The Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly screening version adapted for use with elderly Chinese American individuals.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly (HHIE) screening version translated into Chinese can be used as a valid screening instrument for the identification of hearing impairment in Chinese-speaking elderly persons. One hundred elderly Chinese Americans were screened, and the majority of the subjects did not report hearing handicap. A comparison among different screening protocols (ASHA, 40 dB HL at 1000 and 2000 Hz; HHIE-S > 10 and HHIE-S > 10 and 40 dB HL at 1 and 2 kHz) suggested that the combined HHIE-S and 40 dB HL cutoff at 1000 and 2000 Hz achieved the best referral rates. Some hypotheses explaining the results are discussed relative to cultural and linguistic differences between elderly Chinese Americans and their white English-speaking counterparts.