Directive counselling in tinnitus retraining therapy

Tinnitus retraining therapy [TRT] focuses on the behavioural retraining of the associations induced by tinnitus perception and on inducing and further facilitating the process of habituation of tinnitus perception. It has two main elements: directive counselling which is more important and sound therapy.To determine the effects [success or failure] of counselling in TRT as a habituation method in the management of patients suffering from tinnitus. Full history taking, clinical examination [otoscopic, audiologic and medical], and categorisation of patients according to TRT categories in 137 chronic tinnitus patients into: groups I: 52 patients receiving counselling only [TRT Category 0], group II: 21 patients receiving counselling and noise generators [TRT category 1], and III: 34 patients receiving counselling and hearing aids [TRT category 2] and group IV 30 patients receiving medication. The Tinnitus H and icap Inventory [THI] translated into Arabic was used for scoring. A pre- and post-treatment score difference of at least 20 points revealed effectiveness of TRT compared to medical treatment.But was not revealed if the patient changed to a less severe h and icap with a score difference of 18.56 +/- 10.48. Although THI exists an important guide in individual management and monitoring to evaluate tinnitus treatment outcome, comparing the results with other studies is difficult due to the non-st and ardized scoring of the real improvement as well as the different questionnaires used.

effect of adjusting the tone control and venting a hearing aid system in sensorineural hearing loss

Changing the frequency response of a hearing aid can be accomplished by the use of tone control switch or venting the car mould. The results of these modifications are usually supplied by the manufacturer in the form of 2cc cavity data. Real ear measurements differ from 2cc measurements. In this study 32 patients had their real ear measurements evaluated with the effect of the tone control and a 2mm vent in the ear mould calculated singly and in combination, to study their effect and to examine how it varies from the 2cc values. From the results it was concluded that the combination of both methods results in less reduction in gain than each separately, the difference between the real ear measurements and the 2cc coupler measurement may be due to the fact that patients do not use the full gain of their hearing aids and calculations in 2cc coupler are made with gain at the maximum