Development and pilot study of the Communication Strategy Training (CST) module for Kannada-speaking adults with hearing impairment

Abstract

Background: The use of communication strategies (CSs) by hearing-impaired individuals can minimize communication breakdowns. This study aimed to develop a communication strategies training module in Kannada (CST-Kannada) and field test its benefits for hearing handicap, participation, quality of life, and utilization of CS. Methods: The developed module involved 6–10 h of hierarchically structured training of CST-Kannada across eight different scenarios (each having three different levels of difficulty), where communication difficulties were most common. Twenty Kannada-speaking adults who had acquired hearing loss and were using hearing aids answered six self-report questionnaires assessing different aspects: hearing handicap, participation and quality of life, utilization of CS, and evaluation of CS usage in a few scenarios. The evaluation was performed before training, immediately after CS training and one month after CS training. Results: The benefits of the CST-Kannada were significantly evident in the self-assessment of communication at 1 month post training. There was a significant difference between the scores of pre-training and post training evaluations on the CS scenario questionnaire, highlighting the positive effects of CST-Kannda. Conclusions: Self-awareness of the use of CS in post-training with the CS scenario questionnaire can be attributed to CST. The improved overall performance at one-month post-follow-up highlights the need for intensive practice or adequate time to learn and generalize the trained aspects.