Tinnitus patients encouraged to participate in pharmaceutical clinical trials

Tinnitus is experienced by millions of people worldwide. In the U.S., approximately 10% of the population report tinnitus events. The incidence rate increases to 26% among those who are 65-84 years of age.

Currently, there is no cure for tinnitus and no healthcare product that treats the auditory symptom for tinnitus. One reason for the lack of an available treatment is because there are several subtypes of tinnitus caused by various conditions and injuries. In addition, the subjectiveness of the symptom has prevented development of an objective measuring tool.

Jin and Tyler described methods and considerations for measuring the tinnitus in patients who are enrolled in investigational product clinical trials. The study also considered the efficacy of developing pharmaceutical products.

“It is very important to measure tinnitus and to measure it carefully, as well as document how the tinnitus affects a patient’s reactions,” said Tyler. “In addition, there are different subtypes of tinnitus. Trials focused on specific subtypes might be more successful.”

The researchers evaluated various measurements including scaling, questionnaires, loudness, pitch, masking, and post masking. Their findings noted that an objective method of measuring and evaluating tinnitus is still lacking. Future clinical trials should focus on outcome measures proven to be reliable across multiple settings and participants. Also, strategies to increase the reliability of the tests should be used.

“There is a need for more clinical trials that are properly designed and accurately measured,” said Tyler. “It is our hope that this work will help tinnitus patients become more involved in pharmaceutical clinical trials.”

Source: “Measuring tinnitus in pharmaceutical clinical trials,” by In-Ki Jin and Richard S. Tyler, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (2022). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0014699 .