diff --git a/test/parallel/test-handle-wrap-isrefed.js b/test/parallel/test-handle-wrap-isrefed.js
index b5dbeb23bfd63a..007e27c6cd0e11 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-handle-wrap-isrefed.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-handle-wrap-isrefed.js
@@ -99,3 +99,6 @@ function makeAssert(message) {
   timer._handle.close(
       common.mustCall(() => assert(timer._handle.hasRef(), false)));
 }
+
+
+// see also test/pseudo-tty/test-handle-wrap-isrefed-tty.js
diff --git a/test/pseudo-tty/test-handle-wrap-isrefed-tty.js b/test/pseudo-tty/test-handle-wrap-isrefed-tty.js
index ad312be1f77862..815e71cc7443a7 100644
--- a/test/pseudo-tty/test-handle-wrap-isrefed-tty.js
+++ b/test/pseudo-tty/test-handle-wrap-isrefed-tty.js
@@ -1,33 +1,27 @@
 'use strict';
 
+// see also test/parallel/test-handle-wrap-isrefed.js
+
 const common = require('../common');
 const strictEqual = require('assert').strictEqual;
-const spawn = require('child_process').spawn;
 
 function makeAssert(message) {
   return function(actual, expected) {
     strictEqual(actual, expected, message);
   };
 }
-const assert = makeAssert('hasRef() not working on tty_wrap');
 
-if (process.argv[2] === 'child') {
-  // Test tty_wrap in piped child to guarentee stdin being a TTY.
-  const ReadStream = require('tty').ReadStream;
-  const tty = new ReadStream(0);
-  assert(Object.getPrototypeOf(tty._handle).hasOwnProperty('hasRef'), true);
-  assert(tty._handle.hasRef(), true);
-  tty.unref();
-  assert(tty._handle.hasRef(), false);
-  tty._handle.close(
-      common.mustCall(() => assert(tty._handle.hasRef(), false)));
-  return;
-}
+const assert = makeAssert('hasRef() not working on tty_wrap');
 
-// Use spawn so that we can be sure that stdin has a _handle property.
-// Refs: https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/5916
-const proc = spawn(process.execPath, [__filename, 'child'], { stdio: 'pipe' });
-proc.stderr.pipe(process.stderr);
-proc.on('exit', common.mustCall(function(exitCode) {
-  process.exitCode = exitCode;
-}));
+const ReadStream = require('tty').ReadStream;
+const tty = new ReadStream(0);
+const isTTY = process.binding('tty_wrap').isTTY;
+assert(isTTY(0), true);
+assert(Object.getPrototypeOf(tty._handle).hasOwnProperty('hasRef'), true);
+assert(tty._handle.hasRef(), true);
+tty.unref();
+assert(tty._handle.hasRef(), false);
+tty.ref();
+assert(tty._handle.hasRef(), true);
+tty._handle.close(
+    common.mustCall(() => assert(tty._handle.hasRef(), false)));
diff --git a/test/pseudo-tty/test-handle-wrap-isrefed-tty.out b/test/pseudo-tty/test-handle-wrap-isrefed-tty.out
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..e69de29bb2d1d6