Table 4.
Bivariate Correlations among Individual QOL Subitems from the NCIQ and Speech and Environmental Sound Outcome Measures for CI Participants
| Question | Domain | Subdomain | Word Recognition (Percent Correct) | Standard Sentence Recognition (Percent Correct Words) | AzBio Sentence Recognition (Percent Correct Words) | High-Variability Sentence Recognition (Percent Correct Words) | Audiovisual Sentence Recognition (Percent Correct Words) | Environmental Sound Recognition (Percent Correct) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Can you hear background noises (toilet flushing and vacuum cleaner)? | Physical | Basic sound perception | 0.19 | 0.24 | 0.48* | 0.02 | 0.20 | 0.05 |
| 2. Does your hearing impairment present a serious obstacle in your contact with persons with normal hearing? | Social | Social interaction | −0.15 | −0.16 | −0.11 | −0.27 | −0.44** | −0.23 |
| 5. Can you hold a conversation in a quiet environment (with or without lipreading) with one person? | Physical | Advanced sound perception | 0.08 | 0.21 | 0.12 | 0.11 | 0.35* | 0.13 |
| 11. Are you able to hold a conversation with 2 or more persons in a quiet environment (with or without lipreading)? | Physical | Advanced sound perception | 0.25 | 0.38* | 0.40 | 0.34* | 0.17 | 0.28 |
| 15. Are you able to make yourself understood to strangers without using hand gestures? | Physical | Speech production | 0.32 | 0.13 | 0.53* | 0.12 | 0.31 | 0.40* |
| 18. Does your hearing impairment present a serious problem during leisure-time activities? | Social | Activity limitations | 0.02 | −0.23 | −0.10 | −0.26 | −0.35* | −0.14 |
| 21. Are you able to adapt your voice to different situations (noisy environment and quiet environment)? | Physical | Speech production | 0.19 | 0.22 | 0.17 | 0.20 | 0.30 | 0.41* |
| 22. Do you avoid speaking to strangers? | Psychological | Self-esteem | −0.31 | −0.33* | −0.25 | −0.33 | −0.46** | −0.41* |
| 24. Does your hearing impairment present a serious problem for functioning in the home? | Social | Activity limitations | −0.20 | −0.31 | −0.24 | −0.29 | −0.46** | −0.29 |
| 26. Are you left aside in company because of your hearing impairment? | Social | Social interaction | −0.07 | −0.15 | 0.00 | −0.11 | −0.55** | −0.16 |
| 27. Can strangers hear from your voice that you are deaf or hearing-impaired? | Physical | Speech production | −0.22 | −0.36* | −0.51* | −0.42* | −0.43** | −0.29 |
| 33. Can you make yourself understood to acquaintances without using hand gestures? | Physical | Speech production | 0.25 | 0.32 | 0.54* | 0.29 | 0.32* | 0.42* |
| 35. Are you able to recognize certain rhythms in music? | Physical | Advanced sound perception | 0.44** | 0.23 | 0.37 | 0.26 | 0.19 | 0.31 |
| 38. Does your hearing impairment present a serious hindrance in your contact with persons who live in your neighborhood? | Social | Social interaction | −0.25 | −0.34* | −0.19 | −0.28 | −0.58** | −0.20 |
| 39. How often does it annoy you that persons can hear from your voice/speech that you have a hearing problem? | Psychological | Self-esteem | −0.19 | −0.39* | −0.39 | −0.32 | −0.57** | −0.37* |
| 40. Can you understand strangers without lipreading? | Physical | Advanced sound perception | 0.56** | 0.48** | 0.48* | 0.62** | 0.39* | 0.44** |
| 42. Can you hear (not necessarily understand) persons talking on the radio? | Physical | Basic sound perception | 0.02 | −0.05 | 0.44 | −0.01 | −0.04 | 0.32* |
| 44. Can you make contact easily with other persons despite your hearing problem? | Psychological | Self-esteem | 0.48** | 0.48** | 0.66** | 0.35* | 0.42** | 0.41* |
| 45. Can you hear the difference between a man’s voice, a woman’s voice, and a child’s voice? | Physical | Advanced sound perception | 0.50** | 0.54** | 0.70** | 0.48** | 0.61** | 0.50** |
| 49. Are there situations in which you would feel happier if you were not hearing impaired? | Psychological | Self-esteem | −0.18 | −0.21 | 0.08 | −0.21 | −0.42** | −0.26 |
| 50. Do you feel it tiring to listen (with or without lipreading)? | Physical | Advanced sound perception | 0.24 | 0.41* | 0.19 | 0.36* | 0.25 | 0.21 |
| 51. Does your hearing impairment present a serious problem when you go out or go on trips? | Social | Activity limitations | −0.15 | −0.08 | 0.00 | −0.13 | −0.36* | −0.26 |
| 53. When you are in a group, do you feel that your hearing impairment keeps persons from taking you seriously? | Social | Social interaction | −0.05 | −0.12 | 0.11 | −0.12 | −0.38* | −0.29 |
| 56. Are you able to make your voice sound angry, friendly, or sad? | Physical | Speech production | 0.41* | 0.29 | 0.69** | 0.25 | 0.22 | 0.53** |
| 57. Can you control the pitch of your voice (high and low)? | Physical | Speech production | 0.32* | 0.34* | 0.30 | 0.19 | 0.21 | 0.44** |
| 59. Can you make your voice sound “natural” (so that it does not sound like a deaf person’s voice)? | Physical | Speech production | 0.15 | 0.20 | 0.49* | 0.10 | 0.26 | 0.28 |
| 60. Are you able to hold a simple telephone conversation? | Physical | Advanced sound perception | 0.24 | 0.46** | 0.56* | 0.52** | 0.26 | 0.40* |
Notes: Bold values have a significant p value after Holm–Bonferroni correction.
*
p < 0.05;
**
p < 0.01
Negative r values correspond to recoded questions.