Publication: Suppression effect of contralateral mobile application-based sound therapy among adults with and without tinnitus
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Date
2025-07
Authors
Yahya, Kamalin Mastura Mohd
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Abstract
Tinnitus is the perception of sound without an external auditory stimulus. Sound therapy, particularly when delivered through a mobile application, has become a readily available therapy for reducing tinnitus. This study aims to explore the suppression effect of contralateral mobile application-based sound therapy among adults with tinnitus. This intervention study involves 33 adults (61 ears), respectively 18 participants (31 ears) with tinnitus and 15 participants (30 ears) without tinnitus. Participants aged 20 to 40 years (mean = 23 ± 1.037 years) for the tinnitus group and (mean 23 + 1.952) for the non-tinnitus group, having normal middle ear function and no retrocochlear pathology. Among them, 16 percent had mild hearing loss, and 84 percent had normal hearing in the tinnitus participants. 7 percent had mild hearing loss, and 93 percent had normal hearing in non-tinnitus participants. 26 ears demonstrated pitch matching at high frequencies (2kHz – 12.5kHz). Two types of sound therapy, namely white noise and rain sounds, were administered for three minutes using the Resound Relief GN mobile application to the contralateral ear. Suppression effects were assessed with distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) starting from 1.5kHz until 12kHz for both groups, and a numeric rating scale was assessed only in the tinnitus group. Tinnitus participants were also asked to choose a sound preference for reducing tinnitus. 71 percent of participants preferred rain sound, whereas 29 percent preferred white noise. This preference aligns with DPOAE results, which showed a significant result of amplitude reduction at the tinnitus pitch-matched frequency using rain sound (p<0.05) with an effect size of 0.461; meanwhile, white noise did not show a significant effect (p>0.05; effect size = 0.379). When analyzed at all frequencies, in control groups, the significant enhancement was shown at 7kHz for white noise
and 3kHz, 6kHz, and 12kHz for rain sound. However, in tinnitus participants, only 2kHz is found to have a suppression effect using white noise and no suppression effect using rain sound. Both stimuli showed significant tinnitus suppression effects on the numeric rating scale (p<0.05). Contralateral rain sound is more effective at pitch-matched areas, which align with the sound therapy preferences among tinnitus participants. These findings support the potential of mobile-based sound therapy in tinnitus management, with rain sound being more effective on tinnitus suppression among adults with tinnitus, and further large-scale studies are encouraged to support the findings of this study.