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Investigating the Therapeutic Efficacy of Neurofeedback Treatment on the Severity of Symptoms and Quality of Life in Patients with Tinnitus

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Abstract

The present study examined the therapeutic efficacy of neurofeedback treatment (NFT) on the severity of symptoms and quality of life (QOL) in patients with chronic subjective tinnitus. 12 patients diagnosed with chronic tinnitus by an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist were selected by convenience sampling among the patients attending an ENT clinic in Ahvaz, Iran. The Patients were randomly assigned to the intervention and control groups. The intervention group received 15 sessions of neurofeedback treatment. All participants in this study completed severity of symptoms and quality of life symptoms questionnaires at three points in time: pre-test, post-test and 3-month follow-up. Using the Mann–Whitney U test, neurofeedback was found to significantly reduce the severity of tinnitus (z = −2.61, U = 0, and p < 0.009), and increase the quality of life (z = −2.62, U = 0, and p < 0.009) of participants. In addition, our findings show that NFT acts selectively on tinnitus with no side effects, and thus, can be used as an alternative or adjunctive treatment with medications and psychological therapies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz Branch, Ahvaz, Iran

    Sanaz khoramzadeh & Masood Nosratabadi

  2. Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

    Nader Saki

  3. Chamran University, Ahvaz, Iran

    Iran Davoodi

  4. School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

    Ali Yadollahpour

Authors
  1. Sanaz khoramzadeh
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  2. Nader Saki
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  3. Iran Davoodi
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  4. Masood Nosratabadi
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  5. Ali Yadollahpour
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Correspondence to Nader Saki.

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Authors have equally contributed in the designing, conducting, and preparation of this manuscript and have no conflict of interests on publishing this manuscript.

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khoramzadeh, S., Saki, N., Davoodi, I. et al. Investigating the Therapeutic Efficacy of Neurofeedback Treatment on the Severity of Symptoms and Quality of Life in Patients with Tinnitus. Int J Ment Health Addiction 14, 982–992 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-016-9670-6

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