What these tools measure
Tinnitus is the perception of sound without an external source. Its effects vary: sleep, attention, hearing conversations, mood, and everyday activities can all be involved. THI measures those effects through self-report. THS serves a different purpose: it helps separate tinnitus-related concerns from hearing difficulty and prompts discussion of sound tolerance. The TFI resource page explains another validated outcome measure without reproducing it.
NICE recommends considering the TFI for adults when assessing tinnitus impact. The 2024 VA/DoD guideline describes TFI and THI as validated questionnaires, while emphasizing that clinicians should not rely on scores in isolation. VA NCRAR describes THS as a screening and assessment tool used collaboratively with a clinician.
Why there is no tone-matching test
This site deliberately does not play tones or claim to measure tinnitus pitch, loudness, or hearing thresholds. Consumer devices are not calibrated audiometers, and NICE guidance advises against psychoacoustic pitch and loudness matching as a tinnitus assessment.
How scoring works
THI
Each of 25 answers scores 0 for No, 2 for Sometimes, or 4 for Yes. The sum is a score from 0–100. TinniTest uses the current VA/DoD interpretation bands: 0–16 no or slight handicap, 18–36 mild, 38–56 moderate, and 58–100 severe.
TFI is not scored here
TinniTest does not contain TFI item text, response controls, scoring logic, saved results, or PDF reports. The TFI information page links to the copyright owner, validation study, clinical guidance, and externally hosted questionnaires.
THS
The four tinnitus ratings and four hearing ratings are totaled separately from 0–16; the sound-tolerance response remains a separate 0–4 prompt. TinniTest does not apply interpretation bands, compare totals, label a sound-tolerance condition, or decide treatment candidacy. The official THS instructions strongly discourage cutoff-based candidacy decisions and call for discussion of the individual answers with a clinician.
Important limits
These adult self-assessments provide educational context only. They are not medical advice, a diagnosis, treatment guidance, an emergency service, or proof of disability or benefit eligibility. Scores can change with symptoms and circumstances and should not be used alone to make care decisions. Using the site does not create a clinician-patient relationship.
Permissions, copyright, and independence
THI
The original THI was published by Newman, Jacobson, and Spitzer in 1996; that publication is © American Medical Association. The PhenX Toolkit publishes the English protocol as freely available and states that permission is not required for use. TinniTest retains the citation and does not describe the instrument as public domain.
TFI
The TFI is © 2008, 2012 Oregon Health & Science University. OHSU states that a license must be executed before using, downloading, or reproducing it. TinniTest found no permission record covering a public calculator and therefore removed the questionnaire, scoring implementation, saved-result handling, and report generator. Only general factual description and links to external sources remain. Non-commercial status, attribution, or a disclaimer does not itself replace permission.
THS
VA NCRAR states that THS was developed by U.S. federal employees, is not copyrighted, and is available in the public domain. This site cites the complete Henry et al. validation paper, preserves the intended clinician-guided context, and does not imply VA or author endorsement.
TQ, Mini-TQ, TRQ, and TPFQ
These measures are described on the adjacent-measures page, but their item text is not reproduced. Public online reproduction rights have not been verified, and the distress-focused measures require an appropriate assessment, referral, and safety workflow. Original publication copyright notices are retained where identified.
TinniTest.org is independently operated. References to questionnaire authors, publishers, universities, government agencies, and clinical guidelines identify sources only and do not imply affiliation, sponsorship, approval, or endorsement.