Psychometric properties of a Mandarin version of the tinnitus questionnaire.

OBJECTIVE

To develop a Mandarin version of the tinnitus questionnaire (MTQ) and determine the reliability and validity, and to assess whether it could be used clinically in the Chinese population.

DESIGN

The MTQ, short-form (36) health survey, hospital anxiety and depression scale, Mandarin (Chinese) tinnitus handicap inventory, and visual analogue scale were completed by the participants.

STUDY SAMPLE: We included 192 adults seeking treatment for primary or secondary tinnitus.

RESULTS

Five factors, namely, emotional distress, auditory perceptual difficulties, cognitive distress, sleep disturbance, and intrusiveness, were extracted from the MTQ. Thirty-seven items were included. The MTQ had high test-retest reliability (Spearman correlation coefficients: 0.87-1.00). The MTQ and its subscales had good internal consistency and reliability (total α = 0.93, subscales α = 0.71-0.86). A single measure of severity can be acquired by summing the five subscale scores. The MTQ was significantly correlated with psychological distress and tinnitus-related handicap.

CONCLUSION

Our results demonstrated that the MTQ is a reliable and valid measure of tinnitus-related psychopathological symptoms and could be used clinically to evaluate tinnitus-related psychological problems. Questionnaires designed to explore tinnitus-related depression and other symptoms not covered by the scope of the MTQ are needed.