Toward Enhanced Voice-Related Self-Reports: Translation, Cross-Cultural Adaptation, and Validity

Area of Science:

• Speech-language pathology
• Health outcomes research
• Cross-cultural psychology

Background:

• Voice-related self-reports are vital for assessing patient-reported outcomes.
• Existing measures often lack rigorous translation and cross-cultural adaptation.
• This deficiency impacts the validity and reliability of research findings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight shortcomings in the development and validation of voice-related self-reports.
• To emphasize the critical role of construct validity, translation, and cross-cultural adaptation.
• To demonstrate the importance of culturally adapting self-report measures.

Main Methods:

• A voice-related self-report lacking cross-cultural adaptation was examined.
• A multistep linguistic translation and cross-cultural adaptation process was outlined and demonstrated.
• Back-translations were obtained from native speakers and experts.

Main Results:

• Analyses of back-translations showed improved BiLingual Evaluation Understudy (BLEU) scores for adapted items.
• This indicates enhanced linguistic accuracy and cultural relevance after adaptation.
• The process confirmed the potential for improved validity in adapted measures.

Conclusions:

• Unvalidated translations of voice-related self-reports compromise cross-cultural health equity.
• Cross-cultural adaptation is an essential, yet frequently neglected, step in measure development.
• Standardized methodologies emphasizing careful translation and cultural adaptation are urgently needed.