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Abstract Introduction Auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) features the presence of otoacoustic emissions, poor speech identification score and absent auditory brainstem response. Objective The present study was designed to evaluate the functioning of all six semicircular canals in individuals with ANSD and to compare it with those of normalhearing individuals. Methods A total of 50 individuals participated in the present study, in which Group I comprised25normal-hearingindividuals, and GroupII comprised25individualswithANSD. All of the participants underwent case history, pure tone audiometry, immittance, otoacoustic emissions, auditory evoked response and video head impulse test (vHIT). Results The independent sample t-test revealed significantly lower vestibulo-ocular reflex gain values in individuals with ANSD. A presence of 100% corrective refixation saccades was observed in the same group. The Pearson correlation test revealed no significant correlation between vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) gain with duration of hearing loss and pure tone thresholds for any of the three orthogonal planes. The chisquared test revealed no association between the VOR gain values and the presence or absence of saccades in any of the semicircular canals (p>0.05). Conclusion Huge percentages of individuals with ANSD have been found to have associated vestibular dysfunction as well. Therefore, the vHIT can be used as one of the important tests of the vestibular test battery to evaluate all six semicircular canals in individuals with ANSD.
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Objective@#To investigate the characteristics of hearing loss in occupational noise-exposed workers in automotive manufacturing industry.@*Methods@#According to Technical Specifications for Occupational Health Surveillance (GBZ188-2014) , 530 noise-exposed workers were examined for health and pure tone audiometry during January to June, 2017, and the data were collected for analysis. Poisson regression analysis was used to analysis the relationship between work age and hearing loss.@*Results@#After correction of age and gender, pure-tone threshold of 500, 1 000, 2 000, 3 000, 4 000, 6 000 of the noise-exposed workers in the <3 year-exposure group were 20.15±3.60, 18.80±3.43, 18.54±3.38, 19.10±4.03, 20.32±6.79, 23.48±8.92 dB (A) ; the values in the 3-10 year-exposure group were 20.96±5.38, 19.25±4.76, 19.22±5.29, 20.17±7.50, 21.36±8.88, 25.39±11.60 dB (A) ; the values in the >10 year-exposure group were 20.18±3.67, 18.34±3.60, 18.36±4.25, 18.49±4.41, 20.32±9.24, 22.50±9.57 dB (A) . Poisson regression analysis showed that the relative risk (RR) of hearing loss of the noise-exposed workers compared with the noise-free workers was 4.38 (P<0.05) .@*Conclusion@#The noise-exposed workers in automotive manufacturing industry revealed hearing loss, which was associated with their actual working age of noise exposure.
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The agreement between pure-tone average (PTA) and speech recognition threshold (SRT) has become more important with the increasing demands for medical certification. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between the SRT and several variations of PTA, and to determine which PTA formula would provide the best agreement with SRT for different audiometric configurations. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Audiological data on 783 ears were retrospectively collected. The air-conduction PTAs were calculated using five different formulas: three-frequency average (3FA), weighted three-frequency average (W3FA), four-frequency average (4FA), weighted four-frequency average (W4FA), and six-frequency average (6FA). The audiometric configuration was classified into five categories. The PTA-SRT relationships were analyzed using correlation and simple linear regression for each audiometric configuration. RESULTS: Highest correlation was observed between the SRT and W3FA for all audiometric configurations with the correlation coefficient of 0.964 as a whole. The SRT and 3FA were best-matched in the linear regression models for overall/flat/high frequency gently sloping/low frequency ascending; the SRT and W3FA were best-matched for high frequency steeply sloping (HFSS); the SRT and 4FA were best-matched for miscellaneous audiograms. CONCLUSION: The most stable PTA variations that make the best-matched pairs with SRT for any audiogram are the conventional 3FA and W3FA doubling 1 kHz threshold. The addition of frequencies higher than 2 kHz to a PTA formula seems to have impeded the PTA-SRT agreement, especially for HFSS audiograms. W3FA should be the method of choice in predicting SRT from PTA for HFSS audiograms.
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Certification , Ear , Hearing Loss, Functional , Linear Models , Methods , Retrospective StudiesABSTRACT
Background: Aim of the study was to compare the speed of response, false-alarm rate, and subject preference of different response methods i.e. raising a hand, using response switch, and oral response mode for measuring pure-tone thresholds. Methods: Forty five participants (female-21 and 24 male) were included in the study with sensorineural hearing loss of various degree. Response method order was randomly assigned to 3 different sessions. Air-conduction thresholds were measured thrice for each participant in octave intervals between 250 Hz and 8000 Hz. The 2nd and 3rd session were performed for different response method on a different day but within 2 weeks of the 1st session. Results: Difference in the time was noted when compared with the extent of time required to complete the test for each response method. On an average, using the pushbutton method took 3.02 to 3.42 minutes less than using hand-raise or verbal response methods. There was also a significant participant preference for using the response button. No significant difference between response method for threshold level and number of false positives (P = 0.15) was found. Conclusion: This study supports the use of the response button when measuring auditory thresholds for sensorineural hearing loss.
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Objective To evaluate the speech recognition ability in noise enviroment in older adults with age-related hearing loss and to discuss the influences of age ,hearing loss and cognitive function on the ability of speech recognition in noise enviroment .Methods A total of 90 older adults aged over 60 years at the hearing clinic of Xinhua hospital were divided into three groups according to the age ,which were 60~69 y group (88 ears) ,70~79 y group (64 ears) ,> 79 y group (28 ears) .All the participants completed pure tone audiometry ,the Mandarin hearing in noise test (MHINT) and the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) .The pure tone average hearing threshold (PTA) ,signal-to -noise ratio (SNR) of MHINT and MMSE scores were obtained .We used the statis_tical software SPSS 17 .0 to analyze the correlations among age ,PTA ,adaptive SNR and MMSE scores .ResuIts ①PTA and SNR increased with the age .The difference of PTA and SNR for different age groups was statistically sig_nificant (P<0 .01) .②The difference SNR among different PTA groups were significant (P<0 .01) ,and when the influence of MMSE scores was controlled the difference was still significant .There was a significant linear correlation between PTA and SNR (r=0 .326 ,P<0 .01) .MMSE scores decreased with the increasing of PTA ,and there was also a linear correlation between PTA and MMSE scores (-0 .187 ,P<0 .05) .③Adaptive SNR and MMSE scores were correlated (r= -0 .201 ,P<0 .01) ,but there was no significant linear relationship .Besides ,SNR of the cog_nitive function impairment group (<27 points) was significantly greater than that of the normal cognitive function group (27~30 points) (P<0 .01) .However ,among the three PTA groups ,the differences were not statistically significant .ConcIusion The hearing in noise test reflects the ability of speech recognition in noise enviroment in ol_der adults ,and can be used to assess the hearing functions in elder .Speech recognition in noise ,peripheral hearing loss and cognitive functions are relevant .Cognitive functions have an influence on the evaluation of the hearing func_tion for older adults .
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Objective The diagnosis of low frequency sensorineural hearing loss is examined for clinical applications.Methods Pure tone threshold(PTT),acoustic impedance,auditory brainstem response(ABR),distortion product otoacoustic emissions(DPOAE),electrocochleogram(ECochG)and imaging examinations of CT or MRI were performed on 56 cases with low frequency sensorineural hearing loss.Results Among 56 cases of low frequency sensorineural hearing loss,38 cases with sudden low frequency sensorineural hearing loss,9 with Meniere's disease, 6 as auditory neuropathy,1 case of acoustic neuroma,1 case of multiple sclerosis and 1 case with arachnoid cyst of cerebellar hemisphere surface.Conclusion Low frequency sensorineural hearing losses occurred in varied diseases.A comprehensive approach should be taken to diagnose this hearing loss and if necessary,CT or MRI can be utilized to confirm the standard audiologic evaluations.
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Objective The diagnosis of low frequency sensorineural hearing loss is examined for clinical applications.Methods Pure tone threshold (PTT),acoustic impedance,auditory brainstem response(ABR),distortion product otoacoustic emissions(DPOAE),electrocochleogram(ECochG) and imaging examinations of CT or MRI were performed on 56 cases with low frequency sensorineural hearing loss.Results Among 56 cases of low frequency sensorineural hearing loss,38 cases with sudden low frequency sensorineural hearing loss,9 with Meniere's disease,6 as auditory neuropathy,1 case of acoustic neuroma,1 case of multiple sclerosis and 1 case with arachnoid cyst of cerebellar hemisphere surface.Conclusion Low frequency sensorineural hearing losses occurred in varied diseases.A comprehensive approach should be taken to diagnose this hearing loss and if necessary,CT or MRI can be utilized to confirm the standard audiologic evaluations.
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Objective To explore the characte ristics of pure tone threshold (PTT) in auditory neuropathy. Methods The results of PTT audiometry were analysed in 48 patients with auditory neuropathy and compared with that of cochlear deafness. Results PTT audiograms in auditory neuropathy group r evealed curves including ascending slope, peak, spoon, letter W, lain letter S, flat, gentle slope. Binaural symmetric PTT audiograms were seen in 38 cases and asymmetric in 10 cases. The auditory threshold in auditory neuropathy showed a e levated range from mild to moderate degrees. Elevated degrees of auditory thresh old in left and right ears were consistent. The elevations of low-frequency audi tory threshold or in the main feature of low-frequency auditory threshold were 9 3.75% (90/96 ears) in the PTT audiograms. Conclusion The elevations of biauricular symmetric and ba sic symmetric low-frequency auditory threshold or in the main feature of low-fre quency auditory threshold were important characteristics of auditory neuropathy.
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Clinical Observation on pure-tone audiogram shape,preauripuncture and postau-ripuncture change of pure-tone threshold average (PTA) ,A-B gap was conducted in 97 patients (117 ears) with hydromyringa.Bone conduction audibility threshold change in some cases was discussed.