title: Validity and reliability of the Persian version of spatial hearing questionnaire.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Our hearing ability in space is critical for hearing speech in noisy environment and localization. The Spatial Hearing Questionnaire (SHQ) has been devised to focus only on spatial haring tasks (e.g., lateralization, distance detection and binaural detection). The aim of the present study was to determine the reliability and validity of the Persian translation of the SHQ (Spatial Hearing Questionnaire).
  
  
  METHODS
  Translation and back-translation, reliability, content and construct validity were investigated. Eighty patients with sensory neural hearing loss (SNHL) (52.50% female and 47.5 % male) with the mean±SD age of 49.02±13.60 years completed SHQ, and they were categorized into mild, moderate, moderate to severe and severe groups based on their hearing threshold. Inclusion criteria in this study were the MMSE questionnaire score of higher than 21, good general health, no history of psychiatric disorders, dizziness or vertigo, dementia or alcohol abuse.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The reliability was assessed by Cronbach's alpha and found to be 0.99. Item-total correlation was between r= 0.84 and 0.92. There was a significant difference between the mean score of PSHQ in the four groups. Based on the factor analysis, two factors were extracted from the questions in P-SHQ: sound localization; and music and speech understanding in noise and quiet. These factors could explain 82.1% and 9.3% of the total variance, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study proved the reliability and validity of the Persian version of SHQ (PSHQ). This provides a suitable tool for spatial hearing assessment in clinical/research environments.
authors.affiliation: PhD Student, Hearing and Speech Research Center, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. delphi.maryam1@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Delphi
authors.affiliation: PhD Student, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran. audiology_zamiri@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Farzaneh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zamiri Abdolahi
authors.affiliation: Professor of Otolaryngology, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Communication Sciences and Disorders, the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA. rich-tyler@uiowa.edu.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tyler
authors.affiliation: MSc, Hearing and Speech Research Center, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. Mahsa.bakhit@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Mahsa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bakhit
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Hearing and Speech Research Center, Department of Otolaryngology, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishpur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. ahvaz.ent@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Nader
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Saki
authors.affiliation: PhD Student, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran. arnazeri@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Ahmad Reza
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Nazeri
keywords: Persian Language; Questionnaire; Reliability; Spatial Hearing; Validity