Hearing aids as an adjunct to counseling: Tinnitus patients who choose amplification do better than those that don't

Grant D. Searchfield, Manpreet Kaur, William H. Martin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

90 Scopus citations

Abstract

Hearing aids are commonly used for tinnitus management (Kochkin & Tyler, 2008) but there is limited evidence to support their use. The purpose of this study was to quantify the effectiveness of hearing aids and counseling as a tinnitus treatment option. This study is a retrospective analysis of tinnitus handicap questionnaire (THQ, Kuk et al, 1990) results from 58 tinnitus patients with hearing loss who received counseling, and (1) chose to follow recommendations of hearing aid fitting, or (2) chose not to have hearing aids. The groups (N = 29 each) had similar audiometric configuration, tinnitus duration, and age. It was hypothesized that the use of hearing aids would provide greater reduction in THQ scores than counseling alone. THQ scores were reduced 12 months following counseling but improvement in THQ only reached statistical significance for the group that received hearing aids (p < 0.0001). The hearing aid group had reduced; psychosocial handicap (p < 0.0002); and tinnitus-hearing handicap (p < 0.0005). It is concluded that patients with hearing loss and tinnitus should trial amplification.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)574-579
Number of pages6
JournalInternational journal of audiology
Volume49
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2010

Keywords

  • Amplification
  • Counseling
  • Habituation
  • Hearing aids
  • Sound therapy
  • Tinnitus
  • Treatment outcome

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Language and Linguistics
  • Linguistics and Language
  • Speech and Hearing

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