<i>Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale</i> in assessing the benefit in hearing aid users

Pennini, Patricia Teixeira Menniti; Almeida, Katia de

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Original Article • CoDAS 33 (2) • 2021 • https://doi.org/10.1590/2317-1782/20202019196 copy

Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale in assessing the benefit in hearing aid users

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

Purpose

To check the degree of reliability of the Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ), in the assessment of the benefit in hearing aid users.

Methods

Thirty hearing impaired adults, candidates for use (novice users) or users whose hearing aids (experienced users) were being replaced, participated in the study. All participants underwent complete audiological evaluation, selection and fitting of hearing aids, which included checking measurements with a probe microphone and assessment of the benefit from using hearing aids with the Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ) questionnaire. A basic SSQ questionnaire was administered in the form of an interview. Later, four weeks after having started using new hearing aids, the versions B (for novice users) and C (for experienced users) of the SSQ questionnaire were administered.

Results

Greater difficulty was identified in the Hearing for speech domain than in the other domains, namely Spatial hearing, and Qualities of hearing. Most participants found all questions easy to understand and reported they were compatible with the situations they dealt with in their daily life. Statistical analysis revealed a high Cronbach's alpha coefficient (>0.9), which is indicative of good internal consistency between the various items contained in the questionnaire. It proved to be a valuable tool for subjectively assessing communicative performance with and without the use of hearing aids.

Conclusion

The SSQ proved to be an instrument that is easy to administer and highly reliable, allowing for the assessment of the benefit in individuals who are undergoing auditory rehabilitation, and which can be administered to individuals using different types of hearing aids.

Keywords:
Hearing Aids; Questionnaires; Adult; Hearing Loss; Outcomes

*Characteristics*	*Categories*	n	%
Age	44 - 63	10	33.3
	66 - 77	11	36.7
	78 - 94	9	30.0
Sex	Female	13	43.3
Sex	Male	17	56.7
Level of education	Primary School (Brazilian system prior to 6 February 2006)	2	6.7
	Primary School (after 6 February, 2006)	1	3.3
	Secondary School (after 6 February, 2006)	5	16.7
	Higher Education	22	73.3
Users of bilateral hearing aids	Novices	8	26.7
Users of bilateral hearing aids	Experienced	22	73.3
Hearing loss (PTA in the best ear)	Mild	6	20.7
	Moderate	15	51.7
	Severe	6	20.7
	Deep	2	6.9
Hearing aid model	Retro	2	6.7
	Mini channel	4	13.3
	Intra channel	1	3.3
	REC	23	76.7
Daily use time (with hearing aid)	4 - 9 hours	12	40.0
	10 - 14 hours	10	33.3
	15 -18 hours	8	26.7

SSQ – Base	Question	Mean	SD	Min	Max
HEARING FOR SPEECH	1. Talking with someone while the TV is on	5.77	1.69	3	10
	2. Talking with someone in a quiet room where there is a rug	8.63	1.45	5	10
	3. Talking with 5 people in a silent room while seeing them	5.90	2.24	2	10
	4. Talking with 5 people in a noisy room while seeing them	3.90	2.02	0	8
	5. Talking with someone in a continuously noisy room	6.37	1.54	4	10
	6. Talking with 5 people in a noisy room while not being able to see them	3.30	1.66	0	7
	7. Talking in an environment with an echo	4.60	2.37	0	10
	8. Ignoring the interfering voice having a same tone	5.30	2.16	2	10
	9. Ignoring the interfering voice having a different tone	5.53	2.06	2	10
	10. Talking with someone while watching TV	3.53	2.19	0	8
	11. Talking with someone in a room where there are other people talking	5	2.01	1	10
	12. Following changes in conversation while in a group	3.90	1.96	0	7
	13. Having a conversation on the phone	6.30	2.50	0	10
	14. Following a person talking and the phone	3.73	2.33	0	10
Total		5.12	1.43	3.2	9.1
SPATIAL HEARING	1. Locating the lawn mower	4.50	2.90	0	10
	2. Locating someone talking while sitting by a table	4.80	2.70	0	10
	3. Locating a speaker to the right or to the left	7.40	2.20	2	10
	4. Locating a closing door in an unknown house	5.40	3.30	0	10
	5. Locating the sound upstairs or downstairs	5.30	2.30	0	9
	6. Locating a dog barking	5.40	2.70	0	10
	7. Locating a vehicle’s direction	5.50	2.80	0	10
	8. Guessing someone's distance from their steps or voice	4.20	2.20	0	8
	9. Guessing the distance from a vehicle	4.80	2.20	0	10
	10. Identifying the laterality of a vehicle’s movement	4.80	2.90	0	10
	11. Guessing the laterality of someone’s movement from their steps or voice	4.80	2.60	0	10
	12. Identifying a person’s proximity or distance	5.40	2.30	0	10
	13. Identifying a vehicle’s proximity or distance	5.90	2.50	0	10
	14.Non-externalized sounds (inside the head rather than outside)	6.70	2.00	2	10
	15. Closer than expected sounds	5.70	1.90	2	10
	16. Farther than expected sounds	4.90	2.30	0	10
	17. Sounds in an expected location	6.40	2.40	0	10
Total		5.40	1.86	2.10	10
QUALITY OF HEARING	1. Separation of two sounds	6.80	2.60	0	10
	2. Sounds seem mixed	6.80	1.90	3	10
	3. Listening to voice and music as separate sounds	5.60	2.40	0	10
	4. Identifying known people from their voices	7.50	1.90	4	10
	5. Distinguishing known music	7.20	2.40	0	10
	6. Distinguishing different sounds	7.00	2.30	2	10
	7. Identifying musical instruments in a song	5.70	2.50	0	10
	8. Naturalness of music	6.50	3	0	10
	9. Clarity of the sounds of the day	7.00	1.80	3	10
	10. Naturalness of voices	6.30	1.70	2	10
	11. Naturalness of the sounds of the day	6.50	2.10	2	10
	12. Naturalness of own voice	7.20	2	2	10
	13. Assessing the mood from the voice	7.20	2.20	0	10
	14. Needing to focus when listening	5.20	2.60	0	10
	15. Effort in conversation	4.90	2.40	0	10
	16. Being able to hear a passenger well while driving	5.40	2.60	0	10
	17. Being able to hear the driver as a passenger	6.00	2.20	2	10
	18. Ability to ignore concurrent sounds	5.80	2.70	1	10
Total		6.37	1.35	3.90	9.90

*SSQ–B and SSQ–C*	Question	Mean	SD	Min	Max
HEARING FOR SPEECH	1. Talking with someone while the TV is on	2.63	1.45	0	5
	2. Talking with someone in a quiet room where there is a rug	3.43	1.77	0	5
	3. Talking with 5 people in a silent room while seeing them	2.45	1.54	0	5
	4. Talking with 5 people in a noisy room while seeing them	1.60	1.38	0	4
	5. Talking with someone in a continuously noisy room	2.79	1.49	0	5
	6. Talking with 5 people in a noisy room while not being able to see them	1.63	1.40	0	4
	7. Talking in an environment with an echo	1.79	1.42	0	5
	8. Ignoring the interfering voice having a same tone	2.28	1.43	0	5
	9. Ignoring the interfering voice having a different tone	2.50	1.38	0	5
	10. Talking with someone while watching TV	1.40	1.49	0	5
	11. Talking with someone in a room where there are other people talking	2.40	1.42	0	5
	12. Following changes in conversation while in a group	1.97	1.35	0	4
	13. Having a conversation on the phone	2.47	1.79	0	5
	14. Following a person talking and the phone	1.37	1.52	0	4
Total		2.20	2.03	0	4.4
SPATIAL HEARING	1. Locating the lawn mower	2.25	1.66	0	5
	2. Locating someone talking while sitting by a table	2.21	1.59	0	5
	3. Locating a speaker to the right or to the left	3.00	1.89	0	5
	4. Locating a closing door in an unknown house	2.21	1.83	0	5
	5. Locating the sound upstairs or downstairs	2.20	1.80	0	5
	6. Locating a dog barking	2.21	1.65	0	5
	7. Locating a vehicle’s direction	2.39	1.59	0	5
	8. Guessing someone's distance from their steps or voice	1.97	1.34	0	5
	9. Guessing the distance from a vehicle	2.07	1.58	0	5
	10. Identifying the laterality of a vehicle’s movement	2.07	1.54	0	5
	11. Guessing the laterality of someone’s movement from their steps or voice	2.27	1.48	0	5
	12. Identifying a person’s proximity or distance	2.41	1.42	0	5
	13. Identifying a vehicle’s proximity or distance	2.17	1.44	0	5
	14. Non-externalized sounds (inside the head rather than outside)	2.37	1.86	0	5
	15. Closer than expected sounds	2.33	1.46	0	5
	16. Farther than expected sounds	2.18	1.76	0	5
	17. Sounds in an expected location	2.47	1.81	0	5
Total		2.25	2.03	0	5
QUALITY OF HEARING	1. Separation of two sounds	2.50	1.67	0	5
	2. Sounds seem mixed	2.13	1.69	0	5
	3. Listening to voice and music as separate sounds	2.50	1.50	0	5
	4. Identifying known people from their voices	2.77	1.69	0	5
	5. Distinguishing known music	2.40	1.97	0	5
	6. Distinguishing different sounds	2.55	1.84	0	5
	7. Identifying musical instruments in a song	2.10	1.70	0	5
	8. Naturalness of music	2.50	2.03	0	5
	9. Naturalness of the sounds of the day	2.40	1.56	0	5
	10. Naturalness of voices	2.47	1.79	0	5
	11. Naturalness of the sounds of the day	2.27	1.96	-2	5
	12. Naturalness of own voice	1.86	2.19	-2	5
	13. Assessing the mood from the voice	2.17	1.82	0	5
	14. Needing to focus when listening	2.20	1.62	0	5
	15. Conversational effort	2.37	1.69	0	5
	16. Being able to hear a passenger well while driving	2.29	1.48	0	5
	17. Being able to hear the driver as a passenger	2.76	1.50	0	5
	18. Ability to ignore concurrent sounds	1.93	1.66	0	5
Total		2.35	2.50	0	4.8

		Mean	Median	SD	Minimum	Maximum
SSQ-Base	Speech - base	5.12	5.1	1.43	3.2	9.1
	Space - basis	5.36	5.79	1.86	2.1	10
	Qualities - base	6.37	6.38	1.35	3.9	9.9
	Overall - base	5.7	5.68	1.28	3.7	9.7
SSQ–B and SSQ–C	Speech –B and –C	2.2	2.03	1.04	0.2	4.4
	Spatial –B and –C	2.25	2.4	1.33	0.1	4.8
	Qualities –B and –C	2.35	2.5	1.41	0	4.8
	Overall –B and –C	2.27	2.34	1.2	0.1	4.5

		N. of questions	Cronbach's Alpha
SSQ-BASIS	Speech - base	14	0.97
	Space - base	17	0.94
	Qualities - base	18	0.88
	Overall - base	49	0.94
SSQ–B and SSQ–C	Speech –B and –C	14	0.95
	Spatial –B and –C	17	0.97
	Qualities –B and –C	18	0.98
	Overall –B and –C	49	0.99

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[1] Conflict of interests: nothing to declare.