Quebec French Translation, Cultural Adaptation, and Validation of the Singing Voice Handicap Index-10 Questionnaire for Singers with Dysphonia

Objectives/HypothesisDysphonia is a common voice disorder that can significantly impact a person's life; it requires a collaborative evaluation by both speech-language pathologists and otolaryngologists that takes the patient's perspective into account. The aim of this study was to translate and culturally adapt the Singing Voice Handicap Index questionnaire (SVHI-10), a reliable patient-reported outcome evaluation tool for dysphonia, for the Quebec French population. The result is the Singing Voice Handicap Index-10-QC (SVHI-10-QC).Study designThis study was a prospective translation and validation process.MethodsThe translation process complied with international recommendations and followed a standard forward-backward translation procedure and cognitive debriefing with 10 singers. The Quebec French version was administered to two study samples: 30 vocal professionals with no dysphonia and 53 vocal professionals with dysphonia as one of their primary complaints. The SVHI-10-QC was assessed for construct validity, internal consistency, discriminatory capacity, and test-retest reliability.ResultsThe SVHI-10-QC is valid, reliable, and ready for use with singer-patients suffering from dysphonia.ConclusionsThe SVHI-10-QC is a reliable and valid tool for assessing the impact of dysphonia on French Quebec singers' quality of life.