Criterion Validity of Infant-Toddler Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale for Persian Children with Cochlear Implantation

Shiva Panahiaboozar; Saeid Hassanzadeh; Masoud Gholamali Lavasani; Alireza Aghaz

doi:10.18502/jmr.v18i2.15978

Shiva Panahiaboozar Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
Saeid Hassanzadeh Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
Masoud Gholamali Lavasani Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
Alireza Aghaz Department of Speech Therapy, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/jmr.v18i2.15978

Keywords: Hearing loss; Validity; Reliability; Auditory; Speech; Cochlear implant; Infant

Abstract

Introduction: The infant-toddler meaningful auditory integration scale (IT-MAIS) can evaluate toddlers and infants’ early auditory development in aspects of detection, discrimination, and identification of sounds. The present study aims to evaluate the reliability and criterion validity of the Persian version of the IT-MAIS (IT-MAIS-P) for children with hearing loss (HL).

Materials and Methods: In this study, due to the limitations of COVID-19 and the lack of access to samples, 23 available children with HL were sampled. The cause of participants› HL was 43.5% congenital, 30.4% acquired, and 26.1% unknown. The Mean±SD of the age of these children was 21.6±6.3 months. To evaluate the predictive validity and concurrent validity, the speech intelligibility rating (SIR) and categories of auditory performance (CAP) were used, respectively. Also, to assess the inter-rater reliability, both parents of each child completed the IT-MAIS-P.

Results: A significant correlation (concurrent validity) was observed between the IT-MAIS-P and the CAP scores (r=0.87, P<0.001). Predictive validity was not confirmed by comparing it with the SIR (P>0.05). Also, the inter-rater reliability (kappa=0.44, P<0.001) of the IT-MAIS-P was confirmed.

Conclusion: The IT-MAIS-P is a valid tool to investigate the progress of auditory skills in infants, although the predictive validity was not confirmed.