Abstract
The Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB) questionnaire was developed as a 24-item self-report outcome measure to evaluate the effectiveness of hearing aid fittings and to provide a standardized method for quantifying the disability associated with a patient’s hearing impairment. The lack of standardized self-assessment questionnaires in the regional language in Mizoram, India has caused a lot of issues in measuring the benefit of amplification devices, monitoring of progress, lifestyle requirements especially amongst the Mizo population. The study is aimed to translate, adapt and validate of Abbreviated profile for the hearing aid benefit [APHAB] into Mizo language. Forward and backward translations of the questionnaire were made, and it was validated. Descriptive cross-sectional study was adopted. Fifty-six native post lingual deaf with Mizo language speakers aged >/=18 years, and minimum of a month of hearing aid usage experience, but with any degree of hearing loss were the respondents for the questionnaire. The APHAB v2.1 programme was used for data analysis. The sensitivity and reliability of the translated version of APHAB was carried out. The outcome of the responses APHAB-Mizo on different subscales was evaluated across its audiological factors such as hearing loss and hearing aid experience, usage, and style. The results suggested that APHAB-Mizo is a valid and reliable tool to evaluate the benefits of hearing aids of native Mizo language individuals.
Keywords: APHAB, Mizo, Psychometric Measures, Reliability, Validity