Validity and Reliability of the Korean Version of the Spatial Hearing Questionnaire in Cochlear Implant Users

Purpose: The Spatial Hearing Questionnaire (SHQ) is a self-report subjective questionnaire that includes eight subscales, including “understanding of male, female, and child’s voice”, “music”, “localization”, “speech understanding in quiet, noise-front, and noise-separate situations”. The aim of this study was to examine the validity and reliability of the Korean version of the SHQ (K-SHQ) in cochlear implant (CI) users. Methods: Fifty-two adult CI users participated in this study. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the K-SHQ were evaluated. Concurrent validity was identified by comparing the K-SHQ responses with the “spatial hearing” subscale scores from the Korean version of the Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing Scale (K-SSQ). We also examined the construct validity of the K-SHQ through an exploratory factor analysis. Results: Overall, the greatest difficulties were obtained from the subscale of “localization”, with the least difficulties in the subscale of “speech in quiet”. Both internal consistency and test-retest reliability were adequate for CI users based on all 24 items and the 8-subscale responses of the K-SHQ. The “localization” subscale responses of the K-SHQ were significantly correlated with the “spatial hearing”subscale responses of the K-SSQ, demonstrating a good concurrent validity in relation to localization performance. The results of the exploratory factor analysis showed that two factors, “speech understanding” and “localization”, explained 73.2% of the variance. Conclusion: The K-SHQ showed satisfactory reliability and validity in evaluating speech understanding as well as spatial hearing abilities in cochlear implant users, especially in complex listening situations.