Assessment

The aims of this assessment session are to (1) explore the type and severity of your symptoms, (2) assess if your symptoms are related to an underlying medical, audio-vestibular, or psych-social problem, (3) make a diagnosis and develop a comprehensive treatment plan, (4) sign post you to other medical or psycho-social services when needed. Assessment is conducted by our senior audiologists who are specialists in misophonia, tinnitus, and hyperacusis rehabilitation. All patients should undergo an assessment prior to any treatment at Hashir International Institute.

Education

In educational sessions, our neuroscientists will discuss with you the latest scientific understanding about the mechanism of misophonia, tinnitus and hyperacusis and the research studies on treatment methods. We will let you know if you might require an educational session.

Psychological evaluation

Our clinical psychologists will carry out a more in-depth investigation to see if there are any underlying psychological/psychiatric conditions that might require separate treatment. This is different from the anxiety or stress symptoms related to the experience of tinnitus, hyperacusis, noise sensitivity and misophonia. We will let you know if you might require psychological evaluation.

Occupational therapy (OT) evaluation

The aim of our OT sessions is to assess if you or your child have a broader sensory processing disorder, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), neurodevelopmental disorders, and/or emotional regulation difficulties in addition to sensitivity to sound and/or tinnitus. We will let you know if you might require an OT evaluation.

Health psychology evaluation

Our health psychologists will assess if there are any behaviour changes that you can achieve to cope well with misophonia, tinnitus and hyperacusis, and talk to you about how to maintain your physical and psychological health throughout the treatment process. Our health psychologists will help you to feel more confident and develop a more realistic belief about your misophonia, tinnitus and hyperacusis and their long-term management. We will let you know if you might require a health psychology evaluation.

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)

We are one of the few institutes in the world that offer an evidence-based specialised rehabilitation programme based on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for management of misophonia, tinnitus and hyperacusis for children and adults. Our premier therapy package comprises 14 one-to-one sessions via video calls. The first 10 sessions will be weekly. Then the gap between sessions will increase to 2 weeks, 1-month, 3-month, and 6-month. Following the assessment session, we will let you know if you might require specialised CBT.

Multidisciplinary care

Depending on the outcome of the assessment session we will formulate a treatment programme that can address issues specific to tinnitus/hyperacusis/misophonia and/or broader underlying psychological/sensory processing factors. For people experiencing comorbid psychological and/or sensory processing disorders, additional psychological and OT input will be provided throughout the treatment. Following the assessment session, we will let you know if you might require psychology or OT sessions in addition to your CBT for misophonia, tinnitus and hyperacusis.

Patient support sessions

Between your main CBT sessions, you will have access to our dedicated patient support officers who will help you to practice and master the CBT techniques that you learn from your CBT sessions for managing misophonia, tinnitus and hyperacusis. This is offered to all patients who undergo specialised CBT treatment package when needed. Individual patient support sessions help you to feel less lonely, reduce distress, you can talk openly and honestly about your problems caused by misophonia, tinnitus and hyperacusis and the difficulties that you may be experiencing due to your CBT treatment, improve skills to cope with challenges, stay motivated to manage your conditions, how to stick to treatment plans, and get practical feedback about your treatment!

Comprehensive clinical reports

We provide a comprehensive assessment report summarising our findings, your diagnosis, and the proposed treatment approach. At the end of the treatment, we provide a treatment progress report comparing the severity of your symptoms and their effect on you before and after the treatment.

Research on the Results of Our Premier Therapy Package

Results from 48 patients who received Hashir International Institute’s premier therapy package of 14 CBT sessions for tinnitus, hyperacusis or misophonia show that CBT delivered via video calls is very effective in reducing the impact of tinnitus, hyperacusis and misophonia.