The Articulation Handicap Scale with 12 items (AHS-12): a short form of the Articulation Handicap Index (AHI)

The objective is to produce a short instrument for measuring the subjectively experienced articulation handicap, i.e. the extent to which physical, functional, and emotional handicaps caused by a physical deficit are subjectively experienced.

The items for the short instrument were selected from the 30 items of the Articulation Handicap Index (AHI) by removing items on the basis of item-total correlations using data from 113 cancer survivors. Reliability and validity of the sum score of the corresponding item selection were used for determining the optimal item selection. This optimal item selection was compared with the AHI in an RCT with patients undergoing phoniatric routine diagnostics.

With only 12 items left, the measurement instrument was still as reliable and valid as the AHI. With less than 12 items, reliability and validity decreased. In the RCT between the AHI (n = 41) and the 12-item selection (n = 40), reliability and validity of both instruments were the same, but processing times differed (AHI; 3.84 min; 12-item selection: 2.02 min).

The 12-item selection, further referred to as the Articulation Handicap Scale with 12 items (AHS-12), provides nearly as much information as the original AHI.