Acupuncture treatment of chronic unilateral tinnitus?a double-blind cross-over trial

In a double-blind controlled trial the effect of traditional Chinese acupuncture versus placebo acupuncture was evaluated among 17 patients (8 females and 9 males, mean age 45.7 years) with chronic (mean disease duration 5.3 years) unilateral tinnitus. None of the patients had any treatable otological disease. All patients suffered from daily tinnitus, the intensity of which was recorded by the patients themselves every day during a period of 15 weeks. Each patient was treated by traditional Chinese acupuncture as well as placebo acupuncture following randomization (Figure 1). Each period of treatment comprised 2 treatments a week for 3 weeks. Throughout the whole investigation a period effect was recorded, insignificant in the acupuncture-placebo group, but significant in the placebo-acupuncture group (Friedman analysis of variance) (Table 4). There was no significant difference between traditional Chinese acupuncture and placebo (Wilcoxon test, P>0.05, one-tailed). There was no relation between the patients' subjective statements and the results of sound balance measurements as an objective standard of tinnitus (Spearman test).