Predictors of Tinnitus Symptom Relief With Hearing Aids in a European Multicenter Study.

Objectives: Hearing aids (HAs) are a widely accepted first-line treatment option for individuals suffering from both hearing loss and chronic tinnitus. Though HAs are highly effective at improving speech understanding, their effectiveness in ameliorating tinnitus symptoms is less clear. In recent years, several investigators have reported on attempts to predict HAs effectiveness on tinnitus symptoms using an array of variables.

Hearing Aid Use Time Is Causally Influenced by Psychological Parameters in Mildly Distressed Patients with Chronic Tinnitus and Mild-to-Moderate Hearing Loss.

Background: Hearing aids (HAs) can improve tinnitus-related distress (TRD) and speech-comprehension (SC) in silence or at 55 dB noise-interference (SC_55 dB) in patients with chronic tinnitus and mild-to-moderate hearing loss. However, the role of HA use time in relation to psychological, audiological, or self-reported tinnitus characteristics is under-investigated.

Methods: We examine 177 gender-stratified patients before (t) and after an intervention comprising binaural DSL algorithm-based HA fitting and auditory training (t) and at a 70-day follow up [t].

DSL-Algorithm-Based Hearing Aid Fitting Can Improve Speech Comprehension in Mildly Distressed Patients with Chronic Tinnitus and Mild-to-Moderate Hearing Loss.

Background: Patients with chronic tinnitus and mild-to-moderate hearing loss (HL) can experience difficulties with speech comprehension (SC). The present study investigated SC benefits of a two-component hearing therapy.

Methods: One-hundred-seventy-seven gender-stratified patients underwent binaural DSL-algorithm-based hearing aid (HA) fitting and conducted auditory training exercises.

Hearing Therapy Improves Tinnitus-Related Distress in Mildly Distressed Patients with Chronic Tinnitus and Mild-to-Moderate Hearing Loss: A Randomized-Controlled Cross-Over Design.

Background: The psychological effects of hearing aids and auditory training are underinvestigated.

Objective: To assess the short- and long-term effects of an industry-developed auditory training on tinnitus-related distress, perceived stress, and psychological epiphenomena in patients with chronic tinnitus and mild-to-moderate hearing loss.

Method: One-hundred-seventy-seven gender-stratified patients were randomized to an immediate [IIG] or delayed [DIG] intervention group.

Unification of Treatments and Interventions for Tinnitus Patients (UNITI): a study protocol for a multi-center randomized clinical trial.

Background: Tinnitus represents a relatively common condition in the global population accompanied by various comorbidities and severe burden in many cases. Nevertheless, there is currently no general treatment or cure, presumable due to the heterogeneity of tinnitus with its wide variety of etiologies and tinnitus phenotypes. Hence, most treatment studies merely demonstrated improvement in a subgroup of tinnitus patients.

Towards a unification of treatments and interventions for tinnitus patients: The EU research and innovation action UNITI.

Tinnitus is the perception of a phantom sound and the patient's reaction to it. Although much progress has been made, tinnitus remains a scientific and clinical enigma of high prevalence and high economic burden, with an estimated prevalence of 10%-20% among the adult population. The EU is funding a new collaborative project entitled "Unification of Treatments and Interventions for Tinnitus Patients" (UNITI, grant no.