The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has released a new guideline covering the assessment and management of tinnitus.
The organisation advises that healthcare professionals develop a management plan with the patient to explore different approaches that may help, aiming to address the symptoms.
Specific methods include psychological therapies, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), which are recommended for people with tinnitus that causes them distress.
It also states that for tinnitus-related hearing loss, hearing aids are recommended.
Despite the new guideline, the organisation was unable to recommend the use of neuromodulation therapies – devices that aim to reduce symptoms by applying electrical, acoustic and/or magnetic energy to the head or neck – to control the symptoms of tinnitus, as there was not enough evidence that showed how well they work.
NICE announced that, instead, neuromodulation therapies have formed one of the committee’s key recommendations for further research.
“The type and severity of tinnitus varies from person to person,” explained Dr Paul Chrisp, director of the centre for guidelines at NICE.
He continued to say that there is “no single approach that works for everyone. Further research on treatments such as neuromodulation would allow us to make recommendations on a greater range of options that could potentially benefit people with tinnitus.”
Other recommendations for research included gathering evidence on the combined use of tinnitus support with sound therapy, which aims to use different sounds to reduce tinnitus awareness, and the clinical and cost effectiveness of psychological therapies for children and young people.
