Richard Tyler, Haihong Ji, Ann Perreau, Shelley Witt, William Noble, Claudia Coelho

OBJECTIVES There is an opportunity to create a questionnaire focused on the primary activities impaired by tinnitus and therefore more sensitive to treatments. DESIGN We developed questions on; 1) emotions, 2) hearing, 3) sleep and 4) concentration. A 20-item questionnaire was administered to 158 patients. First, confirmatory factor analysis was used to select 3 questions per domain. Second, factor analysis was used to evaluate the appropriateness of the 12-item questionnaire. RESULTS The analysis indicated that the selected questions successfully represented four independent domains. Scores were correlated with the Tinnitus Handicap Questionnaire (r = 0.77, p < 0.01) and loudness (r = 0.40, p < 0.01). The sleep subscale correlated with the Pittsburgh Sleep Index (r = 0.68, p < 0.01); the emotion subscale correlated with the Beck Inventory (r = 0.66, p < 0.01) and the Trait Anxiety questionnaire (r = 0.67, p < 0.01). The average scores went from 51 to 38% following treatment. CONCLUSIONS The Tinnitus Primary Function Questionnaire is valid, reliable, and sensitive and can be used to determine in clinical trials.