Humans ; Eustachian Tube ; Otitis Media with Effusion/therapy* ; Child ; Consensus

Objective:To sinicize the Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ) and to assess its reliability and validity based on the Rasch model and Classical Test Theory (CTT).Methods:The acquisition of the Chinese version of the SSQ relies on the systematic translation of the SSQ using the Brislin model. A total of 416 patients who attended the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Chaoyang Hospital, Beijing, between October 2022 and October 2023 were randomly selected using the Chinese version of the SSQ, of which 400 questionnaires were valid, with 281 subjects with hearing impairment [aged 16-92 (59.4±14.4) years, 164 females and 117 males] and 119 subjects with normal hearing [aged 18-72 (39.9±13.6) years, 82 females and 37 males]. The reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the SSQ were assessed by SPSS 24.0 and Winstep 3.72.3 statistical software.Results:Rasch model analysis showed that the Chinese version of the SSQ consisted of a speech perception dimension (14 items), a spatial hearing dimension (17 items), and an auditory quality dimension (18 items), each with unidimensional properties, and the data measured by the scale could be adapted for Rasch model analysis. The Chinese version of the SSQ had reliability indices over 0.8 and separation indices over 2.0 for all three dimensions. The distribution of the difficulty of the questions in the three dimensions was relatively concentrated (the three dimensions of means was: Logit 0.00), and the participants competence was relatively broad (the respective means was: Logit 0.67, Logit-1.71, Logit 0.83). Among them, the item-total correlation coefficients (ITCC) of item 28 and 30 were below 0.7, while ITCC values for the rest were all greater than 0.7. The discriminative validity was good (t=9.604-12.268, P<0.01). Exploratory factor analysis showed that the contribution rate of the three principal components was 78.49%, and the loadings of the items on the corresponding common factors were all greater than 0.4. The three rotated common factors were basically consistent with those of the original SSQ in the three dimensions. The Chinese version of the SSQ had a high predictive value for hearing loss (AUC of 0.789, P<0.001), with a sensitivity of 61.3% and specificity of 80.1% for predicting hearing loss in case of its mean score <8.5. Conclusion:The Chinese version of the SSQ has favorable reliability and validity, which can serve as a self-assessment tool of hearing ability for people with hearing loss in China in clinical application.

Objective:To assess the sound localization ability of patients with unilateral sudden hearing loss during the early period of treatment, to explore its changing characteristics and to analyze influencing factors.Methods:A total of 22 patients with unilateral sudden sensorineural hearing loss, with onset within 3 days, who were hospitalized at Shandong Provincial ENT Hospital between January and April 2024, were collected in this study. The cohort included 13 males and 9 females, with a mean age of 36.5 years. Among them, 10 suffered in the right ear and 12 in the left ear. Additionally, 15 healthy individuals (8 males and 7 females, mean age 29.2 years) were selected as controls. Pure tone audiometry and sound localization tests were reviewed on the first day, third day, fifth day of admission; the third week after onset, and the pure tone average and the root-mean-square error(RMSE) were used as indicators, respectively. The improvement of the ability of sound localization and pure tone average were assessed by correlation analyses using SPSS, version 27.0, and multiple regression analysis was employed to explore effects that might influence sound localization ability.Results:The pure tone threshold and sound localization ability on the third week of onset were improved compared with those on the initial three instances(the first, third, and fifth days of admission). 9 of the 22 patients (40.91%, 9/22) presented normal sound localization ability whereas their hearing loss had not recurred yet. The Spearman correlation analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between the improvement of sound localization ability and hearing improvement ( r=0.57, P<0.001). Meanwhile, multiple regression analysis showed that hearing threshold was a significant factor for sound localization when there was audible frequency. Vice versa, at this circumstance, ages and vertigo were significant factors. Conclusions:For most of the patients with unilateral sudden hearing loss, ability of sound localization improves with the decrease of hearing threshold. Notably, some patients can restore normal levels of sound localization for white noise, even in the presence of hearing loss at certain frequencies, by relying on binaural acoustic cues provided by residual hearing.