(0942) Long-Term Results After Self-Training of Minfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy Using White Noice for Chronic Tinnitus

Introduction: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) are known to be effective to reduce tinnitus distress despite of difficulty of practical application. This study was performed to evaluate outcomes of self-training for chronic tinnitus using MBCT and white noise.

Methods: From January 2020 to July 2023, among 165 patients with persistent chronic tinnitus who were educated of self-training MBCT, 76 patients completed the training and were enrolled retrospectively. Patients with hearing loss, middle ear infection history, or severe medical conditions were excluded. Patients were given information of the concepts of cognitive distortion and mindfulness, and self-training method of MBCT using white noise. They were educated to train for one hour during every daytime and counseled every 6 months. Subjective changes in tinnitus were evaluated by global tinnitus impact (GTI) score in scale from 0 to 10. Performance assessment of MBCT was determined from A to D according to training intensity and time. All statistical analyses were conducted to third session with generalized estimating equations (SAS version 9.4).

Results: In total, 76 patients completed MBCT more than once. Male to female ratio was 26:50 and mean age was 59.1 years. The numbers of patients who completed first, second, third, fourth, and fifth MBCT were 38, 18, 10, 7, and 3, respectively. Patients suffering from unilateral tinnitus showed better GTI scores than them with bilateral tinnitus (p = 0.002). GTI score showed statistical significance with an increase of average 1.4 points at each visit. Although there was a tendency that excellent training performance lead to good outcomes of tinnitus improvement, GTI scores among performance grades did not reveal significant difference.

Conclusions: Patient group showing unilateral tinnitus and sincere training performance demonstrated much improvement after self-training of MBCT. However, this training need to study further to get an objective proof of therapeutic effect. Further studies are need to support the therapeutic effect of the self-training MBCT.