The Fudan Tinnitus Relieving System Application for Tinnitus Management

Objective: Tinnitus is a highly prevalent hearing disorder, and the burden of tinnitus diagnosis and treatment is very heavy, especially in China. In order to better benefit the majority of tinnitus patients, we developed a new mobile app based on our patented invention - named the Fudan Tinnitus Relieving System (FTRS) - for tinnitus management. The FTRS app aims to alleviate patients' tinnitus symptoms using customized sound therapy, to evaluate the treatment effect, to provide a doctor-patient communication platform, and to support tinnitus rehabilitation and auditory health.

Methods: In this study, we introduced the major functions of the FTRS app, analyzed the geographical distribution of users around China, and performed an analysis on the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with tinnitus, including age and tinnitus position, duration, frequency, and severity in both men and women based on the user information collected by the FTRS. The data for 22,867 participants (males: 13,715; females: 9,152) were included in the statistical analysis.

Results: The FTRS app has been popular with tinnitus patients since its launch in May 2018 with its integrated pitch-matching test, individualized sound therapy, follow-up assessment, and provision of easy-to-understand science and education for tinnitus. The users were located throughout Mainland China but primarily concentrated in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Shandong provinces. We observed gender differences regarding age and tinnitus frequency, severity, and position among the app's users. The FTRS has not only facilitated patients' access to treatment at times and places that are convenient for them, but also provides a large amount of data based on user feedback in order to support clinical tinnitus research.

Conclusions: Compared with traditional face-to-face medical treatment, the FTRS greatly reduced medical costs and enabled patients with tinnitus to arrange their own treatment times. At the same time, the FTRS has provided standardized tinnitus data that have laid a foundation for clinical research on tinnitus. However, because of differences in the popularity and utilization of smart devices, FTRS user data might only reflect the situation of tinnitus patients who can effectively use smart devices. Therefore, the findings of this study need to be interpreted with caution.