Development and standardization of tinnitus handicap inventory in malayalam

Tinnitus is defined as the perception of sound mainly due to the activity within the central nervous system without any mechanical, vibratory activity within the cochlea. Administration of tinnitus related questionnaires along with the audiological test battery is recommended in routine clinical practice. Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) is one of the useful and widely recognized tools for quantifying the impact of tinnitus on daily life. India, being a multilingual country with a multicultural background, there is no such inventories available in many of the local Indian languages except in Tamil and Kannada.

The English THI was translated to Malayalam by a faculty who is qualified and proficient in Malayalam language. Then the translated THI was given to 40 native Malayalam speakers for content validity. The final THI-M was administered on 50 tinnitus patient. Obtained data was then subjected for statistical analysis using SPSS Statistics 17.0.

Reliability statistics revealed an alpha score of 0.855 for the overall inventory. Across the three subscales, i.e. emotional, functional and catastrophic, a global alpha score of 0.766, 0.693 and 0.630, respectively. The alpha score remained the same even after deleting any single item.

The results of the current study conclude that, THI-M has a good reliability/internal consistency as per the Cronbach's alpha score. THI-M can be considered as a reliable tool that can be used across the State by Hearing Professionals in assessment and management.