Speech Perception in Older Listeners with Normal Hearing:Conditions of Time Alteration, Selective Word Stress, and Length of Sentences

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Deficits of the aging auditory system negatively affect older listeners in terms of speech communication, resulting in limitations to their social lives. To improve their perceptual skills, the goal of this study was to investigate the effects of time alteration, selective word stress, and varying sentence lengths on the speech perception of older listeners. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Seventeen older people with normal hearing were tested for seven conditions of different time-altered sentences (i.e., +/-60%, +/-40%, +/-20%, 0%), two conditions of selective word stress (i.e., no-stress and stress), and three different lengths of sentences (i.e., short, medium, and long) at the most comfortable level for individuals in quiet circumstances. RESULTS: As time compression increased, sentence perception scores decreased statistically. Compared to a natural (or no stress) condition, the selectively stressed words significantly improved the perceptual scores of these older listeners. Long sentences yielded the worst scores under all time-altered conditions. Interestingly, there was a noticeable positive effect for the selective word stress at the 20% time compression. CONCLUSIONS: This pattern of results suggests that a combination of time compression and selective word stress is more effective for understanding speech in older listeners than using the time-expanded condition only.

A case of the primary malignant melanoma arising from uterine endometrium / 대한내과학회지

Malignant melanoma arising in the uterine endometrium is extremely rare. Only 12 cases of malignant melanoma of the uterine endometrium have been previously reported to date. All of them were metastatic cases. The most common presenting symptom was abnormal uterine bleeding. We report a case of primary malignant melanoma arising from the uterine endometrium. A 63-year-old multigravid woman presented with uterine bleeding. The pathologic review of an endometrial curettage specimen suggested an undifferentiated malignant tumor. A total abdominal hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, and pelvic lymph node dissection were performed. Final pathologic examination revealed malignant melanoma. Immunohistochemical studies demonstrated reactivity of tumor cells for HMB-45 and S-100 protein. She had no previous history of malignancy. Whole body PET scan was performed in an effort to find the primary site of malignant melanoma and showed no demonstrable abnormal FDG uptake suggesting malignancy elsewhere. This case is the first report of primary malignant melanoma involving uterine endometrium in Korea.