Smartphone App MindEar Offers Effective Tinnitus Management

The app uses cognitive behavioral therapy to reduce the impact of tinnitus, providing a more accessible treatment option.

Researchers have developed a smartphone app, MindEar, that uses cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to significantly reduce the impact of tinnitus in a matter of weeks.
The app's chatbot, Tinnibot, delivers the therapy, and in a trial, two thirds of users saw improvement after 16 weeks, shortened to 8 weeks when patients also had access to an online psychologist.
Tinnitus, often described as a ringing or buzzing noise in the ear, affects more than 740 million adults globally, and can cause significant changes to hearing, concentration, and mood, sometimes leading to anxiety and depression.
While there is no cure for tinnitus, there are management strategies, and CBT is known to help, but it requires a trained psychologist, which can be expensive and difficult to access.
The researchers hope that their findings demonstrate that internet-based delivery of CBT represents a more accessible and highly effective tool for managing tinnitus.