Kosugi Yuki, Miwa Toru, Haruta Yuka, Hashimoto Kosuke, Kato Shoko
Department of Otolaryngology, Osaka Metropolitan University, 1-4-3 Asahi-machi, Abeno-ku, Osaka 545-8585, Japan.
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Graduate of School of Medicine, Kyoto University, 54 Shogoin Kawahara-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.
Audiol Res. 2024 Aug 6;14(4):674-683. doi: 10.3390/audiolres14040057.
Hearing aids (HAs), especially those with sound generators (SGs), are used in the management of tinnitus. However, their comparative efficacies and long-term outcomes remain unknown. Therefore, we investigated the efficacy and long-term outcomes of tinnitus therapy using various HA SG models. We retrospectively reviewed 666 patients with chronic tinnitus characterized by persistent symptoms for >6 months. At the initial visit, the patients received educational counselling on tinnitus (Utsunomiya method) and completed a comprehensive questionnaire comprising the tinnitus handicap inventory, a visual analog scale, the state-trait anxiety inventory, and the emotional intelligence scale. The scores were compared among various models of HA SGs and SGs. The patients underwent follow-ups for up to 2 years. Our results indicated that tinnitus retraining therapy using SGs and conventional HAs effectively managed chronic tinnitus. The prolonged use of HAs appeared to exacerbate tinnitus symptoms, emphasizing the superior long-term effectiveness of SG HAs, particularly ZEN (Widex ZEN, WS Audiology, Lynge, Denmark). Our findings indicate that HAs are useful in the first year, but their prolonged use may exacerbate tinnitus symptoms, whereas HA SGs are effective in the long term. Future studies should account for the variations in tinnitus treatment effects based on the type of sound employed.
助听器（HAs），尤其是那些带有声音发生器（SGs）的助听器，被用于耳鸣的治疗。然而，它们的相对疗效和长期效果仍不清楚。因此，我们研究了使用各种HA SG模型进行耳鸣治疗的疗效和长期效果。我们回顾性分析了666例慢性耳鸣患者，其特征为持续症状超过6个月。在初次就诊时，患者接受了关于耳鸣的教育咨询（宇都宫方法），并完成了一份综合问卷，包括耳鸣障碍量表、视觉模拟量表、状态-特质焦虑量表和情商量表。对各种HA SG模型和SGs的得分进行了比较。患者接受了长达2年的随访。我们的结果表明，使用SGs和传统HAs的耳鸣再训练疗法能有效治疗慢性耳鸣。长期使用HA似乎会加重耳鸣症状，这突出了SG HA，特别是ZEN（丹麦林格的Widex ZEN，WS听力集团）的长期效果更佳。我们的研究结果表明，HA在第一年是有用的，但长期使用可能会加重耳鸣症状，而HA SGs从长期来看是有效的。未来的研究应考虑基于所使用声音类型的耳鸣治疗效果差异。
