Can the Neuroptimal® Method Promote a State of Wellbeing in Subjects Suffering From Tinnitus? A pilot study

Tinnitus attracts the interest of researchers because there is no certain and effective cure. It therefore represents a meeting point for medicine, neuroscience, and clinical and health psychology. Even if there are no treatments capable of definitively curing tinnitus, certain methodologies can positively influence its progress. Over the last decade, the use of neurofeedback, which uses the detection of electroencephalographic waves (EEG), has shown its effectiveness in alleviating symptoms. An innovative type of neurofeedback is the Neuroptimal® (NO) Dynamic Neurofeedback method. We recruited adults with tinnitus using the internet, newsletters, and word of mouth for this purpose. Subjects who responded positively to the request were assigned to an experimental group or a control group at random. The study lasted a total of five months. Twenty NO training sessions per subject were conducted on a once-a-week basis. Measures were used to assess the severity of tinnitus using the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) and a daily monitoring board, depression using the BDI-II, anxiety using the STAI-X2, and subjective satisfaction and quality of life with Satisfaction Profile (SAT-P). The control group was assigned to the waiting list, without NO training, and subjected to testing in the same way. The results indicate that the THI shows a constant reduction in the experimental group and a non-variation of the disturbance in the control group and the ANOVA is significant (p = 0.044). Differences in scores to the BDI-II are significant (p = 0.017), as well as to the STAI X2 (p = 0.048). The Satisfaction Profile indicates an improvement, with a statistically significant difference, in physical functionality (p = 0.002) and in the domain of sleep, nutrition and leisure (p = 0.030). It can be concluded that the Neurofeedback Dynamic Neuroptimal® method can promote a state of wellbeing evident in fewer depressive symptoms, less anxiety and greater satisfaction with physical functionality and quality of sleep, nutrition and leisure as well as promoting the reduction of tinnitus.