Background
Methods
Ethics
Inclusion and exclusion criteria
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Duration of (worsening of) tinnitus between 3 months and 4 years
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Minimum age of the patient is 18 years old
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Maximum loudness of tinnitus on the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) ≥ 4
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Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI) score ≥ 25
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Pulsatile tinnitus
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Auditory thresholds > 70 decibels hearing level (dBHL)
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Pregnancy
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Treatment of psychiatric disorder by a psychiatrist
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Pacemaker or defibrillator
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Acoustic neuroma
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History of cerebrovascular accident
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Ménière’s disease
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Whiplash
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Epilepsy
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Change of medication use
Study protocol
Tinnitus Retraining Therapy
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS)
Real tDCS | Sham tDCS | |
---|---|---|
Current | 2 mA | 1 mA |
Fade in/out | 10 s | 10 s |
Duration | 1200 s | 10 s |
Side effects
Outcome measurements
T0 | T1 | T2 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Primary outcome measurements | TFI | x | x | x |
Secondary outcome measurements | VAS | x | x | x |
HQ | x | x | x | |
DS14 | x | |||
PGIC | x | |||
Tone audiometry | x | x | ||
Psychoacoustic measurements | x | x | ||
ERP | x | x |