Hearing Aid for Tinnitus Management : A Comparison Study of Amplification Strategies on Audibility of Tinnitus

Abstract

Objective: The present study aimed at finding the best amplification strategy that provides tinnitus relief in a quiet environment in patients with Sensorineural hearing loss who have bothersome tinnitus. The following objectives were formulated a) To measure Minimal Masking Level (MML) on tinnitus suppression b) to find the relation between tinnitus pitch and gain at tinnitus pitch in each strategy ( DSL i/o v -5 at compression threshold of 30 dBSPL, DSL i/o v-5 at compression threshold of 50 dBSPL, NAL-NL1 at compression threshold of 30 dBSPL and NAL-NL1 at compression threshold of 50 dBSPL) and b) to determine the best amplification strategy that gives relief from tinnitus using paired comparison method. Method: A one shot posttest only and randomized repeated measures research design was utilized. Fourteen participants with unilateral and bilateral tone like tinnitus participated in the study whose age ranged from 20 to 80 years. These participants were made three grouped based on the scores of Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI). From each participant, MML on tinnitus suppression and the best program selected among four strategies provided tinnitus relief were measured. Results: In each group of participants, MML on tinnitus suppression was descriptively analyzed. A spearman's correlation revealed no significant relation between MML at tinnitus pitch and gain at tinnitus pitch. Each group of participants showed no preference among four strategies in hearing aid. Conclusion: Other than prescriptive formula and compression threshold, a few features in hearing aid (open fit, omnidirectional, deactivated DNR and optimizing gain at tinnitus pitch) have an effect in providing relief from tinnitus. However, a caution must be taken in fitting hearing aid to tackle both hearing loss and tinnitus by effectively using the options available in aid. This is because in amplifying the ambient noise from hearing aid there would be a high chance of rejecting it because of annoyance experience from amplifying ambient noise. Thus, to avoid annoyance during conversation, a separate program can be set in hearing aid to obtain relief from tinnitus especially in quiet environment