Project R-12400

Cost-effectiveness of a smartphone Application for Tinnitus Treatment: The CATT trial (Research)

Tinnitus is a common symptom that affects 10 to 15% of the adult population, causing mood changes, anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, concentration problems and other psychological/emotional issues leading to severe disruptions to the quality of life. Tinnitus does not represent a disease itself but instead is a symptom of a variety of possible underlying diseases or malfunctions making the tinnitus population very heterogeneous. In this project we address one specific subtype, being somatic tinnitus. In somatic tinnitus, the tinnitus is influenced by dysfunctions of the cervical spine and/or temporomandibular area, such as: increased muscle tension or mobility limitations. The content of the state-of-the-art therapy for somatic tinnitus is well established, but the implementation in clinical practice is not ideal yet. The current standard physiotherapy treatment, including manual mobilizations and exercises that are mostly performed at home, is perfectly implementable, but patients often do not perform home exercises or do them incorrectly. Furthermore, physiotherapists often lack knowledge about tinnitus in general, what makes it very hard for them to provide the correct tinnitus counselling that should be part of the somatic tinnitus therapy. To overcome these hurdles, a smartphone application was developed by the consortium partners, that provides tinnitus counselling through a chatbot function. The application also contains an exercise program, with daily reminders and videos to show how the exercises should be performed correctly. This application was tested by a panel of 30 tinnitus patients for user-friendliness and willingness-to-use, but the effectiveness of the application as part of a blended physiotherapy intervention still needs to be evaluated. Furthermore, our project aims to investigate the cost-effectiveness of this blended physiotherapy program compared to the current standard care.

01 October 2021 - 30 September 2025