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Efficacy of Acupuncture on Chronic Tinnitus and Its Association With Auditory Brainstem Response Measures

NCT07522567 · Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 72

Last updated 2026-04-13

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if acupuncture works to treat chronic tinnitus in adults. It will also learn about the neurophysiological effects of acupuncture on auditory conduction pathway function. The main questions it aims to answer are:

Does acupuncture lower tinnitus-related disability and severity, as measured by the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) and Tinnitus Effects Questionnaire (TEQ)?

What changes in auditory brainstem response (ABR) parameters-such as wave I amplitude and wave V latency-occur after acupuncture treatment, and do these changes correlate with clinical improvement?

Researchers will compare ABR parameters and clinical outcomes between chronic tinnitus patients and age- and sex-matched healthy controls to characterize tinnitus-related abnormalities. Additionally, the study will evaluate changes within the patient group before and after a 10-session acupuncture course to assess treatment efficacy and explore its neurophysiological mechanisms.

Conditions

  • Tinnitus
  • Acupuncture
  • Auditory Brainstem Response

Interventions

OTHER

Acupuncture

The acupoint prescription for this study was developed based on the clinical experience of senior acupuncturists and findings from previous related studies. The selected acupoints are as follow: Yifeng（both sides）、Tinggong（both sides）、Tinghui（both sides）、Zhongwan、Xiawan、Qihai、Guanyuan、Yindu（both sides），Shangqu（both sides）、Huaroumen（both sides）. The aforementioned acupoints will be needled on both sides because all recruited individuals have bilateral tinnitus. Licensed acupuncturists with over ten years of clinical experience in acupuncture and moxibustion will perform all treatments. All chronic tinnitus patients will receive a total of 10 acupuncture sessions, administered once every two days (three times per week) over a period of four weeks. Based on our prior research and clinical experience using acupuncture to treat tinnitus, we decided 10 acupuncture sessions in total.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • The Third Affiliated hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
60 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2026-12-31
Primary Completion
2027-06-01
Completion
2027-07-31

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT07522567 on ClinicalTrials.gov