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Measuring tinnitus loudness using constrained psychophysical scaling

University of British Columbia

Contact: Lawrence M. Ward, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 1Z4, E-mail: lward{at}psych.ubc.ca.

Purpose: We measured tinnitus loudness using a new method of psychophysical scaling with the aim of introducing a potentially useful new procedure to the literature.

Method: Fourteen adults reporting tinnitus were trained to use a standardized loudness scale, and then used that response scale to assess loudness of nonstandard stimuli and of their tinnitus. We also measured tinnitus loudness and pitch using a computer-based matching procedure, and the impact of tinnitus on daily living using the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI), for those 14 and an additional two subjects.

Results and Conclusions: Our 14 trained subjects judged loudness similarly to normal-hearing subjects for pure tones at normal-hearing, non-tinnitus frequencies, implying that their judgments of tinnitus loudness were valid. Constrained scaling of tinnitus loudness yielded measurements that were substantially greater than the SL of sounds matched to tinnitus loudness. Our total of 16 subjects fell into two groups based on hearing loss and/or extent of abnormal loudness growth at the tinnitus frequency, and several aspects of tinnitus experience. Finally, as previously found, there was little correlation between tinnitus loudness, no matter how measured, and the impact of tinnitus on daily life as measured by the THI.

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