Persian Pediatric Hyperacusis Questionnaire: Translation and Psychometric Evaluation in Children with and Without Autism

<b>Background:</b> Hyperacusis is an auditory perception disorder causing decreased sound tolerance to everyday sounds. Children with autism often exhibit symptoms of hyperacusis. This comorbidity can significantly impact the adaptability and social development of the children. <b>Purpose:</b> This study's objectives were to translate and psychometrically evaluate the Persian Pediatric Hyperacusis Questionnaire (P-HQ-P) and the prevalence determination of hyperacusis among children with or without autism. <b>Study Sample:</b> The study was conducted by assigning 60 parents of children diagnosed with level 1 autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 30 parents of typical children to the ASD group and control group, respectively. <b>Data Collection and Analysis:</b> In the first stage, the Pediatric Hyperacusis Questionnaire (P-HQ) was translated into Persian, and in the second stage, its reliability and validity were assessed by the classical test theory methods. The P-HQ-P results were compared with the Persian Sensory Profile 2 (SP2-P). <b>Results:</b> The P-HQ-P demonstrated acceptable validity and reliability, with content validity ratio > 0.99, content validity index > 0.92, face validity > 0.90, cross-cultural validity > 0.94, α = 0.8, and intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.85. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient showed a strong correlation (r = 0.83) between the P-HQ-P score and a group of seven items from SP2-P. There was not a statistically significant difference in hyperacusis between genders. <b>Conclusions:</b> The psychometric properties of the P-HQ-P were found to be acceptable, which made it suitable for clinical and research usage. The prevalence of hyperacusis was reported at 27.8 percent of the total sample and 38.3 percent in the ASD group. Our findings suggest the need for further research on hyperacusis in the Iranian pediatric population.