Patients' feedback on the Changi General Hospital tinnitus counselling protocol

Many tinnitus service providers advocate counselling as an initial and important approach for the management of tinnitus. Our tinnitus counselling clinic (TCC) developed a counselling protocol to deliver information and educate patients on self-help strategies. We aimed to obtain feedback on the components of the initial session and the self-help choices made by patients who returned for follow-up.

All patients who were attending the TCC completed a Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) questionnaire during their first and follow-up sessions. At follow-up, patients were asked to rate how helpful each counselling component was and their choice of self-help strategy for tinnitus.

203 patients attended the follow-up session, representing 60.1% of patients initially counselled. THI scores improved, with 45.8% more patients categorised as having no handicap at follow-up compared to the initial 26.1%. Two most helpful counselling components (rated on a 5-point scale) were explanation of self-help strategies (mean score 4.40 ± 0.68) and illustration of healthy and damaged hair cells (mean score 4.30 ± 0.74). The most popular choice for self-help was using a sound strategy plus change in thinking (41.9%, n = 85). A few (32.5%, n = 66) patients were able to change their perception of tinnitus without any sound enrichment, while 17 (8.4%) patients relied solely on sound strategy. Most (97.5%) patients found the initial counselling session helpful. However, 92 (45.3%) patients were still seeking a cure for their tinnitus.

Most patients found the counselling helpful at follow-up. Counselling offered them the opportunity to actively manage their tinnitus.