The speech, spatial, and qualities of hearing scale for children- validity of children’s responses to a Persian translation

Spatial hearing plays an important role in listening in complex hearing situations, including contributing to localization, lateralization, spatial release from masking, distance estimation from a sound source, and perceiving a signal in noise. Questionnaires are useful tools for assessing spatial processing disorder in adults. Given the high prevalence of this disorder in children and that the extent of children’s ability in completing questionnaires is not clear, this study aimed to evaluate the response validity of children to the Persian translation of the child version of the Speech, Spatial and Quality of Hearing Scale (PSSQ-Ch).

The child version of the SSQ was translated into Persian and cross-culturally adapted. The final version was administered to 150 children (6 to 12 years of age) with normal hearing. The children’s response validity was evaluated qualitatively and the percentage of valid responses calculated for each of 7 age groups.

Across the three sections, the percentage of valid responses for children under age 10 was minimum 44.4% and maximum 83.3%, and the mode was around 60%. There was no child in the under-10 age group who answered all questions validly. The response validity of children aged 10 or more was higher with a minimum of 93.3%, a maximum of 100% and mode of 100%.

Children ≥ 10 years can reliably respond to the PSSQ-Ch. The response validity of children below 10 years is low; therefore, this questionnaire cannot be used as a self-assessment questionnaire in children below age 10.