Reliability and validity of the (modified) Amsterdam Inventory for Auditory Disability and Handicap

This study investigated the psychometric adequacy of the (modified) Amsterdam Inventory for Auditory Disability and Handicap ((m)AIAD). The original version of the AIAD was developed by Kramer et al in 1995. Special emphasis was placed on the statistical aspects of the scores, because these properties place limits on the clinical utility of the instrument. The AIAD is a self-assessment questionnaire that consists of 30 questions covering all the relevant factors of disability in individual hearing functioning in daily life. This paper reports data from 94 subjects, aged 17-65 years, with different hearing abilities, who completed a modified version of the AIAD and the Hearing Disability Questionnaire (HDQ), on two occasions 1 month apart. The psychometric adequacy of the AIAD was determined by measuring its reliability and validity. Factor analysis was performed, and the reliability was tested by measuring internal consistency, split-half correlation, and test-retest reproducibility. The validity was tested by measuring construct and criterion validity. The results showed that the reliability of the (m)AIAD was highly satisfactory, with good internal consistency, high split-half correlations, and high test-retest correlations. Construct validity showed a high correlation between scores on the (m)AIAD and scores on the HDQ. Criterion validity showed a moderate but significant correlation between scores on the (m)AIAD and hearing thresholds in dB HL.