Hearing Research Laboratory, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
Medical Research Institute, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.
PLoS One. 2021 May 6;16(5):e0251244. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0251244. eCollection 2021.
Standardized instruments are often used to monitor one's progress in tinnitus relief although they were developed to screen and diagnose tinnitus. The need for the development for a tinnitus outcome assessment tool is high in the field of audiology and otolaryngology. The purpose of this study was to develop a tinnitus outcome questionnaire for sound management (listening to sound stimuli for tinnitus relief) and assess its content validity. A total of 32 questions with six domains (Tinnitus characteristics, the impact of tinnitus, tinnitus and hearing issues, handedness, tinnitus management, and sound management outcome) were generated after closely investigating major tinnitus questionnaires used worldwide (i.e. Tinnitus Handicap Inventory and Tinnitus Handicap Questionnaire) as well as literature. Ten healthcare professionals evaluated the appropriateness of the questionnaire items on a five-point Likert scale, where 1 is strongly inappropriate and 5 is strongly appropriate. Content relevance was assessed by computing the content validity index with the cut-off value of 0.75. Each response was first weighted as follows: 1 = 0; 2 = 0.25; 3 = 0.5; 4 = 0.75; and 5 = 1.0. The weighted average was then calculated. Items with a content validity index less than 0.75 were discarded and some items were revised according to the experts' feedback. As a result, 31 out of the 32 items had the content validity index higher than 0.75, indicating that the items are appropriate to obtain information about the six domains. Reflecting the experts' feedback, some questions were revised to be more specific. The study provides a baseline structure regarding potential questions to be included in a tinnitus outcome questionnaire for sound management. Development and standardization of such questionnaire would be a pathway to validating tinnitus relief via sound therapy.
标准化仪器常用于监测耳鸣缓解的进展，尽管它们是为筛查和诊断耳鸣而开发的。在听力学和耳鼻喉科领域，开发耳鸣评估工具的需求很高。本研究旨在开发一种用于声音管理（聆听声音刺激以缓解耳鸣）的耳鸣结果问卷，并评估其内容效度。通过仔细研究全球范围内使用的主要耳鸣问卷（即耳鸣残疾量表和耳鸣残疾问卷）以及文献，共生成了 32 个问题，涵盖 6 个领域（耳鸣特征、耳鸣的影响、耳鸣和听力问题、利手、耳鸣管理和声音管理结果）。10 名医疗保健专业人员使用 5 点 Likert 量表评估问卷项目的适当性，其中 1 表示非常不适当，5 表示非常适当。内容相关性通过计算内容效度指数（临界值为 0.75）进行评估。每个回答首先加权如下：1 = 0；2 = 0.25；3 = 0.5；4 = 0.75；5 = 1.0。然后计算加权平均值。内容效度指数低于 0.75 的项目将被丢弃，并且根据专家的反馈对一些项目进行了修订。结果，32 个项目中有 31 个项目的内容效度指数高于 0.75，表明这些项目适合获取关于六个领域的信息。反映专家的反馈，一些问题被修订得更加具体。该研究为声音管理的耳鸣结果问卷中潜在问题的纳入提供了一个基线结构。这种问卷的开发和标准化将是通过声音疗法验证耳鸣缓解的途径。
