Self-reported listening effort in adults with and without hearing loss: the Danish version of the Effort Assessment Scale (D-EAS)

Abstract

Purpose

Hearing-impaired individuals experience higher levels of listening effort in challenging situations, affecting their communication in daily life. The purpose of this study was to linguistically and culturally adapt the Effort Assessment Scale (EAS) into Danish (D-EAS) and to investigate its reliability and validity in normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners.

Methods

The translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the EAS aligns with recommendations to adapt hearing-related questionnaires for different languages and cultures. Participants were 157 listeners (85 females) aged 20–86 years (M_age = 62.5, SD = 16.8), with (non-hearing aid and hearing aid users) and without hearing loss.

Results

Reliability analysis showed good internal consistency for the six items in the D-EAS (Cronbach's α= 0.93). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses showed that D-EAS is a one-dimensional instrument. Significant differences were observed across items and overall scores between normal hearing (NH) and hearing loss groups.

Conclusions

The D-EAS reliably estimates self-perception of listening effort in adults with and without hearing loss and is sensitive to the impact of hearing loss. Thus, the D-EAS can provide hearing care professionals and hearing researchers with valuable insights into people's self-perception of listening effort to help guide clinical and other rehabilitation decisions.

Implications for Rehabilitation

• The Effort Assessment Scale (EAS) into Danish (D-EAS) is a reliable tool to estimate self-perception of listening effort in hearing-impaired adults.

• The D-EAS could be a helpful tool providing insights about aspects of hearing disability that is not commonly addressed with the traditional hearing assessments.

• The D-EAS can be incorporated in the hearing rehabilitation process as a tool for evaluating self-perception of listening effort in daily life situations.

• The D-EAS is easy to administer and requires a short time to answer, allowing its use by clinicians and hearing researchers in different settings.

Keywords:

• Hearing loss
• listening effort
• self-report
• hearing aids
• questionnaire

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Audiologisk Afdeling at Bispebjerg Hospital and Rikke Skovhøj Sørensen for their data collection help. The authors also thank Jens Bo Nielsen, Mouhamad El-Haj-Ali, and Charlotte Amalie Emdal Navntoft for their help preparing the Danish version of EAS and Helen Connor for helping with the back translation of the EAS. Also, SC. Purdy, M. Van Eeckhoutte, M. Fereczkowski and T. Dau comments on this manuscript were greatly appreciated.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.