title: Tinnitus sound therapy with open ear canal hearing aids.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aims of this study were to evaluate the efficacy of open ear canal hearing aids in tinnitus treatment and to investigate the influence of gender, age, medication usage, tinnitus cause, tinnitus perception side, tinnitus pitch, pure tone audiometry, distortion product otoacoustic emissions, and minimal masking level on outcome.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred tinnitus patients were evaluated by the tinnitus handicap inventory (THI) at the beginning of the study and after nine months of treatment. All subjects were submitted to counselling and sound enrichment from the simple sound amplification provided by the open ear canal hearing aids.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Initial mean THI score was 54.22 (+/- 20.37) and final mean score was 28.32 (+/- 16.50), p < 0.0001. No statistically significant correlations were found between THI value reduction and the studied parameters.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Open ear canal hearing aids were useful in all tinnitus patients with mild hearing loss.
authors.affiliation: Audiology Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Forti
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Crocetti
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Scotti
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Costanzo
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pignataro
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Ambrosetti
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Del Bo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D014012:Tinnitus / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome