Tinnitus and hyperacusis therapy in a UK National Health Service audiology department: Patients' evaluations of the effectiveness of treatments.
Hashir Aazh, Brian C J Moore, Karen Lammaing and 1 others
PMID 27195947WHAT IT FOUND
Patients with tinnitus or hyperacusis rated counselling highest, then education and CBT.
Sound generators and hearing aids were rated less positively, and their contribution could not be separated from the counselling and education given with them.
Key findings
01Counselling received the highest effectiveness ratings from responders, and only 6% rated it 3/5 or below.
02Bedside sound generators, hearing aids and wideband noise generators were rated 3/5 or below by 25%, 36% and 47% of responders, respectively.
03The survey could not separate the contribution of sound devices or hearing aids from the counselling and education given with them.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
This was a service evaluation survey, not a trial, so it cannot show whether any treatment caused improvement. Only 92 of 200 questionnaires were returned, a response rate of 46%, and responders were older and had attended more therapy sessions than non-responders. The survey used a local questionnaire, and the paper does not report whether it gives consistent or comparable results. Patients received several treatments together, so the contribution of counselling, education, CBT, hearing aids, bedside sound generators or wideband noise generators cannot be separated. Ratings were subjective and may reflect satisfaction with the service or what patients thought investigators wanted.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that counselling, education or CBT are proven more effective than hearing aids or sound generators. These were patient ratings from a service survey, not a test of treatment effects, and the devices were always offered with counselling and education.