Hindi language tool for assessing pediatric cochlear implant recipients

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Speech-Language Pathology
• Developmental Pediatrics

Background:

• Current assessment tools for pediatric cochlear implant (CI) recipients in India are primarily Western-based and not available in Hindi.
• This lack of Hindi-specific material hinders the assessment and planning of habilitation for Hindi-speaking pediatric CI users.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a parental questionnaire in Hindi to assess auditory, speech, and language skills of pediatric CI recipients aged 3-7 years.

Main Methods:

• Consultation with Indian CI clinics, primary school Hindi teachers, and speech-language pathologists informed the questionnaire's development.
• Content validation involved feedback from parents of 50 normal-hearing children and 5 experienced CI speech-language pathologists.
• The finalized questionnaire, comprising three subtests for auditory, language, and speech skills, was administered to parents of 50 pediatric CI recipients at multiple intervals post-implant.

Main Results:

• The questionnaire demonstrated high reliability and internal consistency, with alpha values of 0.9201 (subtest 1), 0.7425 (subtest 2), and 0.9311 (entire questionnaire).
• All cochlear implant recipients could be evaluated using the questionnaire, with no scores of zero recorded at any assessment interval.

Conclusions:

• The developed Hindi parental questionnaire is a reliable and valid tool for assessing pediatric CI recipients.
• It addresses the need for culturally and linguistically appropriate assessment materials in India.
• The questionnaire facilitates comprehensive evaluation and planning of habilitation for Hindi-speaking children with cochlear implants.