand, TRT increased the tinnitus perception. On the other hand, ADT redirected the tinnitus attention, what in turn diminished the tinnitus perception. Tinnitus handicapped inventory outcomes verified these neurophysiological findings, revealing that 31% of patients in each group reported that TRT increased tinnitus perception, but ADT diminished it.DiscussionTinnitus has been identified as a multifactorial condition highly associated with hearing loss, age, sex, marital status, education, and even, employment. However, no conclusive evidence has been found yet. In this study, a significant (but low) correlation was found between tinnitus intensity and right ear hearing loss, left ear hearing loss, heart rate, area under the curve of AERPs, and acoustic therapy. This study raises the possibility to assign acoustic therapies by neurophysiological response of patient.

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The Effectiveness of the Progression of Widex Zen Tinnitus Therapy: A Pilot Study

Abstract: We conclude that the progressive approach of treatment demonstrated here should be of benefit to most individuals with tinnitus and that the Widex Zen sound therapy is a worthwhile treatment for many tinnitus sufferers.

Cited by 13 publications

References 36 publications

Hearing More to Hear Less: A Scoping Review of Hearing Aids for Tinnitus Relief

Hearing More to Hear Less: A Scoping Review of Hearing Aids for Tinnitus Relief

A State-of-Art Review of Digital Technologies for the Next Generation of Tinnitus Therapeutics

Comparative analysis of acoustic therapies for tinnitus treatment based on auditory event-related potentials

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