title: Long-term effects of the "Heidelberg Model of Music Therapy" in patients with chronic tinnitus.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The "Heidelberg Model of Music Therapy for Chronic Tinnitus" is a manualized short term treatment (nine 50-minutes sessions of individualized therapy on five consecutive days). It has proven to be efficient in reducing tinnitus symptoms in the short run. Now the long-term impact of the treatment after up to 5.4 years should be explored.
  
  
  METHODS
  206 patients who had attended the neuro-music therapy were addressed in a structured follow-up questionnaire survey. 107 complete questionnaires entered analysis. Follow-up time was 2.65 (SD 1.1) years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  76% of the patients achieved a reliable reduction in their tinnitus scores, the overall tinnitus distress as measured by the Mini-TQ diminished from 11.9 (SD = 4.9) to 7.4 (SD = 5.2) points, 87% of the patients were satisfied by the way they were treated during therapy, and 71% of the patients did not undergo any further treatment after. Evaluation of therapeutic elements displays, that only music therapy specific interventions were rated helpful by the patients. Tinnitus related factors (such as tinnitus pitch or loudness, time since onset) did not influence therapy outcome but female gender, positive therapeutic relationship, and higher initial Mini-TQ scores became apparent as factors predicting better chances for greater therapy success.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The "Heidelberg Model of Music Therapy for Chronic Tinnitus" seems to be effective in the long run. The outcome effect size of d' = 0.89, can be accounted for as "large" effect and falls into the upper range value compared to established treatments.
authors.affiliation: German Center for Music Therapy Research (Deutsches Zentrum für Musiktherapieforschung (Viktor Dulger Institut) DZM e.V.) Heidelberg, Germany. heike.argstatter@dzm-heidelberg.de
authors.forename: Heike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Argstatter
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grapp
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hutter
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Plinkert
authors.forename: Hans Volker
authors.initials: HV
authors.lastname: Bolay