Validation of LittleEARS questionnaire in Hindi language

Abstract

Background: Subjective measures of auditory development are equally important as objective measures to obtain a realistic image of the hearing status in infants and toddlers. Objectives: The objectives of the current study were to translate and validate the LittleEARS questionnaire into the Hindi language, to calculate its psychometric properties and establish a regression curve of the scores obtained as a function of age, to calculate the inter-test and test retest reliability of the same. The secondary objectives were to compare the scores obtained by the normal hearing children and those with hearing impairment and to plot a regression curve of total scores obtained by the hearing-impaired children as a function of the duration of auditory training attended since their first fit of the device. Materials and methods: The procedures involved conventional translation, reverse translation, and content validation before administering the questionnaire. The translated version was administered to parents of 59 children with normal hearing and 41 children with hearing impairment. Results: The finalized version had good reliability and efficient internal consistency with a Cronbach alpha value of 0.96. The mean scores obtained by the normal hearing children showed a progressive pattern as a function of age. Conclusion: The LittleEARS questionnaire has been successfully translated and validated into the Hindi language with excellent validity and reliability and can be used for screening and early identification of hearing impairment and in evaluating the outcome of audiological treatment approaches.

Keywords

• LittleEARS auditory questionnaire
• Hindi language
• Auditory outcome measures
• Screening tools
• Preverbal auditory checklist