Introduction: Consensus about which questionnaire to use is necessary when it comes to evaluation of tinnitus. In Denmark, the Tinnitus Handicap Index is currently used. However, for evaluating treatment-related outcomes, the Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI) has been optimised for this and is being used in several countries. In this study, we aimed to provide validation of a professionally translated Danish version of the TFI to safely implement this questionnaire in clinical and scientific settings.
Methods: At the Department of Audiology at Hospital West Jutland, Denmark, 133 adult patients suffering from tinnitus with or without hearing loss completed the Danish version of the TFI questionnaire (TFI-Da). Internal consistency was evaluated by Cronbach's alpha and test-retest reliability with Pearson's correlation.
Results: Internal consistency was calculated for the total TFI score producing an excellent Crohnbach's alpha of 0.96. Crohnbach's alpha scores were also acceptable for all subgroups with values > 0.7. The test-retest reliability in terms of Pearson's correlation coefficient was 0.848 for the total TFI scores and was acceptable for all subgroups.
Conclusion: Our study showed a very high internal consistency and test-retest reliability when using the Danish version of the TFI questionnaire. Therefore, we recommend TFI-Da as the standard questionnaire for tinnitus patients in Denmark, especially for evaluation of treatment impact.
Funding: none.
Trial registration: not relevant.
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