Translation and validation of the Hearing Environments and Reflection on Quality of Life (HEAR-QL) questionnaire for preschool children in Dutch

Abstract

Objective: Early diagnosis, intervention and consistent follow-up of hearing loss is of great importance in children, given the broad impact of untreated childhood hearing loss. Currently, no hearing-specific QOL proxy questionnaire exists for preschool children with hearing loss in the Dutch language. Therefore, the aim of this study was to translate and validate the Preschool HEAR-QL questionnaire into Dutch. Methods: Translation was conducted according the forward–backward procedure. Parents or caregivers of 60 normal-hearing children and 50 children with bilateral hearing loss aged 2–6 years old were invited to digitally complete the questionnaire. Results: The Preschool HEAR-QL questionnaire showed good discriminant validity between the normal-hearing and the hearing loss group, for its total score and some subscales. We concluded satisfying internal consistency given Cronbach’s alpha values being above 0.70, nearly all alpha if item deleted values approaching the overall values, and item-subscale correlations above 0.30. Test-retest reliability was satisfying with all intraclass correlation coefficients being greater than 0.70. Conclusion: This Dutch hearing-specific QOL proxy questionnaire can play an important role in the management and follow-up of early childhood hearing loss in Dutch health care and hearing centers. Future research on clinical data will further verify its utility in clinical practice.