Reliability of the Unilateral Hearing Loss in Youth Instrument for Children With Single-Sided Deafness.

Purpose: While general practice parameter recommendations for children with unilateral hearing loss or single-sided deafness (SSD) have been published, clinically utilized subjective instruments specifically designed to assess this population are scarce. Treatment options are evaluated using audiometric data, speech perception data, and quality of life instruments. The Unilateral Hearing Loss in Youth (uniHELO) is a subjective assessment instrument that aims to evaluate the listening challenges in this population, but it has not yet been studied in a clinical setting. This study examined the reliability of the uniHELO among children with SSD.

Method: This was a prospective within-subject study. Nine patients with SSD, aged 8-14 years, were enrolled. Participants had not used a personal hearing device for at least 6 months prior to enrollment. The uniHELO instrument was administered at two clinic visits separated by 3-4 weeks. For comparison, the Pediatric and Parent Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ) instruments were administered during the same visits.

Results: uniHELO scores were not significantly different between the first and second visits. The correlations of scale scores over time were: .96 for the uniHELO, which suggests excellent test-retest reliability; .84 for the Parent SSQ, which also suggests excellent test-retest reliability; and .27 for the Pediatric SSQ, which suggests poor test-retest reliability compared to the Parent SSQ and uniHELO.

Conclusions: Within-subject scale uniHELO scores between clinic visits showed excellent test-retest reliability across items. The test-retest reliability scores for the uniHELO were also stronger than those for the Parent and Pediatric SSQ. These data support the use of the uniHELO to evaluate listening challenges in children with SSD.