Hyperacusis in children questionnaire V1

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Development and validation of a questionnaire to assess hyperacusis in young children

  • IRAS ID

    303496

  • Contact name

    Derek Hoare

  • Contact email

    derek.hoare@nottingham.ac.uk

  • Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

    000, NA

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    2 years, 0 months, 1 days

  • Research summary

    Hyperacusis is a condition involving an over-sensitivity to every day innocuous sounds which severely affects the individual's quality of life. In clinics, hyperacusis commonly presents in children of 3 to 4 years old however currently there are no standardised measures for assessing and diagnosing hyperacusis which are tailored for use with young children. Although questionnaires for assessing hyperacusis in adults exist these are no developmentally sensitive to the experiences of young children.
    This research aims to address this issue by aiming to develop and validate a questionnaire measure of hyperacusis specifically for children between 2 and 7 years old. This will be achieved in the following three phases:
    Phase 1: Item elicitation via semi-structured interviews with parents/ guardians and clinicians.
    Phase 2: Questionnaire development study via a) a focus group with clinicians, in order to discuss the validity and wording of potential questionnaire items and b) cognitive interviews with parents/ guardians to further refine the content and wording of the items.
    Phase 3: Questionnaire validation study
    The study will involve multiple NHS sites to recruit participants. Eligible candidates include clinicians managing children with hyperacusis and parents/ guardians of children with hyperacusis aged between 2 and 7 years. Such a questionnaire will support decisions about treatment options and confirm if treatment is having the desired effect. Wide-spread use of the tool will encourage consistency in assessment practices across services. Additionally, the clinical data generated will be used to inform the funding of hyperacusis services for children. This project is part of a PhD study funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre programme.

  • REC name

    South Central - Hampshire A Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    21/SC/0419

  • Date of REC Opinion

    14 Feb 2022

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion