Cross-cultural adaptation of an Arabic version of the 10-item hearing handicap inventory.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to translate and culturally adapt an Arabic version of the hearing handicap inventory for the elderly - screening (HHIE-S).


METHODS
The HHIE-S was translated following cross-cultural adaptation guidelines, and pretested in 20 elderly patients with hearing impairment. Next, the adapted Arabic HHIE-S underwent psychometric evaluation. The results were confirmed by pure-tone audiometer (PTA) examination. The patients completed the HHIE-S again after one hour. The validation of the questionnaire using Cronbach's alpha (internal consistency), (construct validity), and intraclass correlation coefficients (repeatability) was performed.


METHODS
Twenty elderly subjects with hearing impairment were recruited for the pretesting stage, and 100 elderly subjects were recruited for the psychometric evaluation stage. Patients with acute illness, functional dependency, cognitive impairment, and previous users of hearing aids were excluded.


RESULTS
The adapted Arabic HHIE-S showed good internal consistency (α = 0.902). Construct validity was good, as high correlations were found between the scale and the PTA outcome (r = 0.688, p = 0.000). Repeatability was high (ICC = 0.986).


CONCLUSIONS
This study showed that the adapted Arabic HHIE-S is a valid and reliable questionnaire for the assessment of handicapping hearing impairment in Egyptian elderly patients.
* Doctor of Audiology Program, Graduate Center, CUNY , New York , USA.
Barbara E
BE
Weinstein
Doha
D
Rasheedy
Hend M
HM
Taha
Fathy N
FN
Fatouh
D000368:Aged; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D004534:Egypt; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
Hearing loss; hearing handicap inventory; reliability; validation