Validation of Persian Version of Hyperacusis Questionnaire

Abstract

Background: One of the most common hearing disorders is hyperacusis, characterized by decreased sound tolerance or noise sensitivity. Objective: The present paper aimed to evaluate the validity of the Persian version of the hyperacusis questionnaire. Methods: The sample was comprised of 434 students evaluated at the Kashan University of Medical Science, Isfahan, between July 2019 and February 2020. After translation and retranslation of questionnaire, the content validity was assessed by 15 occupational health experts using content validity index (CVI) and ratio (CVR). Validity and reliability of the scale were examined by using confirmatory factor analysis, the Cronbach alpha, composite reliability (CR), and the average variance extracted (AVE) tests. Results: In the exploratory analysis of the Persian version of Khalfa hyperacusis questionnaire, 14 items were created based on three subscales) attentional, social, and emotional dimensions) which explained 46.5% of the total variances. Content validity of 14 questions was approved with CVR > 0.49 and CVI > 0.7. The Cronbach alpha, AVE, and CR indexes were calculated 0.811, 0.761, and 0.901, respectively, which showed that reliability of the scale was adequate. Conclusions: It was concluded that this Persian version of the hyperacusis questionnaire has relatively acceptable validity and reliability in Iran. Given that the tool has a small number of questions, it is easily used in different studies.