ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Few population-based studies have quantified hearing levels in Brazil; additional studies on this subject are needed. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to characterize hearing complaints and the audiological profile of the population served by the Clinical Audiology Service of an Academic Health Center in the western region of São Paulo, Brazil, between 2003 and 2008. An additional aim was to check whether there is a positive association between the signs/symptoms and type of hearing loss. METHODS: This was a retrospective study of the records of 2,145 patients. The health history, tonal and vocal audiometry, and imitanciometry findings were analyzed. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 20.6 years. The majority of the subjects had normal hearing thresholds, and the prevalence of hearing loss was approximately 35%. As the patient's age increased, the frequency of conductive hearing loss decreased and that of sensorineural hearing loss increased. There was a tendency toward hearing loss worsening with age. CONCLUSION: Hearing complaints can predict the type of hearing loss; therefore, they should always be valued because they can be used as a form of screening and thus help to determine the diagnostic hypothesis. This could help to reduce the gap between the patient's perception of the complaints and the audiological assessment and thus improve the prognosis.
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Infant, Newborn , Infant , Child, Preschool , Child , Adolescent , Young Adult , Middle Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Hearing Loss , Hearing Loss, Sensorineural , Prevalence , BrazilABSTRACT
OBJETIVO: Investigar e comparar o desempenho em letramento escolar de indivíduos de 1ª e 2ª séries do Ensino Fundamental de uma escola pública antes e após Programas de Práticas Reflexivas de Linguagem (PPRL). MÉTODOS: Participaram desta pesquisa 97 escolares de 1ª série e 149 de 2ª série entre os anos de 2006 e 2008. Os indivíduos realizaram triagens do letramento escolar antes e após PPRL. Estes tiveram a duração média de quatro meses; foram realizados em situação coletiva e em parceria com os professores das classes selecionadas. Foram elaborados segundo os temas norteadores: promoção de práticas de letramento; conscientização sobre o uso da voz e dos níveis de ruído nas escolas; promoção de narrativas orais e escritas, envolvendo a metalinguagem e principalmente a consciência fonológica e promoção de práticas de leitura e compreensão de leitura. Ao término de cada programa, foram realizadas triagens finais, com a finalidade de analisar e comparar o desempenho dos escolares antes e após a realização dos programas. Os dados foram analisados qualitativa e quantitativamente. RESULTADOS: Houve diferenças significativas no desempenho entre as séries tanto nas triagens iniciais, quanto nas finais nas provas de ditado, leitura de palavras e frases e cloze de frases. CONCLUSÃO: A 2ª série apresentou resultados melhores do que a 1ª série. Os resultados foram mais significativos nas provas que demandaram conhecimento mais aprofundado da relação fonema-grafema e vice-versa, sugerindo que o letramento escolar é necessário quando o letramento social não se faz presente.
PURPOSE: To investigate and compare the school literacy performance of 1st and 2nd grades elementary school individuals of a public school, before and after Reflexive Practices in Language Programs (RPLP). METHODS: Ninety-seven students of the 1st grade and 149 of the 2nd grade, between the years 2006 and 2008, took part in this study. The subjects were submitted to school literacy screenings before and after the RPLP. The programs had an average duration of four months, and were carried out in a collective situation in classrooms, and in partnership with the teachers of the selected classes. They were prepared according to the guiding themes: promotion of literacy practices; awareness about use of voice and noise levels at school; promotion of oral and written narratives, involving meta-language and, mainly, phonological awareness and the promotion of reading practices and reading comprehension. At the end of each program, final screenings were carried out in order to analyze and compare students' performance before and after their implementation. Data were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed. RESULTS: Significant performance differences were found between 1st and 2nd grades, in both initial and final screenings, in the subtests dictation, words and sentences reading and sentence cloze were found. CONCLUSION: Second grade had better results than first grade. The results were more significant in subtests that required deeper understanding of the phoneme-grapheme association and vice-versa, suggesting that school literacy is necessary when social literacy is not present.