Validation of an Arabic listening inventory for the Education of Deaf Children in Egypt

ABSTRACT

The academic achievement of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students depends on the interaction of many factors, including student and family characteristics and experiences inside and outside school. Several questionnaires have previously been designed for evaluating the listening skills of deaf English-speaking children in school environments. This study's objective was to validate an Arabic questionnaire to evaluate deaf Egyptian Arabic-speaking children's listening skills. The Arabic questionnaire for listening skills in the school environment was adapted by translating items from an English questionnaire into Arabic. The questionnaire was administered to 70 Arabic-speaking Egyptian children 7–12 years, including 30 children with typical hearing, 30 deaf children fitted with hearing aids, and ten deaf children with cochlear implants. Typical hearing children demonstrated the best performance with a non-significant difference between children who use cochlear implants and hearing aids. The degree of hearing loss and language therapy duration were the best predictors of deaf Egyptian children's listening skills. The adapted Arabic questionnaire is a valid and reliable functional assessment tool that can be used to evaluate and monitor Arabic-speaking deaf students’ listening skills in the school environment.

KEYWORDS:

• Arabic listening inventory
• subjective evaluation
• child questionnaires
• hearing loss
• listening skills
• deaf child
• child disability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Omayma Afsah

Omayma Afsah, MD: is assistant Prof. of Phoniatrics, ORL Department, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt.

Sara Elawady

Sara Elawady, Msc: is a Phoniatrician working in Mansoura General Hospital, Mansoura, Egypt.

Wessam Elshawaf

Wessam Elshawaf, MD: is a lecturer of audiology , ORL Department, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt.

Tamer Abou-Elsaad

Tamer Abou-Elsaad, MD: is Prof. of Phoniatrics and currently the acting dean of the faculty of medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt. He is also the visiting professor at Malta University, Malta and school of communication sciences, Beijin language and culture university, china. He is also is the executive and board member of the international association of communication sciences and disorders (IALP) being the general secretary.