Monthly Archives: March 2009
Become a Speech-Language Pathologist in Ohio
Begin Making Up to $80,000 Per Year with Great Benefits!! Starting a path towards a career in speech-language pathology is determined on various factors.
from Topix.net
Global Assessment of Outcomes After Varying Reinnervation Techniques for Patients With Facial Paralysis Subsequent to Acoustic Neuroma Excision
Conclusion: Complete sacrifice of the ipsilateral hypoglossal nerve does present with clinically and statistically significant morbidity in patients. Facial function is statistically similar in patients who underwent an end-to-side anastomosis with or without an interposition graft. These findings suggest thatin the setting of the posttranslabryinthine approach, the technicallyeasier interposition graft procedure is not a compromise.
Otosclerosis: The Effect of Stapes Surgery on the Bone Conduction Audiogram
Conclusion: The results suggest that these changes are due to the relation of the preoperative and postoperative oval window transfer functions. The gain in the 3 postoperative audiometric thresholds can be approximated by looking at the characteristics of the preoperative bone conduction audiogram.
Quality of Life in Children Fitted With a Bone-Anchored Hearing Aid
Conclusion: The use of a BAHA significantly enhanced general well-being, improved patient state of health (quality of life), and finally, was considered a success by patients and their families. This study demonstrates a significant benefit from BAHA as measured by the Glasgow Children’s Benefit Inventory.
Recurrence Rate of Idiopathic Sudden Low-Tone Sensorineural Hearing Loss Without Vertigo: A Long-Term Follow-Up Study
Conclusion: Our results indicate that idiopathic sudden low-tone sensorineural hearing loss without vertigo has a high recurrence rate when vestibular alteration and endolymphatic hydrops are detected on initial examination. A combination of nystagmus detection and ECochG test well characterizes the pathophysiology of sudden low-tone sensorineural hearing loss without vertigo.
Spiral Ganglion Cell Loss Is Unrelated to Segmental Cochlear Sensory System Degeneration in Humans
Conclusion: A long-term loss of hearing in frequencies greater than 2 kHz, and corresponding hair cell loss, does not result in a subsequent loss of spiral ganglion cells in humans, in contrast to what has been reported in association with animals. These findings suggest that the poor performance of cochlear implant in patients after prolonged deafness is not caused by ongoing degeneration of ganglion cells.
Subjective and Objective Results After Bilateral Cochlear Implantation in Adults
Conclusion: Speech understanding in noise is improved with bilateral cochlear implantation with unambiguous evidence that the second implant expands the sound field for effective speech recognition. Communication in daily life is facilitated, as determined by the subjective Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale test. The correlation of the subjective and objective results confirms the practical benefits in daily activities. Although there was improvement with a second Cochlear implant even after a long implantation interval, short intervals lead to better results.
Sudden Hearing Loss as the Presenting Symptom of Systemic Sclerosis
Conclusion: This case illustrates the importance of follow-up and appropriate of SSNHL patients with other systemic symptoms.
Auditory neuropathy: unexpectedly common in a screened newborn population
Auditory neuropathy, or dyssynchrony, is defined by an abnormal or absent auditory brainstem response but intact otoacoustic emissions or cochlear microphonics. It is associated with impaired hearing on behavioural pure-tone audiometry, absent acoustic reflexes, and poor speech perception, particularly in noisy environments. These results suggest a disorder of inner hair-cell and or eighth-nerve function. We describe a case-note survey of patients with and without auditory neuropathy, using data from the local newborn hearing screening programme collected prospectively from 2002 to 2007. During this period, 45 050 infants were screened with otoacoustic emissions, 30 patients were diagnosed with suspected severe to profound hearing loss (16 males, 14 females), and 12 of those 30 had auditory neuropathy (six males, six females). Mean gestational age was 33 weeks 1 day in the auditory neuropathy group and 35 weeks in the non-auditory neuropathy group. The most significant risk factors for auditory neuropathy were hyperbilirubinaemia (p=0.018), sepsis (p=0.024), and gentamicin exposure (p=0.024). Children with auditory neuropathy comprise a subgroup of patients with hearing impairment, involving different pathologies most commonly associated with the risk factors related to admission to neonatal intensive care units. Improvement is possible with maturity, at least in a minority.
Voice handicap index in Swedish
The objective of this study was to evaluate a Swedish version of the voice handicap index questionnaire (Sw-VHI). A total of 57 adult, dysphonic patients and 15 healthy controls completed the Sw-VHI and rated the degree of vocal fatigue and hoarseness on visual analogue scales. A perceptual voice evaluation was also performed. Test-retest reliability was analyzed in 38 subjects without voice complaints. Sw-VHI distinguished between dysphonic subjects and controls (P0.84) and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient>0.75) were good. Only moderate or weak correlations were found between Sw-VHI and the subjective and perceptual voice ratings. The data indicate that a difference above 13 points for the total Sw-VHI score and above 6 points for the Sw-VHI subscales is significant for an individual when comparing two different occasions. In conclusion, the Sw-VHI appears to be a robust instrument for assessment of the psycho-social impact of a voice disorder. However, Sw-VHI seems to, at least partly, capture different aspects of voice function to the subjective voice ratings and the perceptual voice evaluation.
Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Early Intervention Professional Development in Multiple Disabilities Through Distance Education
This article describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of an online professional development course designed to develop an understanding of the foundations, perspectives, and strategies used by key disciplines (eg, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech-language pathology, early childhood special education, visual impairment, and hearing loss) that provide services for infants with multiple disabilities and for their families. A total of 110 early interventionists in California completed the online course successfully. An overview of the course content, structure, assignments, and online instruction is provided. A discussion of outcomes includes feedback from participants on (1) their perception of changes in their own professional competencies based on pre- and posttest data, (2) their satisfaction with the overall course design, (3) challenges and benefits of online instruction, and (4) the impact of what they learned on their professional practice. Implications for future professional development efforts are identified.
Automatic Evaluation of Tracheoesophageal Substitute Voice: Sustained Vowel versus Standard Text
Objective: The Hoarseness Diagram, a program for voice quality analysis used in German-speaking countries, was compared with an automatic speech recognition system with a module for prosodic analysis. The latter computed prosodic features on the basis of a text recording. We examined whether voice analysis of sustained vowels and text analysis correlate in tracheoesophageal speakers. Patients and Methods: Test speakers were 24 male laryngectomees with tracheoesophageal substitute speech, age 60.6 ± 8.9 years. Each person read the German version of the text ‘The North Wind and the Sun’. Additionally, five sustained vowels were recorded from each patient. The fundamental frequency (F0) detected by both programs was compared for all vowels. The correlation between the measures obtained by the Hoarseness Diagram and the features from the prosody module was computed. Results: Both programs have problems in determining the F0 of highly pathologic voices. Parameters like jitter, shimmer, F0, and irregularity as computed by the Hoarseness Diagram from vowels show correlations of about -0.8 with prosodic features obtained from the text recordings. Conclusion: Voice properties can reliably be evaluated both on the basis of vowel and text recordings. Text analysis, however, also offers possibilities for the automatic evaluation of running speech since it realistically represents everyday speech.
The Response to Intervention Instructional Model: Some Outcomes From a Large-Scale Implementation in Reading First Schools
ABSTRACT— The Reading First program in Florida has attempted to implement the response to intervention instructional model in a large number of schools. This has involved (a) increasing the quality of classroom instruction, (b) monitoring student response to instruction with frequently administered progress monitoring measures, and (c) providing tailored interventions to students who are not making adequate progress. Over 3 years of implementation in 318 schools, rates of identification of students with learning disabilities (LDs) have dropped dramatically. Percentages of students who actually have serious reading difficulties have also dropped during this period, although not as dramatically as for rates of LD identification. It is possible that LD identification rates in Grades K–3 are lower because teachers and schools are exploring other intervention options before referring for special education. Implications of this possibility for timeliness of LD diagnosis are discussed.
Modality specific functional interaction in sensorimotor synchronization
Movement execution strongly relies on precise sensorimotor synchronization. In a finger-tapping task that requires subjects to synchronize their finger taps to regular pacing signal synchronization accuracy varies with respect to pacing signal’s modality. This study aimed at elucidating functional brain dynamics associated with modality specific behavioral synchronization accuracy. To this end, 10 right-handed subjects performed a finger-tapping task with respect to regular auditory and visual pacing, respectively, whereas neuromagnetic activity was recorded using a 122-channel whole-head neuromagnetometer. Visual pacing was associated with significantly reduced tap-to-pacer asynchrony and increased intertap variability as compared to auditory pacing. The brain dynamics associated with task execution were analyzed using the frequency domain beamformer approach dynamic imaging of coherent sources (DICS). Both tasks were shown to be associated with comparable networks. However, during visual pacing involvement of the ventral premotor cortex (PMv) was shown, whereas during auditory pacing the dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) was concerned with task execution. Synchronization with respect to visual pacing was associated with significantly increased functional interaction between thalamus and PMv at beta frequency as compared to functional interplay between thalamus and PMd during auditory pacing. Auditory synchronization was associated with increased functional interaction between left superior temporal gyrus and PMd at alpha frequency. Furthermore, functional interaction between thalamus and premotor cortex at beta frequency was significantly correlated with synchronization accuracy. All in all the present data suggest that modality specific synchronization differences are associated with frequency and connectivity specific changes of functional interaction in distinct brain networks. Hum Brain Mapp, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
from Human Brain Mapping
Cortical mapping of naming errors in aphasia
Persons with aphasia vary greatly with regard to clinical profile; yet, they all share one common feature – anomia – an impairment in naming common objects. Previous research has demonstrated that particular naming errors are associated with specific left hemisphere lesions. However, we know very little about the cortical activity in the preserved brain areas that is associated with aphasic speech errors. Utilizing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we show for the first time that specific speech errors are associated with common cortical activity in different types and severities of aphasia. Specifically, productions of phonemic errors recruited the left posterior perilesional occipital and temporal lobe areas. A similar pattern of activity was associated with semantic errors, albeit in the right hemisphere. This study does not discount variability in cortical activity following left hemisphere stroke; rather, it highlights commonalities in brain modulation in a population of patients with a common diagnosis but vastly different clinical profiles. Hum Brain Mapp 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
from Human Brain Mapping
