1Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon
2VA National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, Portland, Oregon
3Bay Pines VA Healthcare System, Bay Pines, Florida
4James A. Haley Veterans’, Hospital, Tampa, Florida
5Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio
6University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
7Balance and Hearing Center Northwest, Portland, Oregon
8The House Ear Institute, Los Angeles, California
9Vanderbilt, University, Nashville, Tennessee
10Atlanta Medical Consultants, Atlanta, Georgia
11University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
12University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California
Editor’s Note: The first author of this article, Dr. Mary B. Meikle, passed away on February 5, 2011. Her more than 40-year career in hearing research focused specifically on the diagnosis and clinical care of patients with tinnitus. This publication, presented as a collaborative research effort with coauthors from across the United States and from New Zealand, proposes a new tool for establishing a baseline measurement of tinnitus and its treatment outcomes. It is Dr. Meikle’s final scientific publication.
The authors thank the Tinnitus Research Consortium for providing the principal funding support for this research. They also acknowledge the following institutions for providing substantial support in the form of clinical and administrative facilities: The Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon; the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio; the Bay Pines VA Healthcare System, Bay Pines, Florida; the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa, Florida; the VA National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, Portland VA Medical Center, Portland, Oregon; and the Hearing & Speech Institute, Portland, Oregon.
In the Request for Applications for the grant supporting this study, helpful suggestions were provided by the Tinnitus Research Consortium concerning domains of tinnitus impact associated with chronic tinnitus. The authors also received helpful comments during preparation of this report from Robert Dobie, MD, Department of Otolaryngology, University of California at Davis; James B. Snow, Jr., MD, Professor Emeritus of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Pennsylvania; and P. Ashley Wackym, MD, Balance and Hearing Center Northwest, Portland, Oregon (formerly at Department of Otolaryngology and Communication Sciences, Medical College of Wisconsin). Susan Meikle Mandell, BA, is specially appreciated for editing the final manuscript.
The authors thank the following individuals who provided timely, accurate, and complete acquisition of participants’ questionnaires and responsible handling of patient confidentiality procedures: MaryCatherine Corrigan and Lisa Oswald, AuD (Cleveland Clinic); Monica Mejia, MS, and Danielle DeBiase (Bay Pines VA Medical Center); Deirdre Hamaker and Beth Priest (James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital); and Gail Oakes and Ann Tucker, MS (Oregon Health & Science University).
The authors thank Thomas Creedon for designing and maintaining the interactive website that provided essential support for all phases of this research, including the multiple web-based activities of the Item Selection Panel; for analyzing the data resulting from the panel’s work; and for creating web tools that facilitated error-free tracking and logging-in of all questionnaires mailed from participating sites to the core facility at the Oregon Health & Science University.
This work was supported by a research grant from the Tinnitus Research Consortium. Administrative support and facilities were provided by Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon; Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio; Bay Pines VA Healthcare System, Bay Pines, Florida; James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, Tampa, Florida; VA National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, Portland, Oregon; and Hearing and Speech Institute, Portland, Oregon.
The contents of this report do not represent the views of the Department of Veterans Affairs or of the U.S. Government.
Address for correspondence: James A. Henry, PhD, VA Medical Center, National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, PO Box 1034, Portland, OR 97207, USA. E-mail: [email protected].
Supplemental digital content is available for this article. Direct URL citations appear in the printed text and are provided in the HTML and text of this article on the journal’s Web site (www.ear-hearing.com).
Received February 5, 2010
Accepted July 19, 2011
