Validation of a French translation of the speech, spatial, and qualities of hearing scale (SSQ) and comparison with other language versions

Abstract

Objective: To validate a French version of the speech, spatial, and qualities of hearing scale (SSQ), a subjective evaluation of patients’ hearing disability, and to assess SSQ reproducibility across different language versions. Design: The SSQ was translated in accordance with the principles of the ‘Universalist approach’ of cross-cultural adaptation of patient-reported outcome instruments. Scores from a normal-hearing and a hearing-impaired population were compiled and compared, whenever possible, with data from the literature, collected using other language versions. Study sample: One hundred normal-hearing subjects and 230 hearing-impaired subjects. Results: Good reproducibility of scores and inter-subject variability were obtained between several language versions, even if scores found using the French version were slightly lower than those obtained using Dutch or English versions. A comparison of factor analysis outcomes between the English and French versions confirmed good conceptual equivalence across languages and robustness of the SSQ for use in international settings. The three main subscales (speech, spatial, and qualities) confirmed their usefulness in assessing different aspects of hearing disability. Conclusion: This study validated a French-language version of the SSQ, and assessed the reproducibility of the SSQ across subject groups, administration modes, and different countries/languages, confirming its potential as an international standard for hearing disability evaluation.

Key Words::

• Self-report measure
• hearing disability
• hearing loss
• cross-cultural adaptation
• spatial hearing
• speech, spatial, and qualities of hearing scale

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Prof. Jürgen Kiessling and his team, who very kindly provided us with the percentage presence per item for their German version of the SSQ; Cochlearr, for generously providing an initial French translation of the SSQ; and Prof. Stéphane Tingrali, for accepting our presence at the ENT department of Lyon South Hospital (Hospices Civils de Lyon) for the pilot study. Many thanks are due to the patients, colleagues and to the Franco-British families who devoted their time and expertise to the success of this study. We express our thanks to the reviewers for their very valuable suggestions. This work was supported in part by the ‘Fondation de l’Avenir’ research program ET2-652 and by the LABEX CELYA (ANR-11-LABX-0060) of Université de Lyon, France within the program ‘Investissements d’Avenir’ (ANR-11-IDEX-0007), operated by the French National Research Agency (ANR).

Notes

1. How well do the questions reflect your hearing experiences in daily life? (very badly / very well)

2. Did the questions seem easy to answer? (not at all / yes, no problem).

Declaration of interests: No conflicts of interest declared. The sponsors for this study did not have any involvement in the design of the study, protocol, data analysis, nor the writing of the paper.

Supplementary material available online

Supplementary Appendix to be found online at http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/14992027.2015.1054040