title: Normative data for the Attitudes towards Loss of Hearing Questionnaire.
abstract: Investigations have shown that patient attitudes toward hearing loss and hearing aids impact self-reported handicap and disability, hearing aid benefit, and hearing aid use. The Attitudes towards Loss of Hearing Questionnaire (ALHQ) was developed by Saunders and Cienkowski (1996) to examine some of the psychosocial factors underlying the use and acquisition of hearing aids. Here we report data from a new version of questionnaire (ALHQ v2.1), which examines attitudes towards hearing loss and hearing aids on five scales: Denial of Hearing Loss, Negative Associations, Negative Coping Strategies, Manual Dexterity and Vision, and Hearing-Related Esteem. Reliability values, internal consistency values, and cut points for typical and atypical scores are provided, along with comparison of the scores of women, men, current hearing aid users, non-hearing aid users, and paying versus nonpaying individuals. The ALHQ takes about ten minutes to complete and identifies for the clinician some of the issues that might jeopardize successful hearing aid outcome.
authors.affiliation: National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, Portland VA Medical Center, Oregon 97207, USA. Gabrielle.saunders@med.va.gov
authors.forename: Gabrielle H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Saunders
authors.forename: Kathleen M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Cienkowski
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Forsline
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fausti
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001244:Association; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D003717:Denial, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids / Q000523:psychology*; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009048:Motor Skills; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards; D014785:Vision, Ocular