Validity and Reliability of a Tamil Translation of the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory

Self-rating questionnaires are often used to assess handicap due to tinnitus. These questionnaires should be administered in the respondent’s native language to obtain accurate responses. There is no known selfrating questionnaire in Tamil language to assess handicap due to tinnitus. Worldwide, the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) is one of the most-used questionnaires. The aim of this study was to validate a translated THI in Tamil. A total of 100 adults with and without hearing loss, in the age range of 18-60 years, and with a complaint of tinnitus for a minimum of 3 months, participated in the study. Validity of the THI-Tamil was tested by administering both THI-English and THI-Tamil to 60 of these participants who were equally fluent in English and Tamil. The remaining 40 who were fluent in Tamil, participated in the test re-test reliability study. Concurrent validity of the THI-Tamil was 0.99. Construct validity was 0.96. Internal consistency reliability of THI-Tamil was 0.98, and the three subscales (functional, emotional and catastrophic) were 0.97, 0.96 and 0.93 respectively. Thus, THI-Tamil is a valid and reliable tool.