Adaptation of the Amsterdam Inventory for Auditory Disability and Handicap into Spanish

Abstract

Purpose: Self-report questionnaires have been suggested as valuable assessment tools in audiology, especially when investigating the effect of hearing impairment on the everyday lives of adults. Many self-report questionnaires have been developed for English-speaking populations; however, there is a lack of this type of questionnaire for Spanish-speaking patients. The aim of the present research was to adapt the Amsterdam Inventory for Auditory Disability and Handicap (AIADH) into Spanish. Methods: The AIADH consists of 30 questions that deal with real-life listening situations. Each question is accompanied by a picture representing the situation being addressed. Six Spanish-English bilingual speakers and one Spanish-English bilingual speaker participated in the translations and back translations of the English version of the AIADH. Once the adaptation was finalized, 189 normal-hearing and hearing-impaired Spanish-speaking participants completed the Spanish version of the AIADH (S-AIADH). Results: Statistical analysis showed a high Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, indicating good internal reliability. Test-retest scores were highly correlated. Also, the S-AIADH showed good criterion validity. Statistically significant differences for all questionnaire item responses were observed between normal-hearing and hearing-impaired respondents. Conclusions: The AIADH has been adapted into Spanish. Normative data in percentiles have been obtained for clinical use with Spanish-speaking populations, to explore self-reported performance for the hearing functions proposed by the ICF.Implications for RehabilitationThe clinical setting represents an artificial situation and it is not possible to directly assess the patient’s hearing performance in real life situations. For this reason, the use of self-report questionnaires is recommended.Self-report questionnaires are especially useful when investigating hearing disability in a range of listening activities. Thus, hearing rehabilitation can be tailored according to the specific needs of the patient.Self-report questionnaires such as the AIADH may assist to determine the benefits of hearing rehabilitation for the patient throughout a range of activities, for which hearing in essential.