title: The development and test-retest reliability of a method for matching perceived location of tinnitus.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A software-based method for assessing and tinnitus in three-dimensional (3D) 'virtual' auditory space is described and tested.
  
  
  METHODS
  Phase I was a proof-of-concept evaluation of tinnitus localization in the horizontal plane in 19 participants. Phase II assessed the reliability of software developed from phase I findings in 34 participants. The software used interaural timing and level differences and an average Head Related Transfer Function (HRTF) to match tinnitus in the horizontal and vertical plane. The reliability of the localization method was assessed across two sessions at least 1 week apart and compared to the test-retest repeatability of pitch and loudness matching using both the new assessment software and a traditional audiometer-based method. The validity of the method was compared to participants' verbal self-reports of tinnitus and their handwritten markings of tinnitus position on an image of a head.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants could localize sound to a position in or around the head that was a good match to their self-report of location.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The method showed test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation: azimuth 0.78; elevation 0.37) comparable to matching other tinnitus attributes (intraclass correlation: pitch 0.73; loudness 0.48).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Tinnitus has a spatial attribute that can be more precisely described than "at the ear(s)" or "in the head". The method has important ramifications for the assessment and management of tinnitus that make use of the spatial representation of sound.
authors: Audiology Section, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 92019, New Zealand. Electronic address: g.searchfield@auckland.ac.nz.
authors: G D
authors: GD
authors: Searchfield
authors: Audiology Section, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 92019, New Zealand.
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Kobayashi
authors: Audiology Section, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 92019, New Zealand.
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Proudfoot
authors: Audiology Section, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 92019, New Zealand.
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Tevoitdale
authors: Audiology Section, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 92019, New Zealand.
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Irving
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001299:Audiometry / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006257:Head; D006801:Humans; D008144:Loudness Perception; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008954:Models, Biological; D010898:Pitch Perception; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D057566:Self Report; D012984:Software; D013017:Sound Localization; D013997:Time Factors; D014012:Tinnitus / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Assessment; Localization; Tinnitus