AN EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTS OF TRANSCUTANEOUS NERVE-STIMULATION (TNS) AND APPLIED RELAXATION (AR) ON HEARING ABILITY, TINNITUS AND DIZZINESS IN PATIENTS WITH MENIERES-DISEASE

In 20 patients diagnosed with Meiniere's disease, transcutaneous nerve stimulation (TNS) and applied relaxation (AR) were used as a treatmen t aimed at reducing tinnitus and dizziness and increasing hearing abil ity. The main aim of the study was to examine whether TNS could be reg arded as a more beneficial treatment regimen than AR. An experimental between-group cross-over design was used. The results from the experim ental phase (group comparisons) showed a significantly increased abili ty to hear for the TNS group when measured on visual analogue scales. During the same period, the AR-group showed a significant hearing impr ovement for the ear not primarily affected by Meniere's disease as mea sured with pure lone audiometry. The vestibular tests did not reveal a ny significant changes either after TNS or AR intervention. Tinnitus m atching showed changes of pitch and loudness before and after both TNS and AR intervention. However, no statistically significant changes be tween treatment regimes were found on these measures. The results from this study did not show TNS to be superior to AR in reducing tinnitus , dizziness or increasing hearing ability.