Tinnitus and hyperacusis therapy in a UK National Health Service audiology department: Patients’ evaluations of the effectiveness of treatments

OBJECTIVE To assess patients' judgements of the effectiveness of the tinnitus and hyperacusis therapies offered in a specialist UK National Health Service audiology department. DESIGN Cross-sectional service evaluation questionnaire survey. Patients were asked to rank the effectiveness of the treatment they received on a scale from 1 to 5 (1 = no effect, 5 = very effective). STUDY SAMPLE The questionnaire was sent to all patients who received treatment between January and March 2014 (n = 200) and 92 questionnaires were returned. RESULTS The mean score was greatest for counselling (Mean = 4.7, SD = 0.6), followed by education (Mean = 4.5, SD = 0.8), cognitive behavioural therapy - CBT (Mean = 4.4, SD = 0.7), and hearing tests (Mean = 4.4, SD = 0.9). Only 6% of responders rated counselling as 3 or below. In contrast, bedside sound generators, hearing aids, and wideband noise generators were rated as 3 or below by 25%, 36%, and 47% of participants, respectively. CONCLUSION The most effective components of the tinnitus and hyperacusis therapy interventions were judged by the patients to be counselling, education, and CBT.