Abstract

Effectiveness of Precise Tinnitus Matching and IoTBased Personalized Multimodal Management in the Tinnitus Patients in India

Author(s): Milind V Kirtane, Arpit Sharma, Sangeeta P Varty, Nishita Mohandas, Neeleshkumar Pandit and Maryam Shojaei Baghini

Background: Tinnitus is ringing in the ear or head and is a highly prevalent condition affects more than 740 million adults globally and is considered to be a major problem faced by more than 120 million people. The prevalence of tinnitus is about 10% to 15%. The diversified symptoms and customized management requirements further complicate the tinnitus diagnosis and its management. Precise Tinnitus Matching (MyTMD) and IoT based customised management software (TMe-solution) have been demonstrated to be effective in tinnitus management.

Methodology: The study was a single-centre open study, patients aged 18 to 65 years Idiopathic moderate to severe tinnitus or patients with Meniere’s disease with predominant tinnitus symptoms were enrolled. All the patients were asked to revisit the clinical trial centre for efficacy and safety assessment at day 30 and day 60. The primary assessment parameter was the change in the Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI) score at the end of treatment (Day 60) as compared to the baseline. The secondary assessment parameters included changes in the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) (pretreatment and post-treatment) and changes in Numerical Rating Scale scores (NRS) of loudness, duration, and annoyance at the end of the study.

Results: 11 patients were enrolled in the study. The mean age of the patients was 47.45 years. Female predominance was observed in the patients enrolled in the study (7 women versus 4 men). There was a 58.91% reduction in TFI scores at end of 60 days as compared to the baseline. In the NRS scores there was a trend of progressive reduction of scores of symptoms of ear fullness (24.09% reduction), tinnitus (38.15% reduction), degree of annoyance (60.65% reduction) and duration (53.16% reduction). There was a 61.11% reduction in tinnitus severity score at the end of 60 days.

Conclusion: Management of tinnitus continues to pose a challenge to clinicians. Patients are dissatisfied with the current treatment options. The new tinnitus matching device is a unique non-invasive device offers precise tinnitus matching. The Tinnitus Management software (Tme-solution) allows the patient to be treated with the customized tinnitus masker, Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT), attention diversion technique, CBT using one comprehensive IOT-based platform.