Measuring tinnitus parameters: loudness, pitch, and maskability.

Improved procedures have been developed for obtaining hearing thresholds, loudness matches, pitch matches, and masking curves of tinnitus. Computer programs enable all of these measures to be obtained in a single session. These measures have been obtained in tinnitus and nontinnitus subjects, with an external stimulus used to simulate tinnitus in nontinnitus subjects. These measures, obtained in repeated sessions, were used to determine the test-retest variability of each measure. The test-retest standard error of measurement, across-subjects, is reported, which enables changes in tinnitus to be determined. In nontinnitus subjects, the accuracy, as well as the reliability, is described.