Adjustment to hearing impairment I: description of a heterogeneous clinical population.

To obtain data on adjustment to hearing impairment and its potential predictors, a consortium of five audiology clinics was established. Clinical records generated over 19-27 months were reviewed, and a database (N = 1,008) was compiled that contained standard audiometric test results, demographic and case history information, and responses to the Communication Profile for the Hearing Impaired (CPHI; Demorest & Erdman, 1986, 1987). Clinic populations differed on audiometric measures, gender, race/ethnicity, educational level, employment, marital, and hearing aid status, and on CPHI profiles, but not on age. Internal consistency of CPHI scales was higher than reported by Demorest and Erdman (1987), and standard errors of measurement were smaller for Communication Performance scales. The consortium database is sufficiently heterogeneous to provide normative data applicable to a wide range of local clinical populations and to support investigation of the correlates of adjustment to hearing impairment (see Erdman & Demorest, 1998).