Hyperacusis Questionnaire as a Tool for Measuring Hypersensitivity to Sound in a Tinnitus Research Population

Figure 1

Theoretical 3-factor structure of the Hyperacusis Questionnaire (HQ). The model represents the proposed relationships between the items (observed variables), the first-order factors consistent with attentional, social, and emotional subscales, and the second-order factor consistent with the global measure of “hypersensitivity to sound” (variance fixed at 1). Variance fixed at 1 for second-order factor and items 2, 5, and 11. The unidirectional black arrows represent the direct effects of the second-order factor onto the three first-order factors and the direct effects of the first-order factors onto the observed variables. The fourteen observed variables are represented as HQ1 to HQ14, with all items only associated with their designated factor. The unidirectional grey arrows represent the error variance associated with each variable, each freely estimated on their designated factor with zero loadings on the other factors with error variance assumed to be uncorrelated and random (constrained to zero). = residual variance (error and uniqueness terms).