section name header

Evidence summaries

Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (Trt) for Tinnitus

Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) seems to be more effective than masking for the treatment of tinnitus, although the evidence is insufficient. Level of evidence: "D"

Summary

A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included one study with 123 participants with tinnitus. They were recruited from a cohort of US military veterans with the predominance of males. In this study outcome data for tinnitus severity were presented using 3 instruments (Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI), Tinnitus Handicap Questionnaire (THQ), Tinnitus Severity Index (TSI)) for patients in 3 groups: tinnitus being a moderate, big or very big problem. At 18 months, improvements for the 3 groups in the 3 scores (TRT versus TM) were respectively: 'moderate problem' - THI: 18.2 versus 4.6, THQ: 489 versus 178, TSI 7.5 versus 1.6; 'big problem' - THI: 29.2 versus 16.7, THQ: 799 versus 256, TSI: 12.1 versus 6.7; and 'very big problem' - THI: 50.4 versus 10.3, THQ; 1118 versus 300, TSI: 19.7 versus 4.8. The trial showed Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) to be more effective than a tinnitus masking (TM) approach.

Comment: The quality of the evidence is downgraded by study quality (inadequate allocation concealment), imprecise results (limited study size for each comparison) and indirectness of evidence (differences in studied patients).

Clinical comments

Note

Date of latest search:

    References

    • Phillips JS, McFerran D. Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) for tinnitus. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2010;(3):CD007330. [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords