RESUMO
Objective To investigate the reliability and practicality of Chinese version the hearing handicap in-ventory for the elderly -screening version(HHIE -S) scale for elderly hearing screening in China .Methods We compared the HHIE -S scores with results of pure -tone audiometry test .A total of 840 Chinese individuals older than 60 years filled in the scale all by themselves first ,then refilled it according to explanations of each question translated by researchers .All participants finished pure -tone audiometry test with frequencies of 0 .25 ,0 .5 ,1 .0 , 2 .0 ,and 4 .0 kHz .Sensitivity ,specificity ,positive predictive value (PPV ) ,false-negative rate and false -positive rate were compared with HHIE -S cut -off points of >8 or >10 and pure-tone averages (PTAs) greater than 25 ,40 and 60 dB HL .Analysis the area under the curve (AUC) values of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for each three PTA levels .Results Cronbach's α of the scale was 0 .85 .HHIE -S scale pre -explanatory score was 7 .6 ± 10 .6 ,and post-explanatory score was 10 .8 ± 16 .7(P 8 points higher than H HIE-S> 10 points in the sensitivity ,positive predictive value increase ,specificity ,false-positive rate ,false negative rate decreased ,paired samples t - test sensitivity and false -negative rate (P 8 when grouping with PTA> 25 dB HL ,PTA> 40 dB HL and PTA>60 dB HL ,conducted ROC curve analysis ,the AUC value was 0 .70 ± 0 .03 ,0 .84 ± 0 .01 and 0 .88 ± 0 .02 .Conclusion The score of HHIE-S scale>8 points can be used when PTA> 40 dB HL as goal for hearing loss of old people , it can be more accurate after explanations ,so HHIE-S scale can be used as a preliminary hearing screening method for Chinese elderly people .