NCT07472257

The Longer, the Better? Investigating the Effect of Prolonged Acoustic Stimulation on Brief Acoustic Tinnitus Suppression

Effects of Acoustic Stimulation Techniques on Tinnitus

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 45 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Regensburg · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 75 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This study compared tinnitus suppression after 3-minute and 20-minute acoustic stimulation using an individually optimized stimulus. In total 45 tinnitus patients participated. Thirty-three participants with chronic subjective tinnitus completed three sessions. During the first two sessions, eight individualized filtered and modulated stimuli were presented for 3 minutes each to identify the stimulus inducing the strongest tinnitus suppression. This stimulus was subsequently applied for 20 minutes in the third session.

Detailed description

The study comprised three experimental acoustic stimulation sessions. In session one, audiometric and tinnitometric assessments were conducted, followed by stimulation with three noise stimuli: white noise (WN), white noise with a bandstop filter (WN\_BS), and white noise with a bandpass filter (WN\_BP), each implemented with a one-octave filter around the individual tinnitus frequency (ITF). Session two (3-14 days later) included five pure tone stimuli: a tone at the ITF, two amplitude-modulated tones at the ITF (10 Hz, 23 Hz), and two amplitude-modulated tones three octaves below the ITF (10 Hz, 23 Hz). Stimuli were presented diotically for 3 minutes with 1000 ms fade-in/out, separated by 6-minute breaks. Participants experiencing brief acoustic tinnitus suppression (BATS) in session one or two completed a third session, in which the stimulus inducing the strongest suppression was applied for 20 minutes. Tinnitus loudness was rated immediately after stimulation using a numeric rating scale (0-110% of baseline loudness) at multiple time points up to 180 seconds, and up to 600 seconds after the 20-minute stimulation to capture prolonged suppression.

Conditions

• Tinnitus

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Acoustic Stimulation - 20 minutes	For each participant, the stimulus which induced the strongest tinnitus loudness suppression (measured with a numeric rating scale in percent compared to baseline loudness) during the previous 2 sessions was chosen and then applied for 20 minutes in a third session.
OTHER	Acoustic stimulation - 3 minutes	Other: Acoustic stimulation Description: sound stimuli were presented diotically with a 1000ms fade-in and fade-out phase in randomized order; in two sessions the following stimuli were applied for 3 minutes each: White Noise (WN), WN with a bandpass filter (WN\_BP) and WN with a bandstop filter (WN\_BS), both filters applied at the individual tinnitus frequency (ITF); different pure tones: one at the ITF, two at the ITF with amplitude modulation at either 10 Hz or 23 Hz (AM\_10Hz, AM\_23Hz) and another two low-frequency tones (three octaves below the patient's ITF) with an amplitude modulation at 10 Hz or 23 Hz as well (AM\_10Hz\_deep, AM\_23Hz\_deep); For each participant, the stimulus which induced the strongest tinnitus loudness suppression (measured with a numeric rating scale in percent compared to baseline loudness) was chosen,

Timeline

• Start date: 2018-04-01
• Primary completion: 2018-12-01
• Completion: 2018-12-01
• First posted: 2026-03-16
• Last updated: 2026-03-16

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Germany