The ringing in tinnitus sufferers' ears may finally ease, as new research from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) found that electroacupuncture can lower the volume of tinnitus for patients aged 50 to 70.
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Commissioned by Pok Oi Hospital, the study recruited 90 patients aged 50 to 70 with tinnitus between late 2022 and April 2024. Participants were randomly assigned to receive electroacupuncture, electroacupuncture combined with warm needling, or no acupuncture treatment as a control group.
Published in an international academic journal, the results showed that patients who received either electroacupuncture or electroacupuncture combined with warm needling saw significant reductions in tinnitus loudness at week 10.
Notably, more than half of participants improved symptoms from "moderate" to "mild", reflecting the therapies' high clinical practicality and safety.
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Chan Kam-leung, a lecturer at CUHK's School of Chinese Medicine, said a reduction in tinnitus loudness of two points or more is clinically significant under international standards, a threshold met by 40 percent of participants after treatment.
On the scale measuring tinnitus's negative impact on daily life, more than half of participants in both acupuncture groups saw their scores drop by seven points or more, with overall severity improving significantly from "moderate" to "mild."
The team said that about 14.4 percent of adults worldwide have experienced tinnitus to varying degrees, with an estimated 200,000 people in Hong Kong suffering from moderate to severe symptoms — a condition that can cause sleep disturbances and affect daily life and work.
Noting that electroacupuncture and electroacupuncture combined with warm needling are gradually being adopted in clinical practice, the team said the standardized study aimed to confirm their efficacy.
They added that the findings will also be shared with students to help them apply the therapies in future clinical work.
