Tinnitus in Cochlear Implants

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Tinnitus in Cochlear Implants

• Eliza Szymanska
• ISVR

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• Tinnitus is a perception of sound, it must be
  heard, it is involuntary, it is not produced
  intentionally and originates in head or in one or
  both ears
• It is usually described as ringing noise, high
  pitched whining, buzzing, hissing sound

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Prevalence of Tinnitus

• Between 10-15 of the population have tinnitus
• 3-5 of all people with tinnitus are troubled by
  it
• 1 of this amount reported to have severe effect
  on quality of life

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• Tinnitus is not itself a disease but a symptom
• About 80 of people who suffer from tinnitus have
  also hearing loss. That is why the most common
  theory about tinnitus combine tinnitus as a
  result of hearing loss and damaged outer hair
  cells in cochlear

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CBT for Tinnitus patients

• CBT a psychotherapeutic approach that aims to
  influence dysfunctional emotions, behaviours and
  cognitions through a goal-oriented, systematic
  procedure

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• CBT involve structured interviews, daily diary
  and self-report questionnaires
• Treatments include applied relaxation, imagery
  and distraction techniques, advice what and how
  to listen, management of sleep
• Cognitive restructuring of thoughts and beliefs
  associated with tinnitus

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Phd Project

• Tinnitus in Cochlear Implants
• Is CBT valid and effective for CI users?
• Do we need a new criteria in CBT for CI users?

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Methodology

• The study consist of two interventions, one based
  on questionnaires and one based on Cognitive
  Behavioural Therapy in group
• We need 80 participants !!

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Questionnaires

• Tinnitus Questionnaire
• Visual Analogue Scale
• Quality of life, Short Form 36-SF36
• Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale
• Additional open questions

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Procedure

• 80 participants
• Set of questionnaires before and after
  implantation
• 4-6 participants 12 sessions of CBT in group
• Set of repeated questionnaires
• outcomes

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How we hear
Amygdala (emotions)
Auditory cortex (interpretation, memory)
Autonomic nervous system (automatic fight or
flight responses)
Auditory brainstem (subconscious monitoring)
Auditory periphery (coding of sound) (initiation
of neural representation)