Voice Handicap Index-Throat: Translation and Cross-Cultural Adaptation to the Arabic Language

Objectives: This study aims to validate and assess the reliability of the Arabic version of the Voice Handicap Index-Throat (VHI-T_A), as a self-reported questionnaire for patients with throat difficulties.

Study design: A prospective, observational, cross-sectional, and descriptive study was performed in the ear, nose, and throat department of Kafr El-Sheikh University hospitals from October 2023 to July 2024.

Methods: The preliminary VHI-T_A was obtained through forward and backward translation. All participants were asked to fill out the Arabic version of VHI-T twice, 2 weeks apart, to test reliability. We tested the Arabic version for internal consistency, reliability, validity, sensitivity, and specificity to produce an Arabic-validated patient questionnaire. The questionnaire's internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated for each of the 10 items and for the total score to assess the reliability.

Results: Cronbach's alpha coefficient ranged from 0.961 to 0.986 for the 10 items (acceptable to excellent internal consistency) and 0.997 for total score (excellent internal consistency). The corrected item-total correlation values varied between 0.951 and 0.978. There was a significant difference between all domains and the total score of the VHI-T_A tool (significantly higher among case group).

Conclusion: Our results showed that the VHI-T_A is a trustworthy and valid questionnaire for estimating self-perceived throat issues. In clinical practice, the VHI-T_A is anticipated to identify a group of throat discomforts that are prevalent in our patients and that are only tangentially addressed by other instruments.