Monthly Archives: January 2011
Auditory and vestibular manifestations of Vogt–Koyanagi–Harada disease
Conclusion: There is a high incidence of cochlear and vestibular end-organ involvement in patients with Vogt–Koyanagi–Harada disease. The adequacy and timing of treatment has a significant effect on the disease outcome. Vogt–Koyanagi–Harada disease appears to affect the inner ear end-organ. Patients who develop bilateral profound sensory hearing loss are suitable candidates for cochlear implantation.
from the Journal of Laryngology and Otology
Bone-anchored hearing aids in children and young adults: the Freeman Hospital experience
Conclusion: The use of bone-anchored hearing aids and Softband results in significant improvements in quality of life for children and young adults with hearing impairment. There is significant under-utilisation of bone-anchored hearing aids in children with skull and congenital abnormalities, and we would advocate bone-anchored hearing aid implantation for these patients.
from the Journal of Laryngology and Otology
Hearing and ossicular chain preservation in cholesteatoma surgery
Conclusions: In cholesteatoma surgery, there is at most a marginal benefit in preserving the ossicular chain. In the current study, the better hearing outcomes associated with preservation of the ossicular chain were accounted for by patients’ better pre-operative hearing status. This study did not demonstrate a difference in residual disease rate, but was underpowered to do so.
from the Journal of Laryngology and Otology
Intratympanic injection with dexamethasone for sudden sensorineural hearing loss
Conclusion: Intratympanic steroid injection may be a simple and effective treatment for patients with sudden sensorineural hearing loss.
from the Journal of Laryngology and Otology
Noise exposure in convertible automobiles
Conclusion: Driving convertible automobiles at speeds exceeding 88.5 km/h, with the top open, may result in noise exposure levels exceeding recommended limits, especially when driving with the convertible top open for prolonged periods.
from the Journal of Laryngology and Otology
The professional voice
The human voice is not only the key to human communication but also serves as the primary musical instrument. Many professions rely on the voice, but the most noticeable and visible are singers. Care of the performing voice requires a thorough understanding of the interaction between the anatomy and physiology of voice production, along with an awareness of the interrelationships between vocalisation, acoustic science and non-vocal components of performance. This review gives an overview of the care and prevention of professional voice disorders by describing the unique and integrated anatomy and physiology of singing, the roles of development and training, and the importance of the voice care team.
from the Journal of Laryngology and Otology
Modulation of sensory and motor cortex activity during speech preparation
Previous studies have shown that speaking affects auditory and motor cortex responsiveness, which may reflect the influence of motor efference copy. If motor efference copy is involved, it would also likely influence auditory and motor cortical activity when preparing to speak. We tested this hypothesis by using auditory event-related potentials and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the motor cortex. In the speech condition subjects were visually cued to prepare a vocal response to a subsequent target, which was compared to a control condition without speech preparation. Auditory and motor cortex responsiveness at variable times between the cue and target were probed with an acoustic stimulus (Experiment 1, tone or consonant–vowels) or motor cortical TMS (Experiment 2). Acoustic probes delivered shortly before targets elicited a fronto-central negative potential in the speech condition. Current density analysis showed that auditory cortical activity was attenuated at the beginning of the slow potential in the speech condition. Sensory potentials in response to probes had shorter latencies (N100) and larger amplitudes (P200) when consonant–vowels matched the sound of cue words. Motor cortex excitability was greater in the speech than in the control condition at all time points before picture onset. The results suggest that speech preparation induces top-down regulation of sensory and motor cortex responsiveness, with different time courses for auditory and motor systems.
from the European Journal of Neuroscience
Assessing Children’s Home Language Environments Using Automatic Speech Recognition Technology
The purpose of this research was to replicate and extend some of the findings of Hart and Risley using automatic speech processing instead of human transcription of language samples. The long-term goal of this work is to make the current approach to speech processing possible by researchers and clinicians working on a daily basis with families and young children. Twelve hour-long, digital audio recordings were obtained repeatedly in the homes of middle to upper SES families for a sample of typically developing infants and toddlers (N = 30). These recordings were processed automatically using a measurement framework based on the work of Hart and Risley. Like Hart and Risley, the current findings indicated vast differences in individual children’s home language environments (i.e., adult word count), children’s vocalizations, and conversational turns. Automated processing compared favorably to the original Hart and Risley estimates that were based on transcription. Adding to Hart and Risley’s findings were new descriptions of patterns of daily talk and relationships to widely used outcome measures, among others. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Co-Construction as a Facilitative Factor in Supporting the Personal Narratives of Children Who Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication
Adult co-construction with children who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) has been found to facilitate child communicative competence in general, but few studies have examined adult co-construction during the telling of personal narratives. This study explored the use of adult co-constructive strategies during personal storytelling with a child who used AAC. Case study discourse analysis methodology was utilized to analyze the types of co-construction strategies employed and the effectiveness of these co-construction strategies during an intervention session with a speech-language pathologist and a child who used AAC. The study concluded that use of child-centered co-construction strategies, including elicitation, question asking, prompts, positive praise, repetitions, and modeling of vocabulary and grammar, might be a facilitative factor in supporting the personal narratives of children who use AAC. Clinical implications for using child-centered co-construction during dyadic exchanges with children who use AAC are discussed.
Parent Perceptions of Pragmatic Skills in Teens and Young Adults Using AAC
The acquisition of social skills is critical in the successful academic inclusion and competitive employment of individuals with disabilities. Parent involvement in identification of social skills targets for intervention is a valuable first step in the intervention process. A total of 21 parents completed the Pragmatics Profile from the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals for their teen and young adult children who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Because several parents rated more than one item as not appropriate, total scores could be computed for only 10 participants; however, descriptive analysis of results from the Rituals and Conversational Skills section was conducted for all participants. Of the 22 items from that section, 17 were rated as sometimes or never (i.e., requiring intervention) by the majority of parents, suggesting that many teens and young adults using AAC have pragmatic skills in need of intervention.
Targeting Prosody: A Case Study of an Adolescent
Currently, there are few published treatment studies to address prosody in clinical populations. Developing treatment protocols is challenging due to the considerable degree of heterogeneity across individuals with prosodic disturbances and the multiple aspects of prosody, voice, speech, and language that can be affected. The purpose of this article is to describe the clinical management of prosody and outcomes in an adolescent who exhibits atypical prosody, residual segmental speech errors, morphosyntactic errors, and social communicative difficulties. An explicit approach using meta-awareness and discrimination strategies was used. Positive outcomes in some targeted behaviors were noted, whereas other behaviors did not change. Outcomes are discussed relative to the treatment approach.
The Influence of Three Emergent Literacy Skills on the Invented Spellings of 4-Year-Olds
This study of 40 4-year-olds investigated whether tests of phonological sensitivity, print awareness, or word awareness accounted for a significant amount of variability in preschool children’s invented spellings. Subtest results from the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening—PreKindergarten and two measures of individual word awareness were correlated with single word spelling. Results indicated that word awareness accounted for the greatest amount of variance. Print awareness also contributed to a significant amount of variance; however, phonological sensitivity did not. The majority of the children wrote at least one correct single letter or one phonemically similar letter, performing at the literate or prephonetic level. Although continued research is needed, attention to word awareness in emergent writing and spelling is important for sufficient understanding of preschool children’s literacy development.
A Cross-Linguistic Study of Word-Mapping in 18- to 20-Month-Old Infants
This study was designed to examine whether infants acquiring languages that place a differential emphasis on nouns and verbs, focus their attention on motions or objects in the presence of a novel word. An infant-controlled habituation paradigm was used to teach 18- to 20-month-old English-, French-, and Japanese-speaking infants’ novel words for events. Infants were habituated to two word-event pairings and then presented with new combinations that involved a familiar word with a new object or motion, or both. Children could map the novel word to both the object and the motion, despite the differential salience of object and motion words in their native language. A control experiment with no label confirmed that both object and motion changes were detectable. © International Society on Infant Studies (ISIS).
from Infancy
Design of a Semi-Implantable Hearing Device for Direct Acoustic Cochlear Stimulation
A new hearing therapy based on direct acoustic cochlear stimulation was developed for the treatment of severe to profound mixed hearing loss. The device efficacy was validated in an initial clinical trial with four patients. This semi-implantable investigational device consists of an externally worn audio processor, a percutaneous connector, and an implantable microactuator. The actuator is placed in the mastoid bone, right behind the external auditory canal. It generates vibrations that are directly coupled to the inner ear fluids and that, therefore, bypass the external and the middle ear. The system is able to provide an equivalent sound pressure level of 125 dB over the frequency range between 125 and 8000 Hz. The hermetically sealed actuator is designed to provide maximal output power by keeping its dimensions small enough to enable implantation. A network model is used to simulate the dynamic characteristics of the actuator to adjust its transfer function to the characteristics of the middle ear. The geometry of the different actuator components is optimized using finite-element modeling.
(Central) auditory processing disorders in individuals with and without dyslexia
CONCLUSION: subjects from the dyslexic group presented different patterns of (central) auditory processing disorder, with greater alteration in the tests that evaluate the temporal processing when compared to the tests that evaluate other auditory abilities.
