Monthly Archives: August 2010
Language development in children after receiving bilateral cochlear implants between 5 and 18 months
Conclusions
The present study showed that prelingually deaf children’s ability to develop complex expressive and receptive spoken language after early bilateral implantation appears promising.
The majority of the children developed language skills at a faster pace than their hearing ages would suggest and over time achieved expressive and receptive language skills within the normative range.
from the International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology
Bone-anchored hearing aids in patients with acquired and congenital unilateral inner ear deafness (Baha CROS): clinical evaluation of 56 cases.
CONCLUSIONS: Poor sound localization in this larger series of patients confirms the findings of previous studies. Improvements in the speech-in-noise scores corroborated the efficacy of the Baha CROS in alleviating the head shadow effect. The 4 different patient questionnaires revealed subjective benefit and satisfaction in various domains.
Myiasis of the external and middle ear.
Aural myiasis is a rare otolaryngological disease typically seen in poor hygienic conditions and medically disabled patients. We present a case of aural myiasis in a healthy woman who had no apparent risk factors for infestation and required extensive surgical intervention. We also discuss the literature of documented otolaryngological cases of myiasis and effective therapies. In our patient, symptoms of otalgia, otorrhea, and tinnitus resolved after multiple attempts at extraction resulted in successful eradication of larvae. The patient required tympanoplasty to reconstruct the damaged external and middle ear. Physicians should have a clinical suspicion of aural myiasis in patients with a travel history and an atypical presentation of acute otalgia and otorrhea.
Vocal function exercises for presbylaryngis: a multidimensional assessment of treatment outcomes.
CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary data suggest that vocal function exercises produce significant functional and perceptual improvements in voice, and deserve further attention as a treatment for elderly patients with presbylaryngis.
Epidural cortical stimulation as adjunctive treatment for non-fluent aphasia: preliminary findings
Conclusions Behavioural speech–language therapy improves non-fluent aphasia, independent of cortical stimulation. However, epidural stimulation of the ipsilesional premotor cortex may augment this effect, with the largest effects after completion of therapy. The neural mechanisms underlying these effects are manifested in the brain by decreases in the volume of activity globally and in particular regions. Although the number of participants enrolled in this trial precludes definitive conclusions, targeted epidural cortical stimulation appears safe and may be a feasible adjunctive treatment for non-fluent aphasia, particularly when the aphasia is more severe.
from the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry with Practical Neurology
Language evolution in the laboratory
The historical origins of natural language cannot be observed directly. We can, however, study systems that support language and we can also develop models that explore the plausibility of different hypotheses about how language emerged. More recently, evolutionary linguists have begun to conduct language evolution experiments in the laboratory, where the emergence of new languages used by human participants can be observed directly. This enables researchers to study both the cognitive capacities necessary for language and the ways in which languages themselves emerge. One theme that runs through this work is how individual-level behaviours result in population-level linguistic phenomena. A central challenge for the future will be to explore how different forms of information transmission affect this process.
Cortical speech processing unplugged: a timely subcortico-cortical framework
Speech is inherently tied to time. This fundamental quality has long been deemed secondary, and has consequently not received appropriate recognition in speech processing models. We develop an integrative speech processing framework by synthesizing evolutionary, anatomical and neurofunctional concepts of auditory, temporal and speech processing. These processes converge in a network that extends cortical speech processing systems with cortical and subcortical systems associated with motor control. This subcortico-cortical multifunctional network is based on temporal processing and predictive coding of events to optimize interactions between the organism and the environment. The framework we outline provides a novel perspective on speech processing and has implications for future studies on learning, proficient use, and developmental and acquired disorders of speech production and perception.
Interactive Specialization: A domain-general framework for human functional brain development?
A domain-general framework for interpreting data on human functional brain development is presented. Assumptions underlying the general theory and predictions derived from it are discussed. Developmental functional neuroimaging data from the domains of face processing, social cognition, word learning and reading, executive control, and brain resting states are used to assess these predictions. Finally, potential criticisms of the framework are addressed and challenges for the future presented.
Objective Vocal Quality in Children Using Cochlear Implants: A Multiparameter Approach
Conclusions
According to the results, one aspect of the vocal approach in children with CI and using HAs must be focused on the improvement of the strained vocal characteristic and the use of a lower pitch and intensity level.
from the Journal of Voice
The effect of stimulus expectancy on dishabituation of auditory evoked potentials
Conclusions
Foreknowledge of the type and timing of sensory stimulation modulates the degree of dishabituation.
Significance
Previous reports have shown that expectancy does affect (certain) evoked potential components. Here we extend this knowledge to the effect of expectancy on dishabituation.
Inter-aural attenuation with insert earphones
The aim of the present study was to determine inter-aural attenuation (IA) values for pure tones and a broadband click obtained using an ER-3A insert earphone with a foam plug and with a customized hard acrylic earmould. Participants were 15 adults with a longstanding unilateral dead ear. IA was operationally defined as the difference between the good-ear and poorer-ear not-masked air conduction threshold. Minimum IA values for the foam earplug were 50 dB and 55 dB for pure tones and broadband click, respectively. Minimum IA values for the hard acrylic earmould were 45 dB and 50 dB for pure tones and broadband click, respectively.
from the International Journal of Audiology
Using Social Stories and Visual Schedules to Improve Socially Appropriate Behaviors in Children With Autism
The current study investigated the effects of Social Stories written according to Gray’s specifications on on-task behavior in inclusive classroom settings in three children with autism. Using a multiple-baseline design across participants, modest improvements in on-task behavior were associated with implementation of an auditory-visual Social Story intervention. In follow-up analysis, the Social Story was replaced with a visual schedule component to augment the effects of Social Stories when there was room for improvement for one participant. Further improvement in on-task behavior indicates that strategies such as visual schedules may be an effective way to augment the effects of Social Stories. An effect size estimate calculated using Parker et al.’s percentage of all nonoverlapping data points procedure revealed a large effect (d = 1.33) associated with Social Stories alone, which increased (d = 1.7) when the visual schedule intervention applied to one participant was added to the analysis. Although Social Stories produced improvements in on-task behavior in children with autism, additional components, such as visual schedules, may be useful for optimizing performance.
Alteraciones neuropsicológicas y de la fluencia verbal en la Enfermedad de Parkinson / Neuropsychological impairment and verbal fluency deficits in Parkinson’s Disease
We can conclude, therefore, that the neuropsychological and language assessment in patients with Parkinson’s disease is an important issue to take into consideration as it may help in knowing the impairment pattern and also in improving the patients day to day functioning as well as it’s quality of life.
Habilidades terapéuticas en terapia de lenguaje. Relación terapeuta-paciente / Therapeutic skills in language therapy
To be an effective helper a clinician needs to develop personal qualities and attitudes. In the client-clinician relationship the professional communicates empathic understanding, he tries to understand and see the patient’s subjective experience. Also he needs to communicate acceptance and respect to the client and to transmit congruence with the other person.
Therapeutic skills in the therapeutic relationship are necessary in different settings, also with children and with his parents. The professional characteristics in this therapy type are exposed and developed.
Procesamiento cognitivo en estudiantes con y sin deficiencia auditiva / Cognitive processing in students with and without hearing loss
Processings affected by the hearing degree are Planning which makes hearings different from deaf subjects; Successive proccessing is also affected in the groups with more hearing loss (severe and deep); And attention which is a processing specially affected in the deep hearing loss group with hearing aid. Simultaneous processing does not seem to be especially affected by the degree of hearing loss in normal conditions of education.
