Adaptation of Functioning After Pediatric Cochlear Implantation (FAPCI) into Hindi Language

FAPCI is a parent/caregiver reporting questionnaire, which evaluates the communication performance of pre-school children with cochlear implants in the age range of 2-5 years, using behavioral examples of children's daily activities. Tools for the objective and effective measurement of communication for cochlear implanted Indian children in Hindi language are lacking. The primary aim of the study was to adapt American English version of FAPCI into the Hindi language. With a secondary aim to find out the communication functioning of Cochlear implanted children by administering FAPCI (HN) and comparing the findings with children with normal hearing. The FAPCI was translated to Hindi using the forward-backward procedure. The FAPCI (HN) was then administered to the parents of children with NH (n = 35) and CI (n = 44), 2-9 years of age. Internal consistency was checked using Cronbach's alpha. Other statistical analysis included Bartlett's test of sphericity, factor loading, Wilcoxon test and t test. During adaptation few items were modified and one item was removed which contained "inversion question" not used in Hindi language. The Hindi version of FAPCI showed excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha > 0.90). The split-half coefficient for the first half of the data was equal to 0.96 and for the second half was equal to 0.95. The CI group had significantly lower FAPCI scores (61.14 ± 21.49) than the NH group (101.43 ± 9.24) (p < 0.05, Wilcoxon test). FAPCI-Hindi can be used to measure the communicative functioning of cochlear implanted children in Indian population and results may be used as a guideline to revise the speech and language therapy plans to maximize the cochlear implant benefits.