Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
NEW YORK, 10th Jan. According to an international research team on Tuesday has developed a new smart phone app that can reduce the impact of tinnitus in weeks by a training course for the brain and sound therapy.
Tinnitus is common, affecting up to 1 in 4 people.
It is experienced by older adults but can appear in children.
It goes away without intervention. It can be debilitatingly life changing: affecting hearing, mood, concentration, sleep and in severe cases, causing anxiety or depression, the researchers stated.
The cognitive behavioral therapy can help people with tinnitus, it requires a trained psychologist and is expensive, often difficult to access.
The team from Australian, New Zealand, French and Belgian universities reported that the app, MindEar, uses a combination of cognitive behavioural therapy, mindfulness and relaxation exercises as well as sound therapy to help train the brain’s reaction to help “tune out” tinnitus”.
Dr Fabrice Bardy, an audiologist at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland and lead author of the paper said “The sound you perceive fades in the background and is much less bothersome,” said
Dr Bardy co-founder of MindEar, a company set up to commercialise the MindEar technology.
In the initial trial, of the 30 tinnitus patients, two thirds experienced a ‘clinically significant improvement’ after 16 weeks.
It was shortened to only 8 weeks when patients additionally had access to an online psychologist.
The findings are detailed in the journal Frontiers in Audiology and Otology,
MindEar aims to help people to practice focus through a training programme, equipped the mind and body to suppress stress hormones and responses and reducing the brain’s focus on tinnitus.
Tinnitus is not a disease in itself but is usually a symptom of another underlying health condition, such as damage to the auditory system or tensions occurring in the head and neck.
There is no known cure for tinnitus, there are management strategies and techniques that help many sufferers find relief.
MindEar team are optimistic that there is a more accessible, rapidly available and effective tool available for the many of those affected by tinnitus still awaiting support with the evidence of this trial.
The app MindEar is available for individuals to trial on a smart phone.
Team are planning larger trials, the company added.
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