OBJECTIVETo investigate the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of Nijmegen Cochlear Implant Questionnaire (NCIQ).

METHODSThere were six subdomains: basic sound perception, advanced sound perception, speech production, self-esteem, activities and social Interactions. The cross-cultural adaptation measures were used to translate the NCIQ into its Chinese version. Ninety-four cochlear implant users no younger than 18 years old were included. Test-retest analysis was administered randomly to 30 users without significant changes in health and social status during a two weeks' interval between test and retest.

RESULTS(1) Reliability: test-retest reliability of the NCIQ was proved to be satisfactory. All domains had coefficients that exceeded 0.70 (P < 0.01). Except for the subdomain, speech production, whose Cronbach's α score was 0.560, other Cronbach's α scores were greater than 0.700. (2) VALIDITY: The correlation coefficients between overall NCIQ scores and the six subdomains were 0.620 - 0.810 (P < 0.01). There were weak or no correlations among the six subdomains. The evaluation of content validity by expert review showed the questionnaire had good content validity. NCIQ total scores in postlingually deafened users were significantly higher than those in prelingually deafened users (Z = 4.350, P = 0.000). This was also true for scores of the following subdomains:advanced sound perception (Z = 4.774, P = 0.000), speech production (Z = 4.416, P = 0.000), self-esteem (Z = 3.718, P = 0.000), activities (Z = 3.228, P = 0.001) and social interactions (Z = 3.001, P = 0.003). There was no significant difference between scores obtained from the two groups in the subdomain of basic sound perception (Z = 1.943, P = 0.052).

CONCLUSIONSThe Chinese version of the NCIQ meets many psychometric criteria of a robust instrument. It possesses appropriate validity and good reliability, and can be used to measure the outcome of cochlear implant adults in China.