The effect of a new treatment based on somatosensory stimulation in a group of patients with somatically related tinnitus.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a new treatment consisting of stretching, posture training, and auricular acupuncture immediately and at a 3-month followup. This method has not been tested previously. From an original pool of 41 potential subjects, we recruited 24 (12 men, 12 women; ages 18-70 years) into this study and divided them from a waiting list into either a treatment group or a control group. We measured mobility of neck and posture; measured severity of tinnitus by the Klockhoff test and the visual analog scale (VAS); and measured grade of anxiety and depression with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. We also used the Mann-Whitney U-test to determine statistical significance. The statistical analysis demonstrated a significant decrease of tinnitus in the treatment group as compared with the control group, according to the VAS before and after treatment (p < .001) and at follow-up after 3 months (p < .01). We also observed a significant decrease of tinnitus according to the Klockhoff test before and after treatment (p < .001) and at follow-up after 3 months (p < .01). Our study indicates that this method, based on somatosensory stimulation, may be a useful and alternative treatment of somatic tinnitus.