Analysis of data from the International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids (IOI-HA) using Bayesian Item Response Theory.OBJECTIVE

Bayesian Item Response Theory
Analysis of data from the International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids (IOI-HA) using Bayesian Item Response Theory.OBJECTIVE
 IOI-HA response data are conventionally analysed assuming that the ordinal responses have interval-scale properties.  A Bayesian IRT analysis model was implemented and applied to several IOI-HA data sets.


 Anonymised IOI-HA responses from 13273 adult users of one or two hearing aids in 11 data sets using the Australian English, Dutch, German and Swedish versions of the IOI-HA.


 The raw ordinal responses to IOI-HA items do not represent values on interval scales.  It is questionable to apply conventional statistical measures like mean, variance, t-tests, etc., on the raw IOI-HA ratings.  It is recommended to apply only nonparametric statistical test methods for comparisons of IOI-HA results between groups. 
IOI-HA