TUESDAY, March 24, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with tinnitus, internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) is associated with significant improvements during a six-year follow-up period, according to a study published online March 19 in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.
Eldre Beukes, Ph.D., from Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, England, and colleagues examined the durability of treatment effects after ICBT for tinnitus in a follow-up of a nonrandomized clinical trial. A repeated-measures study design with six time points was used to assess six-year outcomes of ICBT.
Of the 138 participants in the original trial, 49 participants (35.5 percent) completed the six-year postintervention assessment. The researchers observed significant improvements in association with undertaking ICBT for tinnitus, with little variability during the six-year period and large within-group effect sizes at six years postintervention. On measures of anxiety, depression, insomnia, satisfaction with life, and hyperacusis, small effects were seen. Clinical significance was obtained by 39 percent of participants using the reliable change index criterion of a 23.86-point score improvement and by 55 percent when using the minimal clinically important difference of 14 points at six-year follow-up. Durability of treatment effects were present for tinnitus distress and measures of anxiety, depression, insomnia, and satisfaction with life, but not for auditory-related effects.
"This is of importance because health care systems continue to struggle to maintain waiting times and have the required resources to manage tinnitus," the authors write. "Ways of integrating them into current care pathways should be considered due to the need for minimal resources, and health and economic benefits."
One author reported being coauthor of a self-help book that is partly overlapping with the treatment tested.