Development of a new outcomes instrument for conductive hearing loss.
OBJECTIVE
The objective was to design and validate a disease-specific outcomes instrument for use in conductive hearing loss (CHL).


METHODS
The study was a retrospective survey of 47 patients recently treated for CHL with either a hearing aid or surgery. Patients were tested with the newly designed instrument (the Hearing Satisfaction Scale [HSS]), previously validated hearing-specific instruments, and a generic quality-of-life instrument.


METHODS
The study was performed in an academic tertiary referral center.


METHODS
These included test-retest reliability, internal consistency reliability, content validity, criterion validity, and construct validity of the HSS.


RESULTS
Test-retest reliability (r = 0.72, p < 0.001) and internal consistency reliability were adequate (Cronbach's alpha was 0.83 and 0.74 for the two subscales of the HSS). Criterion validity for individual items was adequate (r = 0.45, p = 0.02) using audiometric data as the criterion standard. Construct validity was also high using results from other instruments; both convergent and divergent validity of the HSS was demonstrated. In addition, the HSS demonstrated the ability to differentially discriminate between subgroups when grouped by level of hearing loss.


CONCLUSIONS
The HSS is a valid and reliable instrument for use in outcomes research on conductive hearing loss.
Stewart
M G
MG
Bobby R. Alford Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Communicative Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
Jenkins
H A
HA
Coker
N J
NJ
Jerger
J F
JF
Loiselle
L H
LH
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D005260:Female; D006314:Hearing Loss, Conductive / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires