title: Psychometric evaluation of the hearing measurement scale on patients registered in a Swedish hearing centre.
abstract: The hearing measurement scale (HMS), targeting the experience of being hearing impaired, was translated into Swedish and answered by 122 patients with slight to moderate hearing losses. According to the item analysis the test construction of the HMS functions well with a relevant division of the sections. In all sections there were individuals utilizing all response possibilities and the homogeneity (alpha) of the test was high. One exception was section II (hearing non-verbal sounds), which may be due to lack of awareness, indicating that it might not be possible to pursue this dimension by a questionnaire approach. Normative descriptions were given for two age groups: 40 to 60 and 61 to 74 years, including both sexes. The groups had a similar outcome on the HMS, even though the older subjects, on average, had worse hearing problems, measured by pure-tone audiometry. The section covering speech perception had the strongest correlation with hearing loss, while the section covering emotional response entirely lacked such correlations for the younger group.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Göteborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eriksson-Mangold
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hallberg
authors.forename: S I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Erlandsson
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D012048:Correction of Hearing Impairment; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006311:Hearing Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006320:Hearing Tests; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors; D013017:Sound Localization; D013548:Sweden