title: Agreement and reliability of tinnitus loudness matching and pitch likeness rating.
abstract: The ability to reproducibly match tinnitus loudness and pitch is important to research and clinical management. Here we examine agreement and reliability of tinnitus loudness matching and pitch likeness ratings when using a computer-based method to measure the tinnitus spectrum and estimate a dominant tinnitus pitch, using tonal or narrowband sounds. Group level data indicated a significant effect of time between test session 1 and 2 for loudness matching, likely procedural or perceptual learning, which needs to be accounted in study design. Pitch likeness rating across multiple frequencies appeared inherently more variable and with no systematic effect of time. Dominant pitch estimates reached a level of clinical acceptability when sessions were spaced two weeks apart. However when dominant tinnitus pitch assessments were separated by three months, acceptable agreement was achieved only for group mean data, not for individual estimates. This has implications for prescription of some sound-based interventions that rely on accurate measures of individual dominant tinnitus pitch.
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Health Research, Nottingham Hearing Biomedical Research Unit, Nottingham, United Kingdom; Otology and Hearing Group, Division of Clinical Neuroscience, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Derek J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Hoare
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Health Research, Nottingham Hearing Biomedical Research Unit, Nottingham, United Kingdom; Otology and Hearing Group, Division of Clinical Neuroscience, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Edmondson-Jones
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Health Research, Nottingham Hearing Biomedical Research Unit, Nottingham, United Kingdom; Department of Neurosurgery, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa, United States of America.
authors.forename: Phillip E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Gander
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Health Research, Nottingham Hearing Biomedical Research Unit, Nottingham, United Kingdom; Otology and Hearing Group, Division of Clinical Neuroscience, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Deborah A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Hall
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010898:Pitch Perception; D014012:Tinnitus / Q000503:physiopathology*