Enhancing Tinnitus Management through a Virtual Reality Multimedia Application

This study assessed usability, acceptability and usefulness of a virtual reality (VR) system in tinnitus management, and explored short-term effects of audio-visual masking on tinnitus severity, and user preferences for virtual environments (VEs).17 participants with chronic tinnitus were immersed in 3 VEs (blank, beach, and forest environments). In each environment, participants completed tinnitus severity scales before, during, and after binaurally spatialised masking noise activation, emanating from a virtual radio that could be fixed in position in relation to the head. Usability and tinnitus severity measures were recorded in each environment and after completing all VEs.Tinnitus severity decreased significantly during masking noise activation for all VEs. Benefit appeared to accumulate, with each subsequent VE producing further decreases in severity. Participants found the technology easy to use, relaxing, useful, novel, and enjoyable. A System Usability Scale score of 72.3 indicated a good usability rating. All participants reported that the ability to move and fix the position of the virtual radio in relation to the head was useful for tinnitus management.Usability and acceptability of our VR system was high amongst participants and all believed it may be useful in future tinnitus management. Only short-term benefits were examined, but results demonstrate that further development and research into long-term benefits of the system are worth exploring.

本研究评估了虚拟现实（VR）系统在耳鸣管理中的可用性、可接受性与应用价值，并探索了视听掩蔽对耳鸣严重程度的短期影响，以及用户对虚拟环境（VEs）的偏好。本研究共纳入17名慢性耳鸣受试者，令其分别沉浸于3种虚拟环境（空白环境、海滩环境与森林环境）中。在每种环境下，受试者需在源自可相对于头部固定位置的虚拟电台激活双耳空间化掩蔽噪声的前、中、后三个阶段，完成耳鸣严重程度量表测评。在每种虚拟环境以及完成全部虚拟环境测评后，均记录了可用性与耳鸣严重程度相关数据。结果显示，在所有虚拟环境中，掩蔽噪声激活期间受试者的耳鸣严重程度均显著降低。获益呈现累积效应，后续每一种虚拟环境均能进一步降低受试者的耳鸣严重程度。受试者反馈该技术易于操作、令人放松、实用性强、新颖独特且体验愉悦。系统可用性量表（System Usability Scale）得分为72.3，表明其可用性评级良好。所有受试者均表示，可相对于头部移动并固定虚拟电台位置的功能，对耳鸣管理具有实际应用价值。受试者对本VR系统的可用性与可接受性均较高，且所有人均认为该系统未来可应用于耳鸣管理领域。本研究仅考察了短期获益，但结果表明，对该系统的长期获益开展进一步开发与研究值得探索。