Measuring personal adjustment to hearing loss using a shortened version of the Communication Profile for the Hearing Impaired

The Communication Profile for the Hearing Impaired (CPHI), a 145-item self-report questionnaire, measures a range of aspects of communication. The CPHI Adjustment Factor that measures personal adjustment to hearing loss was administered to members of one branch of the New Zealand Hearing Association. Subscale scores of the 59 respondents were highest for Problem Awareness, Maladaptive Behaviours and Attitudes of Others, indicating high awareness of communication problems, non-use of maladaptive behaviours in communication, and little experience of negative reactions from others towards communication problems. Scores were lowest for Displacement of Responsibility, Withdrawal and Exaggeration of Responsibility subscales. Subjects had significantly higher Problem Awareness and poorer personal adjustment in three areas (Discouragement, Stress and Withdrawal) than a group of American subjects of similar age (Garsteki and Erler, 1996). A shortened version of the CPHI is proposed comprising four subscales with high internal reliability that were sensitive to differences between subject groups.