An Augustana College professor is researching remote counseling and sound therapy for individuals with hearing disorders, such as hyperacusis, an increased sensitivity to sounds that people find irritating, annoying, or painful.
“Oftentimes people have fear as a result of these repeated exposures that are difficult for them,” said Professor Ann Perreau in the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department at Augustana College. “So our work has been to develop a remote counseling and sound therapy program … We've done this fully remote for individuals with hyperacusis,” Perreau said in an interview with WVIK.
60% of participants showed improvement over the course of the three-year therapy program, which included online counseling sessions and reflection exercises in groups, said Perreau
“We also have weekly discussion forums, and we've built this program so that the participants are working through the study in smaller cohorts, 8 to no more than 15.”
She says the idea is for participants to meet others with the disorder to share their stories, build rapport, and provide a venue for the research team to offer coaching.
The sound therapy portion of the study randomly assigns participants to two groups.
One group wears headphones programmed to test people with white noise, while the other group hears everyday sounds, such as a noisy restaurant or a crowd.
Perreau says both noise therapies were linked to a reduction in hyperacusis symptoms for 60% of the participants over time. “There were very few differences that we did note where the white noise group might have been a little bit superior in some aspects. But overall, when we look at the differences between them, we can see that they are both equally effective.”
Perreau says the research was undertaken by an interdisciplinary team including Mathematics and Computer Science Professor Forrest Stonedahl; Psychology and Neuroscience Professor Austin Williamson; Communications and Science Disorders and Computer Science students, all from Augustana College.
“So those students are also getting that exposure to understand how we can help people. Also, we would talk about the research that has been really instrumental because we now have a better direction,” Perreau said. “This is a very much under-researched area in hyperacusis. And I think that's one of the reasons why my grant was successful: it's just really not an area that a lot of people specialize in, but I'm lucky to be part of that and also involve students. And with that comes helping our community members.”
Perreau mentioned the college’s Roseman Center for Speech, Language, and Hearing, which is available to the community to assist with hearing disorders, including hearing loss.
“So I help people fit hearing aids, tinnitus, you know, the ringing, roaring, or other sounds that people hear, and also hyperacusis,” Perreau said. So this project has helped obviously bolster my own expertise in this area, which has then also helped as I see clients come in; people are being referred from other audiologists here in the Quad Cities. So we're helping other doctors right in the area. So we're helping our community locally.”
The three-year research project was funded by a $361,276 grant from the Department of Health and Human Services’ National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.
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