September 2022
The Annual Conference of the British Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapies took place at Imperial College, London on 21st–23rd July 2022.
Dr Hashir Aazh presented his research about CBT for tinnitus, hyperacusis and misophonia. Tinnitus is the sensation of sound without any external source. Sound intolerance can be divided into hyperacusis, misophonia and noise sensitivity. Hyperacusis is perception of certain everyday sounds, such as kitchen noises, bangs, music as too loud or painful. Misophonia is perception of certain sounds produced by human beings or animals, such as eating and breathing noises, as disgusting, offensive or annoying. On the other hand, noise sensitivity is a personality trait involving underlying attitudes towards noise in general. A person with high noise sensitivity may perceive noise caused by neighbours, nearby factories, workshops, and air conditioning as disruptive and distressing. In this presentation, Dr Aazh discussed his experience of audiologist-delivered Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in the UK as a part of a specialised rehabilitation programme for tinnitus and sound intolerance management (Aazh et al., 2020; Aazh et al., 2019; Aazh and Moore, 2018).