ABSTRACT
Background and Objectives@#Currently limited information is available on speech stimuli processingat the subcortical level in the recipients of cochlear implant (CI). Speech processing inthe brainstem level is measured using speech-auditory brainstem response (S-ABR). The purposeof the present study was to measure the S-ABR components in the sound-field presentationin CI recipients, and compare with normal hearing (NH) children. Subjects and Methods:In this descriptive-analytical study, participants were divided in two groups: patients withCIs; and NH group. The CI group consisted of 20 prelingual hearing impairment children (meanage=8.90 ± 0.79 years), with ipsilateral CIs (right side). The control group consisted of 20healthy NH children, with comparable age and sex distribution. The S-ABR was evoked bythe 40-ms synthesized /da/ syllable stimulus that was indicated in the sound-field presentation. @*Results@#Sound-field S-ABR measured in the CI recipients indicated statistically significantdelayed latencies, than in the NH group. In addition, these results demonstrated thatthe frequency following response peak amplitude was significantly higher in CI recipients,than in the NH counterparts (p<0.05). Finally, the neural phase locking were significantlylower in CI recipients (p<0.05). Conclusions: The findings of sound-field S-ABR demonstratedthat CI recipients have neural encoding deficits in temporal and spectral domains atthe brainstem level; therefore, the sound-field S-ABR can be considered an efficient clinicalprocedure to assess the speech process in CI recipients. J Audiol Otol 2020;24(2):71-78
ABSTRACT
Hearing-impaired children make a lot of stress for the parents. Providing the parents of these children with suitable consultation and rehabilitation services results in increased satisfaction and reduced anxiety level. In this study we investigated the relationship between audiology service satisfaction and level of anxiety in parents of hearing-impaired children. Seventy-five parents of hearing-impaired children, whose problem was diagnosed during the last year, participated in the study. The mothers were interviewed using satisfaction and anxiety questionnaires. There was no association between level of service satisfaction and parental state and trait anxiety level; however, the group with a higher level of satisfaction [score 64-90] recorded a lower anxiety score [0-20]. There was also a significant association between parental state and trait anxiety level [p<0.001]. Considering the demographic data, only the living place [Tehran compared with other provinces] showed a significant association with satisfaction and anxiety levels; people living in small provinces had a significantly less satisfaction level [p=0.002] and a more anxiety score [p=0.017]. Lack of durability of services was the concern of people living in small provinces which resulted in being more anxious and less satisfied
ABSTRACT
Evaluation of hearing-impaired children's auditory skills by a valid test is very important before starting auditory training. There are many different tests available for languages other than Persian, and some limited Persian tests for children above 5 year of age as well. Accordingly considering the importance of early intervention, we aimed to design a test for evaluating auditory skill of 3-4 year-old hearing-impaired Persian [Farsi] children, which is not available to date. The study method was test [scale] construction. The test named Tavana includes four subtests: detection, discrimination, identification and sentence comprehension. For determining content validity of the test, the vocabulary of 3-4 year-old normal-hearing and hearing-impaired children and also the comments of seven specialists were applied. We classified 10, 10, 8 and 6 sub skills for 1[st] to 4[th] subtests, respectively. The content validity of Tavana test's subskills were 100%, 83%, 96% and 95%, respectively [mean=94%]. Mean time for test performance was 82 minutes. Content validity of Tavana test was 94% which was statistically valid compared to Modarres test [97%] and Mazaheryazdi test [88%]