Background: Tinnitus is common in the general population. Tinnitus is often associated with hearing loss, and the reorganization of the auditory cortex induced by the latter seems to be one of the main sources of the former. The tinnitus handicap inventory (THI) is the mostly used tool for assessment of tinnitus severity. This study was to investigate the accuracy of the THI, as a diagnostic screening tool of hearing loss in adults affected by tinnitus.

Methods: We collect information from the took an audiometric test outpatient clinic. Those who had a loss of greater than 20 dB above audiometric zero in one or both ears with testing frequencies from 0.5 to 8 kHz were considered to have hearing loss. Tinnitus symptoms of the patients were assessed with the THI for evaluation on tinnitus-induced disability in audiological examinations. Sensitivity and specificity of tests as screening tool for hearing loss was evaluated using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve.

Results: The area under the curve (AUC) was 0.8485 shows that THI is a moderately accurate test. We identified a score of 39 at THI as an appropriate cut-off point.