Cognitive Tinnitus Therapy

Tinnitus Centres recognise and understand that the emergence and ongoing difficulty with tinnitus is usually multi-factorial. As every tinnitus is unique so is every patient and their treatment pathway needs to reflect this. We have developed Cognitive Tinnitus Therapy (CTT) to allow us to give the most relevant, evidence-based and patient centred care to all our patients.

CTT is a modular patient centred approach to treating tinnitus. CTT incorporates elements of the Audiological model (sometimes called modified Tinnitus Retraining Therapy), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Mindfulness and the latest guidance on hearing aid fitting for tinnitus into a programme of care that is safe, effective and straight-forward to deliver by all suitably trained Hearing Care Professionals. Using standardised outcome measures and effective goal setting it aims to both evidence and validate improvements in patients’ symptoms over the course of the therapy. A core focus of the CTT model is the use and effective delivery of sound enrichment making best use of the tools intrinsic to modern hearing aids and extrinsic sound sources such as streamed mobile phone tinnitus applications.

Using information gathered from the Full Tinnitus Centres Assessment of the patient an individualised treatment programme is created for each patient focused on meeting their identified needs, goals and preferences. CTT has three defined elements, Sensory, Cognitive and Emotional. Depending on the agreed programme a varying degree of weight can be given to each element. As treatment progresses it may be necessary to revisit the programme design based on the patients’ response to the therapy. Weighted and validated questionnaires are re-applied during the treatment process to ensure we are always working on the area most relevant to the patient at that time.