Tinnitus Severity Assessment
Find out how your tinnitus is really affecting you. A quick, friendly screener based on the clinically validated Tinnitus Handicap Inventory.
How is tinnitus affecting your life?
Answer 25 quick questions about your experience with tinnitus. It takes about 3-5 minutes, and you'll get a severity score with personalized recommendations.
Living with tinnitus? You're not alone.
The Hearing Buddy app helps you stay connected to conversations even when tinnitus makes hearing harder. Live captions, speaker identification, and conversation summaries — all processed privately on your device.
Understanding & Managing Tinnitus
Understanding Tinnitus Severity
Tinnitus affects people on a wide spectrum — from a barely noticeable background hum to a constant, distressing presence that disrupts sleep, work, and relationships. Understanding where you fall on that spectrum is the first step toward effective management. A severity assessment helps you communicate your experience clearly to healthcare providers and identify which strategies are most likely to help.
Evidence-Based Tinnitus Management
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps change your emotional response to tinnitus. Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) combines sound therapy with counseling to help your brain reclassify tinnitus as a neutral signal. Sound therapy uses external sounds to reduce the contrast between tinnitus and silence. And hearing aids — even for mild hearing loss — can significantly reduce tinnitus perception by amplifying the sounds you've been missing.
Living Well with Tinnitus
Daily habits matter more than you might think. Protecting your hearing from loud noise, managing stress through exercise or meditation, maintaining good sleep hygiene, and connecting with support communities like the American Tinnitus Association can all make a real difference. Many people find that over time, with the right strategies, tinnitus fades into the background of their lives.
Questions & Answers
Tinnitus severity is typically measured using validated questionnaires like the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI). These tools assess how tinnitus affects your concentration, emotions, sleep, social life, and overall well-being — giving you a score that reflects the real-world impact on your daily life.
The Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) is a widely used, clinically validated questionnaire developed to measure the impact of tinnitus on daily living. It consists of 25 questions covering functional, emotional, and catastrophic responses to tinnitus. Our screener is adapted from the THI to provide an accessible self-assessment.
Tinnitus can change over time. Stress, noise exposure, certain medications, and other health changes can make it more noticeable. The good news is that many people find their tinnitus improves or becomes less bothersome with proper management strategies and time.
Several evidence-based treatments can help manage tinnitus, including sound therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT), hearing aids with tinnitus masking features, and relaxation techniques. The best approach depends on your specific situation — an audiologist can help create a personalized plan.
If your tinnitus is persistent, getting louder, only in one ear, or accompanied by hearing loss or dizziness, it is a good idea to see a doctor or audiologist. Even mild tinnitus benefits from a professional evaluation to rule out underlying causes and discuss management options.
While there is no universal cure for tinnitus yet, many effective management strategies exist. Most people with tinnitus can significantly reduce its impact on their lives through sound therapy, counseling, lifestyle changes, and in some cases, treating an underlying condition. Research into new treatments is ongoing and promising.
Don't let tinnitus hold you back
Whether tinnitus is a minor annoyance or a daily struggle, the right tools and strategies can make a real difference. We're here to help.
Available on iPhone, Apple Watch, and Mac