Standardization for a Korean Version of Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly / 대한이비인후과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study has been performed to determine the reliability and validity of the Korean version of Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly (HHIE), which has been adapted to the Korean population. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: For the Korean version of HHIE (K-HHIE), the processes of independent forward translation, backward translation and reconciliation were standardized using subjects older than 65 years old were recruited from the 10 referral-hospitals. Reliability and validity were evaluated by Cronbach's alpha coefficient, confirmatory factor analysis and test-retest analysis. Hearing impairment was assessed using pure tone audiometry, and the result was used as the gold standard. RESULTS: The recruited K-HHIEs were 169. The reliability of K-HHIE, checked by Cronbach's alpha coefficient, was as high as 0.95. Scale-item correlation coefficient was even higher than 0.97, which shows very high reliability of K-HHIE. Test-retest reliability and the correlation coefficients of social/situational, emotional and total scores of K-HHIE were as high as 0.73, 0.82 and 0.78, respectively. The validity of K-HHIE, checked by confirmatory factor analysis, also showed good construct validity. There was high correlation between hearing level and the scores of K-HHIE, which is another indicative result of its high validity. CONCLUSION: We have developed and validated Korean version of HHIE, which has good reliability and validity. It seems to be suitable enough for clinical use and research studies in patients with hearing impairment.