A Study to Measure Effect of Amplification Strategies on Tinnitus

Tinnitus is a symptom which is highly distressing for many of its sufferers and was poorly understood until recently. The Neurophysiological model provides a logical explanation as to its pathophysiology and treatment rationale. It postulates that amplification devices may effectively decrease tinnitus severity and associated psychological distress, provided that certain recommendations be followed, which is in accordance to the neurophysiological model of tinnitus mechanism. The present study attempted to clinically test these hypotheses in 70 subjects with hearing loss of varying degree and severe tinnitus with considerable anxiety and sleep disturbances. All the patients demonstrated uniform and significant improvement in tinnitus severity (measured by tinnitus severity quotient), anxiety (measured by state-trait anxiety inventory) and insomnia (measured through sleep diary), but with no differences between single and multichannel fittings which demonstrates the clinical efficacy of the neurophysiological model and strongly validates the use of binaural fitting of hearing aids for reduction of tinnitus in patients with concomitant hearing loss.