title: Development and psychometric properties of the sound preference and hearing habits questionnaire (SP-HHQ).
abstract: The aim of the study was, based on the individualisation of hearing aids (HA) and pre-sets for audio devices, to develop a questionnaire to determine the basis for profiling sound preferences and hearing habits to gather additional information usable for HA fitting and adjustment tools for audio-devices.
  
  
  
  We developed a questionnaire consisting of 46 items. A postal survey was conducted with N = 622 users with a mean age of 66 years (47.9% aided with HA, 45.7% female).
  
  
  
  Seven factors were identified by means of Explanatory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses: F1: 'Annoyance/distraction by background noise', F2: 'Importance of sound quality', F3: 'Noise Sensitivity', F4: 'Avoidance of unpredictable sounds', F5: 'Openness towards loud/new sounds', F6: 'Preferences for warm sounds', and F7: 'Details of environmental sounds/music'. Only the first of these factors was related to the audiogram of the user. No difference with any of the factors could be observed with HA use/non-use. In contrast, gender effects were found with female respondents preferring warm sounds and being more sensitive to noise.
  
  
  
  The sound preference and hearing habits questionnaire (SP-HHQ) is a usable tool for profiling the users with respect to sound preferences relevant for HA fitting and pre-sets for audio devices.
authors.affiliation: a Hörzentrum Oldenburg GmbH, Department Market and Effects Research , Oldenburg , Germany.|b Center of Excellence Hearing4all , Oldenburg , Germany.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meis
authors.affiliation: b Center of Excellence Hearing4all , Oldenburg , Germany.|c HörTech gGmbH , Oldenburg , Germany.
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Huber
authors.affiliation: d Sivantos GmbH , Erlangen , Germany.
authors.forename: Rosa-Linde
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.affiliation: a Hörzentrum Oldenburg GmbH, Department Market and Effects Research , Oldenburg , Germany.|b Center of Excellence Hearing4all , Oldenburg , Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schulte
authors.affiliation: e University of Kaiserslautern Center for Cognitive Science , Kaiserslautern , Germany , and.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Spilski
authors.affiliation: f Jean Uhrmacher-Institute for Clinical ENT-Research, University of Cologne , Cologne , Germany.
authors.forename: Hartmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Meister
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001307:Auditory Perception; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D012048:Correction of Hearing Impairment / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006184:Habits; D006309:Hearing; D006310:Hearing Aids; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D057240:Patient Preference; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Sound preferences; fitting; hearing habits; profiling; psychometry; questionnaire