Current Studies

Measurement of Listening Fatigue in School-Age Children with Disabilities 

We are currently in Phase 4 of our project! We are putting together a scoring manual to be able to distribute the questionnaire. Once complete, the questionnaire will be placed on the Internet and distributed free of charge to teachers and clinicians.

The purpose of this study is to create a questionnaire to measure listening fatigue in children with hearing loss (CHL) and other communication-based disabilities (CHLCD). Recent research suggests that CHL and children with specific language impairment (CSLI) are at increased risk for fatigue. Increased listening effort and fatigue can negatively affect the ability to learn in school. Development of a valid, sensitive questionnaire of listening fatigue is critical for improving our understanding of the nature of fatigue and will help to develop effective intervention strategies for school-age children with communication disorders.

The sample will consist of three groups of children—CHL, CSLI, and children with normal hearing (CNH). Parents of these groups will also be represented. In Phase 1, we will employ focus groups and cognitive interviews to gather data on fatigue from CHL and CSLI. Using the focus group and cognitive interview data, we will generate questionnaire items and create a scale that measures children’s experiences of fatigue related to hearing loss and language disorders. In Phase 2, we will pretest the fatigue scale in CHL, CSLI and CNH. After analysis, the questionnaire will be revised. In Phase 3, we will field test the fatigue scale and analyses will again be conducted. The completed scale will be placed on the Internet and distributed free of charge to teachers and clinicians.

 To learn more about our findings,

visit our Publications and Presentations page. 

Email hilary.davis@vumc.org with any questions.