Questionnaires for the Hearing-impaired Adults and Elderly : A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Many research groups have developed various questionnaires for hearing-impaired listeners since 1990 while proving their reliability and validity. Currently, audiologists are able to use some of them at the beginning and/or end of consultation with their hearing-impaired patients and thus to estimate specific problems related to hearing loss, difficult listening situations, degree of disability including psychosocial and emotional aspects, and benefit from hearing aids based on numerical values of questionnaires. However, although these questionnaires have their own purposes and interpretation, the audiologists sometimes underuse or overuse them due to unfamiliarity. This paper reviews the most popular 11 questionnaires with the purpose, contents, scoring, and interpretation for the hearing-impaired adults and elderly. It also includes their pros and cons. Finally, it discusses which questionnaire should be considerable and need to be developed in clinical setting of Korea. This paper suggests that the questionnaires should extend effective auditory rehabilitation program.