Mobile Phone Therapy for Tinnitus

Women listening to phone with earbuds; tinnitus treatment concept

Researchers at the University of Auckland developed a mobile-phone-based therapy last year that has shown clinically significant improvements in patients with tinnitus.

The clinical trial was extremely small, with 61 patients. Half were given the new treatment and the other half used a white noise app. Those 31 people using the "new digital polytherapeutic" prototype showed "clinically significant improvements at 12 weeks, while the other group (30 people) did not."

The trial participants were instructed to aim for a minimum of two hours of total use per day for 12 weeks.

The device uses a personalized treatment plan that "essentially rewires the brain in a way that de-emphasizes the sound of the tinnitus to a background noise that has no meaning or relevance to the listener." So, it's not a cure per se, but a treatment that can improve the lives of people who are bothered by their tinnitus.

The original research article was published in Frontiers in Neurology and the story reported in Science Daily.

According to Science Daily, "the next step will be to refine the prototype and proceed to larger local and international trials with a view to FDA approval."

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