Question
Do we need to worry about copyright infringement if we post the APHAB or Hearing Handicap Inventory on our website? We would like to be able to have patients fill this out prior to their scheduled appointment. If so, how do we obtain permission to do this?
Answer
APHAB:
You do not need permission to post the APHAB on your website for use by your patients as long as you follow certain procedures. The APHAB is under copyright which means that no one but the authors can legally copy, distribute or adapt the questionnaire without permission. We make the questionnaire freely available on the website of the Hearing Aid Research Laboratory (www.memphis.edu/ausp/harl/). This means that we have given you permission to download it and use it. However, you cannot change it, sell it, or claim to have created it. I suggest that you download the "form A- new format" version to post to your website because it has a few additional instructions that would help patients complete the questionnaire correctly before their appointment.
Dr. Robyn Cox is the founder and Director of the Hearing Aid Research Laboratory at the University of Memphis (www.memphis.edu/ausp/harl/). With colleagues, she has created several questionnaires and other applications that are intended for use in the process of hearing aid provision for adults as well as in research endeavors.
HHIE/HHIA:
As far as the HHIE/HHIA, I do not believe there is any copyright infringement for use of the HHIE/HHIA. I have seen it on many websites and in many publications. The only thing that I would request is that the article/s from which the HHIE or HHIA questions are taken would be referenced (below). I think that would be sufficient.
Reference for HHIE:
Ventry, I. & Weinstein, B. (1982). The Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly: A new tool. Ear and Hearing, 3, 128-134.
Reference for HHIA:
Newman, C. W., Weinstein, B. E., Jacobson, G. P., & Hug, G. A. (1990). The Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults: psychometric adequacy and audiometric correlates. Ear and Hearing, 11, 430-433.
Craig Newman, Ph.D. is Section Head of Audiology and Professor in the Department of Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic. He has presented and published in the areas of hearing, dizziness, and tinnitus outcome measurement amplification, balance function assessment, and evoked potentials. He currently serves as Associate Editor (Rehabilitation) for the JAAA and was awarded the Jerger Career Award for Research in Audiology in 2004. He previously served on the Board of Directors for AAA.
