Validation of the Chinese Translation of the “Meaning of Life” in Patients with Hearing Loss or Tinnitus

Background: There is an increasing need to evaluate the quality of life of hearing-impaired individuals. However, most of the generic “quality of life” questionnaires do not include communication-related questions. Recently, a new “Meaning of Life” questionnaire was developed to measure quality of life based on everyday issues, enabling a comprehensive evaluation of tinnitus patients and cochlear implant users. A Chinese version of this questionnaire for the Mandarin population is needed.
Purpose: We aimed to translate and validate the Meaning of Life (MOL) questionnaire into Chinese to make it applicable as a tool for measuring quality of life in patients with hearing loss or tinnitus.
Research Design: For this study, the original version of the MOL questionnaire was translated into the Chinese language. A prospective cohort study was then performed on adults with hearing loss or tinnitus to preliminarily examine the reliability and validity of the Chinese version.
Study Sample: A total of 206 Mandarin-speaking subjects with hearing loss or tinnitus were included in the study and divided into three groups according to their chief complaints: Group B included patients suffering from both hearing loss and tinnitus (N = 113), group T contained patients with tinnitus alone (N = 49), and group H was composed of patients with hearing loss alone (N = 44). 
Data Collection and Analysis: The Chinese version of the MOL (C-MOL) was administered to the participants. The reliability of the C-MOL was evaluated using Cronbach’s α and item-total correlation (ITC) coefficients. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to examine the relationships among the questions. Correlations between the patient characteristics and total scores were tested.
Results: The Cronbach’s α-coefficient of C-MOL was 0.921. Four factors were identified by exploratory factor analysis: (1) mental state and positive outlook; (2) friendship; (3) physical health; and (4) hearing and negative experience. The total scores of groups B, T, and H were 76.4 (SD = 13.5), 81.3 (SD = 10.6), and 82.4 (SD = 12.5), respectively. The total score was correlated with the affected ears (r = 0.179, p < 0.05), age (r = 0.179, p < 0.05), hearing of the better ear (r = 0.188, p < 0.01), and educational background (r = 0.181, p < 0.01). 
Conclusions: The Chinese version of the MOL questionnaire showed good reliability. It can be used to quantify the quality of life of patients with hearing loss or tinnitus.