Table 2.
Quality of Hearing Scale (QHS) Items and Subscales
| IC | CI | NH | t | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speech Subscale | 0.92 | 7.1 (1.7) | 8.9 (1.1) | 5.8 |
| 1. Talking Face-to-Face in Quiet Room | 0.60 | 9.4 (0.9) | 10.0 (0.2) | 4.1 |
| 2. Talking Face-to-Face with TV/Radio Noise | 0.78 | 7.6 (2.2) | 8.8 (1.6) | 3.1 |
| 3. Talking Face-to-Face with Background Talk | 0.93 | 6.5 (2.1) | 8.7 (1.3) | 5.7 |
| 4. Talking Face-to-Face in Noisy Room | 0.88 | 5.8 (2.5) | 8.3 (1.6) | 5.6 |
| 5. Multiple Talkers in Quiet Room | 0.79 | 7.5 (2.0) | 9.1 (1.2) | 4.5 |
| 6. Multiple Talkers in Noisy Room | 0.88 | 5.5 (2.3) | 8.2 (1.6) | 6.2 |
| Localization Subscale | 0.96 | 5.9 (2.1) | 9.1 (1.1) | 8.9 |
| 7. Talking in Group | 0.83 | 6.2 (2.3) | 9.3 (1.1) | 7.8 |
| 8. Sound in a Quiet Room | 0.84 | 7.0 (2.4) | 9.7 (0.7) | 7.1 |
| 9. Sound Outside | 0.90 | 6.6 (2.3) | 9.5 (0.9) | 7.7 |
| 10. Sound in a Noisy Room | 0.88 | 6.0 (2.4) | 9.0 (1.5) | 7.2 |
| 11. Distance to Motor Noise | 0.92 | 5.0 (2.4) | 8.4 (1.7) | 7.8 |
| 12. Approach of Motor Noise | 0.88 | 5.0 (2.6) | 8.8 (1.8) | 7.8 |
| Sounds Subscale | 0.90 | 7.2 (1.9) | 9.2 (0.9) | 6.2 |
| 13. Single Talker in Background Conversation | 0.84 | 6.4 (2.2) | 8.6 (1.4) | 5.7 |
| 14. Music in Background Noise | 0.82 | 6.3 (2.3) | 9.1 (1.0) | 7.3 |
| 15. Music in Quiet | 0.73 | 8.5 (2.3) | 9.8 (0.5) | 3.7 |
| 16. Different Motor Noises Outside | 0.79 | 6.9 (2.7) | 9.4 (1.2) | 5.6 |
| 17. Tone/Affect in Voice | 0.62 | 7.7 (2.2) | 9.0 (1.7) | 2.9 |
| Effort Subscale | 0.93 | 4.6 (2.4) | 1.6 (1.5) | 6.7 |
| 18. Talking Face-to-Face in Quiet Room | 0.75 | 2.3 (2.5) | 0.4 (0.8) | 4.7 |
| 19. Talking Face-to-Face with TV/Radio Noise | 0.86 | 4.2 (2.5) | 1.9 (2.3) | 4.4 |
| 20. Talking Face-to-Face with Background Talk | 0.95 | 5.4 (2.8) | 2.0 (1.8) | 6.8 |
| 21. Talking Face-to-Face in Noisy Room | 0.85 | 6.3 (3.0) | 2.3 (1.8) | 7.6 |
| QHS Total Score | 0.82 | 6.4 (1.7) | 8.9 (1.0) | 8.1 |
Note: CI=cochlear implant; NH=normal-hearing; IC=internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha for subscales and corrected item-to-total correlations for items). Values for CI and NH samples are Mean (SD). All t-tests (df=84) were statistically significant at p < .001, except Items 2 and 17 (p < .01). Subscale scores are means of constituent item scores. “QHS Total Score” was obtained by taking the mean of the four subscales, with the Effort subscale reverse-scored.