Construction and pre-validation of an oral communication scale for hearing impaired adult: ECOMAS

Abstract

There is no clinical tool available for the speech therapists which evaluate accurately the communication skills and difficulties of the deaf adult. The aim of this study was to elaborate then pre-validate the oral communication scale for Adults with deafness: the ECOMAS. Eight domains are included, each scored from 0 to 4. This scale finally generate a radar which summarize skills and communication difficulties of the deaf adult in situations like face-to-face, in groups, in noisy environment, with the media, as well as his level of autonomy of communication. The signing of this scale is done in hetero-evaluation, during an interview semi-directed by the speech therapist. Thus, this will highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the communication of the patient and the evolution of his communication profile. The validation was conducted with 134 sessions divided into three groups: 39 before implantation, 53 after less than one year and 42 after more than one year. The validation’s work demonstrated a good internal coherence and external validity of the scale. The intra-rater reliability was only confirmed between speech therapists of the referral centre. Finally, ECOMAS is sensitive to the change. More detailed instructions for use and a one-day training session could improve the reproducibility between all the speech therapists. A next study is also going to evaluate the sensitivity in the changes with a bigger sample of patients and over a longer period.