# Global 10 year ecological momentary assessment and mobile sensing study on tinnitus and environmental sounds

## TL;DR

A 10-year study using a mobile app found that external sounds can reduce, increase, or have no effect on tinnitus in different people.

## Contribution

The study introduces a real-world, long-term analysis of sound effects on tinnitus using mobile sensing and Ecological Momentary Assessment.

## Key findings

- External sound reduces tinnitus in about 20% of users.
- External sound increases tinnitus in about 5% of users.
- Age and hearing problems differ significantly among the three identified tinnitus sound response groups.

## Abstract

In most tinnitus patients, tinnitus can be masked by external sounds. However, evidence for the efficacy of sound-based treatments is scarce. To elucidate the effect of sounds on tinnitus under real-world conditions, we collected data through the TrackYourTinnitus mobile platform over a ten-year period using Ecological Momentary Assessment and Mobile Crowdsensing. Using this dataset, we analyzed 67,442 samples from 572 users. Depending on the effect of environmental sounds on tinnitus, we identified three groups (T-, T+, T0) using Growth Mixture Modeling (GMM). Moreover, we compared these groups with respect to demographic, clinical, and user characteristics. We found that external sound reduces tinnitus (T-) in about 20% of users, increases tinnitus (T+) in about 5%, and leaves tinnitus unaffected (T0) in about 75%. The three groups differed significantly with respect to age and hearing problems, suggesting that the effect of sound on tinnitus is a relevant criterion for clinical subtyping.