Researchers have developed an app that, they argue, can help to reduce the impact of tinnitus, or ringing in the ears.
The app, called MindEar, provides cognitive bahavioural therapy (CBT) through a chatbot as well as offering solutions such as sound therapy. The app has been developed by a team led by Dr Fabrice Bardy, an audiologist at the University of Auckland in New Zealand.
Writing in the journal Frontiers in Audiology and Otology, the research team asked 14 people to use the app’s virtual coach for 10 minutes a day for eight weeks. A further 14 people were then offered four half-hour video calls with a clinical psychologist. Participants completed online questionnaires before the study and after the eight-week period.
The results revealed that six participants given the app alone, and nine who were also given access to video calls, showed a clinically significant decrease in the distress caused by tinnitus, with the extent of the benefit similar for both groups. After a further eight weeks, nine participants in both groups reported such improvements.
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The researchers argue that internet-based delivery of CBT is effective in decreasing tinnitus distress. “The addition of telepsychology might be beneficial, but not essential for the effectiveness of treatment.
“There is need for further research to determine whether there is any relationship between the characteristics of tinnitus patients and the success of the different modes of delivery of therapy,” they said.
The app is, however, not the only one out there, with an app called Oto currently the subject of a large clinical trial in the UK.
Solutions such as apps should not be seen as a panacea when it comes to supporting patients presenting with tinnitus.
For example, Dr Lucy Handscomb of the UCL Ear Institute, which is due to be involved in a larger clinical trial of the MindEar app, told The Guardian newspaper that it should not be seen as a replacement for in-person tinnitus therapy, even if this is often hard to access, especially on the NHS.
Equally, Matthew Smith, a consultant ENT surgeon at Cambridge University highlighted to the paper that CBT is only one aspect of tinnitus treatment.
“Hearing aid provision is an important part of tinnitus treatment for some people, and this presents a challenge for remote treatment,” he said.
“[An] app alone is not a one-stop solution for everyone’s tinnitus but could provide valuable therapy to patients with this condition.”
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