How to choose between measures of tinnitus loudness for clinical research?: a report on the reliability and validity of an investigator-administered test and a patient-reported measure using baseline data collected in a phase IIa drug trial
Purpose: Loudness is a major auditory dimension of tinnitus, and is used to diagnose severity, counsel patients or as a measure of clinical efficacy in audiological research. There is no standard test for tinnitus loudness, but matching and rating methods are popular. This article provides important...
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| Format: | Article |
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ASHA
2017
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44339/ |
| _version_ | 1848796894292082688 |
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| author | Hall, Deborah A. Mehta, Rajnikant Fackrell, Kathryn L. |
| author_facet | Hall, Deborah A. Mehta, Rajnikant Fackrell, Kathryn L. |
| author_sort | Hall, Deborah A. |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Purpose: Loudness is a major auditory dimension of tinnitus, and is used to diagnose severity, counsel patients or as a measure of clinical efficacy in audiological research. There is no standard test for tinnitus loudness, but matching and rating methods are popular. This article provides important new knowledge about the reliability and validity of an audiologist-administered tinnitus loudness matching test and a patient-reported tinnitus loudness rating.
Method: Retrospective analysis of loudness data for 91 participants with stable subjective tinnitus enrolled in a randomised controlled trial of a novel drug for tinnitus. There were two baseline assessments (Screening, Day1) and a post-treatment assessment (Day28).
Results: About 66-70% of the variability from Screening to Day1 was attributable to the true score. But measurement error, indicated by the Smallest Detectable Change, was high for both tinnitus loudness matching (20 dB) and tinnitus loudness rating (3.5 units). Only loudness rating captured a sensation that was meaningful to people with the lived experience of tinnitus.
Conclusions: The tinnitus loudness rating performed better against acceptability criteria for reliability and validity than did the tinnitus loudness matching test administered by an audiologist. But the rating question is still limited because it is a single-item instrument and is probably able to detect only large changes (at least 3.5 points). |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:55:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-44339 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:55:14Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | ASHA |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-443392020-05-04T19:07:32Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44339/ How to choose between measures of tinnitus loudness for clinical research?: a report on the reliability and validity of an investigator-administered test and a patient-reported measure using baseline data collected in a phase IIa drug trial Hall, Deborah A. Mehta, Rajnikant Fackrell, Kathryn L. Purpose: Loudness is a major auditory dimension of tinnitus, and is used to diagnose severity, counsel patients or as a measure of clinical efficacy in audiological research. There is no standard test for tinnitus loudness, but matching and rating methods are popular. This article provides important new knowledge about the reliability and validity of an audiologist-administered tinnitus loudness matching test and a patient-reported tinnitus loudness rating. Method: Retrospective analysis of loudness data for 91 participants with stable subjective tinnitus enrolled in a randomised controlled trial of a novel drug for tinnitus. There were two baseline assessments (Screening, Day1) and a post-treatment assessment (Day28). Results: About 66-70% of the variability from Screening to Day1 was attributable to the true score. But measurement error, indicated by the Smallest Detectable Change, was high for both tinnitus loudness matching (20 dB) and tinnitus loudness rating (3.5 units). Only loudness rating captured a sensation that was meaningful to people with the lived experience of tinnitus. Conclusions: The tinnitus loudness rating performed better against acceptability criteria for reliability and validity than did the tinnitus loudness matching test administered by an audiologist. But the rating question is still limited because it is a single-item instrument and is probably able to detect only large changes (at least 3.5 points). ASHA 2017-09-18 Article PeerReviewed Hall, Deborah A., Mehta, Rajnikant and Fackrell, Kathryn L. (2017) How to choose between measures of tinnitus loudness for clinical research?: a report on the reliability and validity of an investigator-administered test and a patient-reported measure using baseline data collected in a phase IIa drug trial. American Journal of Audiology, 26 . pp. 338-346. ISSN 1558-9137 Tinnitus Adults Outcomes http://aja.pubs.asha.org/article.aspx?articleid=2652714 doi:10.1044/2017_AJA-16-0129 doi:10.1044/2017_AJA-16-0129 |
| spellingShingle | Tinnitus Adults Outcomes Hall, Deborah A. Mehta, Rajnikant Fackrell, Kathryn L. How to choose between measures of tinnitus loudness for clinical research?: a report on the reliability and validity of an investigator-administered test and a patient-reported measure using baseline data collected in a phase IIa drug trial |
| title | How to choose between measures of tinnitus loudness for clinical research?: a report on the reliability and validity of an investigator-administered test and a patient-reported measure using baseline data collected in a phase IIa drug trial |
| title_full | How to choose between measures of tinnitus loudness for clinical research?: a report on the reliability and validity of an investigator-administered test and a patient-reported measure using baseline data collected in a phase IIa drug trial |
| title_fullStr | How to choose between measures of tinnitus loudness for clinical research?: a report on the reliability and validity of an investigator-administered test and a patient-reported measure using baseline data collected in a phase IIa drug trial |
| title_full_unstemmed | How to choose between measures of tinnitus loudness for clinical research?: a report on the reliability and validity of an investigator-administered test and a patient-reported measure using baseline data collected in a phase IIa drug trial |
| title_short | How to choose between measures of tinnitus loudness for clinical research?: a report on the reliability and validity of an investigator-administered test and a patient-reported measure using baseline data collected in a phase IIa drug trial |
| title_sort | how to choose between measures of tinnitus loudness for clinical research?: a report on the reliability and validity of an investigator-administered test and a patient-reported measure using baseline data collected in a phase iia drug trial |
| topic | Tinnitus Adults Outcomes |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44339/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44339/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44339/ |