Validation of the Pediatric Spatial Hearing Questionnaire

Abstract

Purpose: Spatial hearing is necessary for adequate sound awareness and speech perception abilities; however, research indicates that children have difficulties on these spatial hearing tasks that affect functioning in their daily environment. The purpose of this study was to validate a pediatric version of the Spatial Hearing Questionnaire (P-SHQ) for determining binaural hearing benefits and spatial hearing ability in children. Method: We recruited parents and guardians of 68 children ages kindergarten through eighth grade to participate. Parents completed the P-SHQ, the Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale–Parent version, and a demographic questionnaire. To determine the factor structure of the P-SHQ, we conducted an exploratory factor analysis and reliability was assessed by calculating correlation coefficients. Results: Three factors emerged during factor analysis: Factor 1 = sound localization, Factor 2 = speech-in-noise perception, and Factor 3 = speech perception in quiet. The P-SHQ has good internal consistency reliability (α = .97), and high item–total correlations were found. The correlation between scores from the P-SHQ questionnaire and the SSQ-Spatial subscale questionnaire provides evidence for the construct validity of the P-SHQ. Conclusions: The P-SHQ is a reliable and valid questionnaire to assess spatial hearing ability in children. This quick-to-administer tool can be incorporated into audiological care to determine the spatial hearing skills of a child and assist in counseling, making it a valuable assessment for hearing health care professionals.