An accessible Image-Based Questionnaire for Hearing (IBQ-H): Item selection.

Objectives: To develop an Image-Based Questionnaire for Hearing (IBQ-H) that uses photographs instead of written descriptions of listening situations to assess hearing difficulties and hearing aid outcomes, with a view to overcoming language and literacy barriers to completing questionnaires. IBQ-H photographs represent the 14 listening situations of the Common Sound Scenarios (CoSS) framework.

Design: Development involved a Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) focus group and three online experiments. The focus group provided insights into the acceptability of an IBQ-H and feedback on photographic content. Experiments 1 and 2 were used to select images for IBQ-H. Experiment 3 examined opinions about the IBQ-H relative to a text-based version.

Study sample: The three experiments had 70, 42, and 55 participants, respectively.

Results: From Experiment 1, two photographs for each CoSS were selected. Experiment 2 refined this to a single representative image per CoSS, finalising the 14-item IBQ-H. In Experiment 3, participants preferred, found easier, and were more confident completing the IBQ-H over its text-based version.

Conclusions: The 14-item IBQ-H is an accessible questionnaire for assessing hearing difficulties, which can be readily adapted for specific cultural contexts. Reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the IBQ-H are being evaluated.