title: Hearing aids as an adjunct to counseling: tinnitus patients who choose amplification do better than those that don't.
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.
authors.affiliation: Audiology Section, The University of Auckland, New Zealand. g.searchfi eld@auckland.ac.nz
authors.forename: Grant D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Searchfield
authors.forename: Manpreet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaur
authors.forename: William H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Martin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001299:Audiometry; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003376:Counseling; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017755:Prosthesis Fitting; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014012:Tinnitus / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult