Introduction: The study aims to determine the correlation of the Hearing Handicap Inventory for Elderly Screening
(HHIE-S) questionnaire with the pure tone audiometry (PTA) in the Malaysian older adult population. Methods: This
cross-sectional study took a random sample of adults ≥60 years in a tertiary hospital. A total of 202 participants
completed both the HHIE-S questionnaire and the PTA test. The total HHIE-S score and the PTA result were explored
for the correlation using a Kruskal–Wallis and the validity using the receiver operating characteristic curve. Results:
A Kruskal–Wallis analysis indicated a significant correlation for the level of hearing impairment (r =.704, p < 0.001)
between the HHIE-S score and the PTA result. Comparison between HHIE-S score of 8 and the PTA >25db results
gave sensitivity: 87.9%, specificity: 78.4%, positive predictive value: 80.3%, and negative predictive value: 86.6%.
Conclusion: This study suggests that the HHIE-S questionnaire is a good and valid screening instrument for hearing
impairment detection in the Malaysian older adult population.