Reliability and Validity of Self-Screening Tool for Hearing Loss in Older Adults

The present study aimed to identify the reliability and validity of a screening tool for the elderly who wish to check their level of hearing loss by themselves.

A total of 170 older adults with different hearing levels participated. The Self-Assessment for Hearing Screening of the Elderly-Revised (SHSE-R) consisted of 20 questions measured on a 5-point scale and developed in terms of characteristics of age-related hearing loss. For reliability, the subjects responded to SHSE-R twice with a three-week interval. They also took various subjective and objective hearing tests and a working memory test and filled out two other questionnaires for validation.

SHSE-R showed a high internal consistency and a high reliability when comparing test-retest scores. Its content validity was as high as 0.88-1. Convergent validity supported SHSE-R and its subcategories while showing either a positive or negative correlation with pure-tone average, word recognition scores, and otoacoustic emission tests. Construct validity was proved by a moderate negative correlation with the tests of speech in noise, speech with fast speed, and working memory. In criterion validity, a strong positive correlation existed between SHSE-R and the other questionnaires, except for a group with severe hearing loss. The factor analysis showed similar results to the original version of SHSE having three factors, although some items were interchanged.

We confirmed that SHSE-R was well developed with both excellent internal consistency and test-retest reliability and valuable convergent, construct, and criterion validities, consequently making SHSE-R useful for self-checking hearing loss in the elderly.