1. INTRODUCTION
Subjective tinnitus is the perception of sound in the absence of an
acoustic source. It is a common condition in the population and is
associated with variable severity and symptom response. Subjective
measures are essential in assessing the severity and impacts of
tinnitus, and in determining the effectiveness of
intervention.1 The Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI) was
introduces by Meikle et al.,2 and differs from
previous tinnitus questionnaires in terms of careful development,
comprehensive coverage tinnitus complaints, interpretability of scores,
and responsiveness to treatment-related change.3 Kam
et al.4 translated the TFI into Chinese (TFI-CH) and
adapted its use for tinnitus patients in Hong Kong. They found that the
psychometric properties of the TFI-CH were similar to those of the
original TFI in terms of reliability, construct validity, responsiveness
and factorial structure However, the responsiveness of the THI-CH to
changes in tinnitus severity after intervention remains unclear. The aim
of this study was to evaluate whether the TFI-CH is suitable to detect
changes in tinnitus severity after repetitive transcranial magnetic
stimulation in chronic tinnitus patients from mainland China.