Multisensory attention training for treatment of tinnitus
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Date
2016-05
Journal Title
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Publisher
Scientific Reports
Abstract
Tinnitus is the conscious perception of sound with no physical sound source. Some models of tinnitus
pathophysiology suggest that networks associated with attention, memory, distress and multisensory
experience are involved in tinnitus perception. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether a
multisensory attention training paradigm which used audio, visual, and somatosensory stimulation
would reduce tinnitus. Eighteen participants with predominantly unilateral chronic tinnitus were
randomized between two groups receiving 20 daily sessions of either integration (attempting to reduce
salience to tinnitus by binding with multisensory stimuli) or attention diversion (multisensory stimuli
opposite side to tinnitus) training. The training resulted in small but statistically significant reductions in
Tinnitus Functional Index and Tinnitus Severity Numeric Scale scores and improved attentional abilities.
No statistically significant improvements in tinnitus were found between the training groups. This study
demonstrated that a short period of multisensory attention training reduced unilateral tinnitus, but
directing attention toward or away from the tinnitus side did not differentiate this effect.
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Citation
Spiegel, D. P., Linford, T., Thompson, B., Petoe, M. A., Kobayashi, K., Stinear, C. M., & Searchfield, G. D. (2015). Multisensory attention training for treatment of tinnitus. Scientific reports, 5.