Jun 18, 2025
A Culturally Adapted Psychologically Informed, Audiologist-Delivered, Manualized Intervention for Chronic Tinnitus Patients in Malaysia
- Mohamad Azmeer Sadali1,2,
- Wan Syafira Ishak1,3,
- Mahadir Ahmad4,5,
- Derek J Hoare6,7
- 1Centre for Healthy Ageing & Wellness (H-CARE), Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;
- 2Audiology Unit, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Hospital Sungai Buloh, Ministry of Health, Selangor, Malaysia;
- 3Audiology Program, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;
- 4Center for Community Health Studies (ReaCH), Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;
- 5Clinical Psychology Program, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;
- 6National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre, Hearing Sciences, Mental Health and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom;
- 7Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
Protocol Citation: Mohamad Azmeer Sadali, Wan Syafira Ishak, Mahadir Ahmad, Derek J Hoare 2025. A Culturally Adapted Psychologically Informed, Audiologist-Delivered, Manualized Intervention for Chronic Tinnitus Patients in Malaysia. protocols.io https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.5jyl8q4q6l2w/v1
License: This is an open access protocol distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Protocol status: Working
We use this protocol and it's working
Created: June 17, 2025
Last Modified: June 18, 2025
Protocol Integer ID: 220404
Keywords: intervention for chronic tinnitus patient, chronic tinnitus patient, uk tinman study, manualized intervention, trained audiologist, audiologist, informed intervention, adapted psychologically informed, intervention, patient, malaysia this protocol, malaysia, controlled feasibility trial, standard care procedure
Abstract
This protocol outlines the delivery procedures for a culturally adapted, manualized, psychologically informed intervention for chronic tinnitus patients in Malaysia, as well as the standard care procedures used in the control group. The intervention consists of three individual sessions delivered by a trained audiologist using structured modules adapted from the UK TinMan study. This protocol was developed as part of a randomized controlled feasibility trial. Details on randomization, allocation, and blinding are provided in the full manuscript.
Troubleshooting
Intervention Group Procedure
The adapted psychologically informed intervention is delivered by the researcher to chronic tinnitus patients concurrently at three different study sites. The researcher is an audiologist with 10 years of clinical experience and has received specialized training in a dedicated workshop at University College Cork, Ireland, conducted by the authors who developed the intervention manual. Each participant in the intervention group receives three individual, face-to-face sessions (1 hour each), completed within one month. The intervention is delivered mainly in the form of talking therapy in the participant’s preferred language (Malay or English).
Session 1: A patient assessment is performed to determine which elements of patient education and patient management/self-management are relevant. At the end of the session, the participant receives a treatment plan and relevant resources for reading and practice.
Session 2: Discussions are based on previously provided worksheets using the toolkit of resources. Participants are encouraged to implement the non-optional module of rapid relaxation in patient management/self-management.
Session 3: After the participant has successfully addressed the relevant elements, the intervention is concluded with instruction on relapse prevention.
Control Group Procedure
Participants in the control group receive standard care, which includes a session of informational counseling about tinnitus (1 hour) following a routine hearing assessment. This session is delivered by an experienced audiologist at the site who is not specially trained in managing tinnitus.
Note: This document summarizes the procedures used in both intervention and control arms of the study. For comprehensive details on study design, rationale, recruitment strategy, and outcome measures, please refer to the full protocol manuscript.