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.