The tinnitus intensive therapy habituation program: a 2-year follow-up pilot study on subjective tinnitus.
OBJECTIVE
To explore the effects of a new tinnitus treatment program (tinnitus intensive therapy [TIT]) based on auditory perception principles and neural habituation.


METHODS
A follow-up study with measurement of treatment effects every third month over a 2-year period in which the cases were their own controls.


METHODS
There were 25 participants with a mean age 50.1 years (SD = 16.1); 10 women (52.7 years; SD = 16.8) and 15 men (48.3 years; SD = 15.9). The participants were recruited from clinical population admitted to a polyclinic tinnitus treatment program in western Germany.


RESULTS
There was a significant reduction of tinnitus in the follow-up period. Mean baseline tinnitus scores (Tinnitus Fragebogen; Goebel & Hiller, 1998) at the start of the treatment were 50.9 (SD = 14.5) and the final scores were 14.2 (SD = 5.9). In total, the clinical improvement over the follow-up period was 72.1%.


CONCLUSIONS
The TIT program showed a significant clinical treatment effect and should be tested further in a multicenter treatment project. The findings support the Jastreboff habituation model of tinnitus, but social cognitive factors should also be taken into account.
Bessman
Peter
P
Alfred-Döblin-Strasse.
Heider
Tom
T
Watten
Veslemøy P
VP
Watten
Reidulf G
RG
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D012984:Software; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014012:Tinnitus / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D016896:Treatment Outcome