Development of VR-based tinnitus treatment device...Psychological stability and symptom relief effects
Feb 23, 2025
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Tinnitus Digital Therapy TD Square is a therapy device that provides cognitive behavioral therapy by combining a multi-sensory (auditory, visual, and tactile) feedback system and virtual reality technology, and it is a device that relieves symptoms through changes in cognition and perception rather than directly treating the cause of tinnitus.
The researchers visualized the tinnitus sound felt by the patient as a virtual tinnitus avatar (replication) through AI technology and designed it to be controlled by the patient directly in virtual reality. Through this, psychological stability and tinnitus relief were expected. As tinnitus is felt stronger the more you pay attention to or focus on it, the process of controlling or manipulating sound in virtual reality itself has a distraction effect, reducing the sensitivity to tinnitus.
TD Square has been developed into various versions of functional games to encourage continued participation. Virtual tinnitus avatars are marked with water droplets and fly in front of the patient, and the patient touches and bursts the water droplets with his gloved hand. As the number of water droplets decreases, the sound of tinnitus decreases, and when all the water droplets are popped, the sound of tinnitus disappears.
The research team evaluated that TD Square has been recognized as one of the new treatment alternatives for tinnitus.
Tinnitus is a phenomenon in which sound is heard in the absence of external sound stimulation, and it is known that about 20-30% of the population aged 12 or older in Korea complain of tinnitus. Tinnitus treatment starts with medication, controls the patient's psychological and physical response, and then relieves symptoms by using habituation techniques, hearing aids, and sound generators. However, existing treatment methods are sometimes very effective, and in particular, the inconvenience of continuously wearing hearing aids or sound generators follows.
Professor Choi Jun said "Virtual reality-based tinnitus therapy is currently developed up to version 3, and it is valuable as one of the effective tinnitus treatments considering the limitations of traditional tinnitus therapy." "We are currently conducting follow-up studies with the aim of presenting various treatment options and providing the most effective treatment options for moribund patients."In particular, we plan to objectively verify the therapeutic effect through confirmatory clinical research this year and promote medical device certification based on this." Meanwhile, TD Square is currently applying for a domestic patent and is being developed with the goal of launching it in July 2026.
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
