Interactive Gaming System for Tinnitus Retraining
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) methods for managing tinnitus are time-consuming and expensive, requiring extensive clinician-led counseling and sound therapy sessions, which limits accessibility and affordability for sufferers.
Innovation Solution
An interactive gaming system that uses audio cue arrangements tailored to an individual's perceived tinnitus characteristics, allowing users to engage in sound localization, frequency discrimination, and attention training through customizable game scenarios on various devices, including computers and mobile phones, to habituate tinnitus perception.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If clinician-led counseling and sound therapy sessions are used for Tinnitus Retraining Therapy, then tinnitus management effectiveness is improved, but time consumption and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables users to conduct self-guided auditory training through interactive games on their own devices, eliminating the need for continuous clinician supervision. Users can perform training sessions independently at home, significantly reducing time consumption while maintaining therapeutic effectiveness through automated feedback and progression systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a digital replica of clinician-led therapy delivered through software on personal devices. The game-based auditory training replicates the core therapeutic mechanisms of TRT in an automated format, allowing widespread access without requiring physical clinician presence for each session.
2Reliability
If clinician-led counseling and sound therapy sessions are used for Tinnitus Retraining Therapy, then tinnitus management effectiveness is improved, but cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
By transforming professional therapy into a self-service product delivered through software, the system eliminates recurring clinician fees while maintaining therapeutic value. Users make a one-time or subscription-based investment to access unlimited training sessions, dramatically reducing the cost burden.
Solution Approach 2:
The system is designed to run on various personal devices (smartphones, tablets, computers) that users already possess, eliminating the need for specialized clinical equipment. This multi-platform approach distributes development costs across a wide user base and leverages existing hardware infrastructure.
3Reliability
If traditional sound therapy methods are used, then tinnitus habituation is achieved, but accessibility and affordability are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The therapy is copied into a digital format accessible through personal devices, allowing users to receive treatment anywhere with internet connectivity. This removes geographical and scheduling barriers, making therapy accessible to people in remote areas or with mobility constraints.
Solution Approach 2:
The game-based system dynamically adapts to user performance, automatically adjusting difficulty and providing real-time feedback. This maintains engagement and ensures therapeutic effectiveness without requiring manual customization by clinicians, thereby improving accessibility.
Data Source
AI summary
An interactive gaming system for a user suffering tinnitus. The system comprises a game machine configured to provide a game scenario in which the user's performance in the game scenario is based on the user's response to audio cue arrangements comprising a combination of sounds, and where at least one of the sounds has one or more sound characteristics, that are configured based on one or more sound characteristics of the user's perceived tinnitus. The system further comprises an audio delivery device or devices that are driven by the game machine to present the audio cue arrangements to the user in accordance with the game scenario and a user interface in signal communication with the game machine and which is operable by a user to interact with the game scenario by responding to the audio cue arrangements.