Wang Qiang, Zhao Yu, Wang Yibo, Wu Yunyu, Meng Zhaoli
Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, People's Republic of China.
Department of Audiology and Speech Language Pathology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, People's Republic of China.
Ear Hear. 2025;46(2):401-407. doi: 10.1097/AUD.0000000000001590. Epub 2024 Sep 10.
Owing to differences in cultural background, education level, and lifestyle, certain items of existing tinnitus evaluation scales are difficult for Chinese patients to understand, despite being translated. However, few independently developed scales have been developed specifically for Chinese patients. Therefore, with this study, we aimed to construct a tinnitus scale, the West China Tinnitus Impact Inventory (WCTII), suitable for the accurate reflection of the impact and severity of the disease in this population.
Basic items were obtained through semistructured interviews with patients with tinnitus. We invited 23 domestic experts on tinnitus to form an expert group. The basic items were modified using the Delphi method. Cronbach's α values for the scale scores and correlation coefficients between the items and the scale scores were calculated. Items with correlation coefficients <0.5 were deleted. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to determine the scale structure of the items remaining after item deletion. The intragroup correlation coefficient was used to assess the scale's test-retest reliability. The Pearson correlation coefficient between the scale scores and the scores for the Chinese-Mandarin version of the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory was used to evaluate concurrent validity.
After five rounds of expert correspondence and exploratory factor analysis, we determined the content and structure of the scale. The WCTII consists of 19 items in 4 subscales, namely, F1: the impact of tinnitus on emotion (items 1 to 9); F2: the impact of tinnitus on sleep (items 10 to 12); F3: patients' beliefs about their tinnitus (items 13 to 16, 19); and F4: the impact of tinnitus on auditory processing ability (items 17 to 18). The overall Cronbach's α was 0.934. The Cronbach's α values for F1 to F4 were 0.912, 0.843, 0.829, and 0.838, respectively. The intragroup correlation coefficient (95% confidence interval) of the total scale and F1 to F4 were 0.779 (0.549 to 0.886), 0.738 (0.496 to 0.860), 0.826 (0.713 to 0.897), 0.720 (0.536 to 0.836), and 0.715 (0.532 to 0.832), respectively. The correlation between the WCTII and Chinese-Mandarin version of the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory scores was 0.849 ( p < 0.001).
The WCTII yielded satisfactory reliability and validity, indicating that it can be used to assess the severity of tinnitus in Chinese patients.
由于文化背景、教育水平和生活方式的差异，现有耳鸣评估量表中的某些项目，即便经过翻译，中国患者仍难以理解。然而，专门为中国患者独立开发的量表却很少。因此，在本研究中，我们旨在构建一个耳鸣量表，即华西耳鸣影响量表（WCTII），以准确反映该疾病对这一人群的影响和严重程度。
通过对耳鸣患者进行半结构式访谈获取基本项目。我们邀请了23位国内耳鸣专家组成专家组。使用德尔菲法对基本项目进行修改。计算量表得分的Cronbach's α值以及各项目与量表得分之间的相关系数。删除相关系数<0.5的项目。进行探索性因子分析以确定删除项目后剩余项目的量表结构。组内相关系数用于评估量表的重测信度。量表得分与中文版耳鸣障碍量表得分之间的Pearson相关系数用于评估同时效度。
经过五轮专家函询和探索性因子分析，我们确定了量表的内容和结构。WCTII由19个项目组成，分为4个分量表，即F1：耳鸣对情绪的影响（项目1至9）；F2：耳鸣对睡眠的影响（项目10至12）；F3：患者对其耳鸣的认知（项目13至16、19）；F4：耳鸣对听觉处理能力的影响（项目17至18）。总体Cronbach's α为0.934。F1至F4的Cronbach's α值分别为0.912、0.843、0.829和0.838。总量表及F1至F4的组内相关系数（95%置信区间）分别为0.779（0.549至0.886）、0.738（0.496至0.860）、0.826（0.713至0.897）、0.720（0.536至0.836）和0.715（0.532至0.832）。WCTII与中文版耳鸣障碍量表得分之间的相关性为0.849（p<0.001）。
WCTII具有令人满意的信度和效度，表明它可用于评估中国患者耳鸣的严重程度。
