Although a wide range of tinnitus management interventions is currently under research and a variety of therapeutic interventions have already been applied in clinical practice, no optimal and universal tinnitus treatment has been reached yet. This fact is to some extent a consequence of the high heterogeneity of the methodologies used in tinnitus related clinical studies. In this manuscript, we have identified, summarized, and critically appraised tinnitus-related randomized clinical trials since 2010, aiming at systematically mapping the research conducted in this area. The results of our analysis of the 73 included randomized clinical trials provide important insight on the identification of limitations of previous works, methodological pitfalls or gaps in current knowledge, a prerequisite for the adequate interpretation of current literature and execution of future studies.

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to present and describe the development and validation of new Words in the Babble test in modern Greek. Materials and Methods: Four 50-word phonemically balanced lists in babble noise were administered to 44 normal hearing subjects and 53 patients with hearing loss (HL) ears with mild and moderate sensorineural HL (SNHL). The word lists were monoaurally presented (i.e., separately for the right and left ears) at 11 signal-to-noise (babble) intensity levels, from −12 to +12 dB. The signal remained constant at 65 dB for all participants with normal hearing and at 20 dB SL for participants with SNHL, whereas the multitalker babble stimulus varied according to the desired signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Results: The results showed that word recognition scores were negatively affected by HL and were negatively related to the degree of HL. There was a statistically significant difference for all scores in all SNRs, both between participants with normal hearing and those with mild HL as well as between participants with mild and moderate HL, except for −3 dB SNR and −6 dB SNR between mild and moderate HL. In addition, there were no statistically significant differences between the right and left ears in any of the SNRs. Conclusions: The existing literature suggests that the use of monosyllabic words produces recognition performance in multitalker babble tests, as observed in languages such as Spanish, Estonian, and Arabic, whereas the present study provides evidence that a similar effect is produced when disyllabic words are used.

Background: This study investigates electrophysiological distinctions in auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) among individuals with chronic subjective tinnitus, with a specific focus on the impact of treatment response and tinnitus localisation. Methods: Early AEPs, known as Auditory Brainstem Responses (ABR), and middle AEPs, termed Auditory Middle Latency Responses (AMLR), were analysed in tinnitus patients across four clinical centers in an attempt to verify increased neuronal activity, in accordance with the current tinnitus models. Our statistical analyses primarily focused on discrepancies in time–domain core features of ABR and AMLR signals, including amplitudes and latencies, concerning both treatment response and tinnitus laterality. Results: Statistically significant differences were observed in ABR wave III and V latencies, ABR wave III peak amplitude, and AMLR wave Na and Nb amplitudes when comparing groups based on their response to treatment, accompanied by varying effect sizes. Conversely, when examining groups categorised by tinnitus laterality, no statistically significant differences emerged. Conclusions: These results provide valuable insights into the potential influence of treatment responses on AEPs. However, further research is imperative to attain a comprehensive understanding of the underlying mechanisms at play.