Avatar therapy for bothersome tinnitus using an augmented reality mobile application: a pilot feasibility study

Digital avatar-based interventions have been proposed as a promising approach for managing phantom sensations such as tinnitus by externalizing the perceived source of sensation and enabling users to interact with it. However, the emotional impact of symptom-representing avatars on users has received limited attention; it remains unclear whether emotional closeness with avatars influences impressions of phantom...

Continue reading at PubMed →

No actionable change — this is an early feasibility pilot; results are too preliminary to guide clinical practice, and no efficacy conclusions can be drawn.

Digital and AR-based tinnitus interventions are an emerging frontier; this feasibility work helps establish whether avatar therapy translated into a mobile app is viable enough to test in a powered clinical trial.

1. 01Pilot feasibility study: primary aim was to test whether the AR avatar app was usable and acceptable, not to prove efficacy.
2. 02Intervention externalizes the perceived tinnitus phantom sound by anchoring it to a visual avatar in augmented reality.
3. 03Mobile delivery of avatar therapy could widen access compared to clinic-based sound therapy approaches.
4. 04Findings will inform design decisions (sample size, outcome measures) for a future adequately powered trial.
5. 05Published in Frontiers in Digital Health, an open-access peer-reviewed journal.

PMID

42609484

DOI

10.3389/fdgth.2026.1787660.

Journal

Frontiers in Digital Health

Publication type

research_article

Evidence level

4

Population

Adults with bothersome tinnitus

Intervention

Augmented reality mobile application delivering avatar therapy by externalizing the perceived tinnitus sound source