Systematic expert examination of patients with chronic tinnitus (Structured Tinnitus-Interview)

To obtain medical, psychoacoustical, and psychological data from systematic clinical examinations of chronic tinnitus patients, Ive developed the Stru ctured Tinnitus-Interview (STI). Items refer to central characteristics of tinnitus history etiological factors and tinnitus-related psychological com plaints. A test-retest study with 65 inpatients showed that most informatio n concerning tinnitus history and psychoacoustical attributes (such as late rality. duration, course pattern, loudness, pitch, hearing loss), as well a s most etiological factors were assessable with good to high diagnostic con gruence. The reliability of the STI score summarizing all psychological ite ms was r(n) = 0.90. Seven scales describing different areas of psychologica l tinnitus distress were sensitive to changes during cognitive-behavioral t herapy. The STI can be employed supplementary or alternatively to questionn aire approaches.