HEARING IMPAIRMENT SCALE - ADULT: INVESTIGATING THE LONG AND THE SCREENING FORMS THE VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF THE TURKISH VERSION

¹Hacettepe Üniversitesi, Odyoloji, Ankara, Türkiye
²Hacettepe Üniversitesi, Dil ve Konuşma Terapisi, Ankara, Türkiye Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults (HHI-A) form can be used to evaluate the disability perception of adults due to hearing loss. The scale adapted to many cultures and languages in the literature and it is known to be widely used in researches. The Turkish version of the scale will also contribute to intercultural studies. This study aims to examine the validity and reliability of both long and screening forms in Turkish. 140 individuals, aged 18 to 64, participated in the study. Reliability of the long form of the scale; Cronbach Alpha coefficient is 0,94; Cronbach α coefficient was 0,91 when the items of the emotional subscale were examined; Cronbach α = 0.89 was obtained in the social sub-dimension (p <0.001). In line with the test-retest application, the Cronbach Alpha Coefficient of the total scores of the scale was found to be 0.98 and the in-class reliability coefficient was obtained as 0.97 (p <0.001). When the internal consistency of the HHI-A screening form was examined for all screening items, the Cronbach alpha coefficient for total scores was 0.87; It was determined as 0.82 for items related to social sub-dimension and 0.78 for items related to emotional sub-dimension (p <0.001). Factor analysis was performed using both Pearson correlation coefficients and polychoric correlation coefficients to examine the construct validity of both forms. According to these analyses, the scale forms were determined to be one-dimensional. When the relationship between the total scores of HHI-A and the mean averages of pure tones was examined by Pearson Correlation Coefficient, a significant relationship was observed (r = 0.53, p <0.001). According to these values, it was determined that the total score obtained from the scale increased as the degree of hearing loss increased to the predicament. The results of the study show that the Turkish version of the Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults forms are reliable and valid scales for both screening and clinical use. Keywords : Hearing Handicap Inventory, adults, hearing loss, screening