Effect of electronic gadgets on cognitive milestones of children below 2 years of age

The purpose of this research was to determine the effect of electronic gadgets on cognitive milestones of children below 2 years of age. While conducting the research methods used were, 100 children of age group 6 months - 2 years were taken and divided in 2 groups - group 1 included 25 children of normal milestones up to 2 years. Group 2 included 75 children who attained normal milestones according to their age and then they were introduced with electronic gadgets (mostly mobile /play games) at different age. For minimum of 4-5 hours a day. Children were followed up at 2 months interval up to 2 years. The result of the study showed, Group 1 children attained normal milestones – physical as well as cognitive up to 2 years of age; While Group 2 children who were introduced electronic gadgets, 63 children attained normal physical milestones as well as cognitive milestones, but 12 of them had developed delayed cognitive milestones with normal physical milestones. Out of these 12 children, 5 of them had more impact of electronic gadgets i.e. they had shown delayed or regression of cognitive milestones. Overall the research concluded that, Electronic gadgets do affect the cognitive milestones of children from 6 months onwards.

Role of Active Listening and Listening Effort on Contralateral Suppression of Transient Evoked Otoacousic Emissions

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The present study aimed to investigate the effect of active listening and listening effort on the contralateral suppression of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (CSTEOAEs). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Twenty eight young adults participated in the study. Transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) were recorded using ‘linear’ clicks at 60 dB peSPL, in three contralateral noise conditions. In condition 1, TEOAEs were obtained in the presence of white noise in the contralateral ear. While, in condition 2, speech was embedded into white noise at +3, −3, and −9 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and delivered to the contralateral ear. The SNR was varied to investigate the effect of listening effort on the CSTEOAE. In condition 3, speech was played backwards and embedded into white noise at −3 dB SNR. The conditions 1 and 3 served as passive listening condition and the condition 2 served as active listening condition. In active listening condition, the participants categorized the words in to two groups (e.g., animal and vehicle). RESULTS: CSTEOAE was found to be largest in the presence of white noise, and the amount of CSTEOAE was not significantly different between active and passive listening conditions (condition 2 and 3). Listening effort had an effect on the CSTEOAE, the amount of suppression increased with listening effort, when SNR was decreased from +3 dB to −3 dB. However, when the SNR was further reduced to −9 dB, there was no further increase in the amount of CSTEOAE, instead there was a reduction in the amount of suppression. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the present study show that listening effort might affect CSTEOAE.

Auditory Brainstem Response Improvements in Hyperbillirubinemic Infants

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Hyperbillirubinemia in infants have been associated with neuronal damage including in the auditory system. Some researchers have suggested that the bilirubin-induced auditory neuronal damages may be temporary and reversible. This study was aimed at investigating the auditory neuropathy and reversibility of auditory abnormalities in hyperbillirubinemic infants. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The study participants included 41 full term hyperbilirubinemic infants (mean age 39.24 days) with normal birth weight (3,200-3,700 grams) that admitted in hospital for hyperbillirubinemia and 39 normal infants (mean age 35.54 days) without any hyperbillirubinemia or other hearing loss risk factors for ruling out maturational changes. All infants in hyperbilirubinemic group had serum bilirubin level more than 20 milligram per deciliter and undergone one blood exchange transfusion. Hearing evaluation for each infant was conducted twice: the first one after hyperbilirubinemia treatment and before leaving hospital and the second one three months after the first hearing evaluation. Hearing evaluations included transient evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) screening and auditory brainstem response (ABR) threshold tracing. RESULTS: The TEOAE and ABR results of control group and TEOAE results of the hyperbilirubinemic group did not change significantly from the first to the second evaluation. However, the ABR results of the hyperbilirubinemic group improved significantly from the first to the second assessment (p=0.025). CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the bilirubin induced auditory neuronal damage can be reversible over time so we suggest that infants with hyperbilirubinemia who fail the first hearing tests should be reevaluated after 3 months of treatment.

The Variation in Otoacoustic Emission Data according to the Different Location of Probe / 대한이비인후과학회지

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Microphones designed to measure otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) from the human ear canal typically sample the sound field in the canal some 15-20 mm away from the tympanic membrane. Discrepancies inevitably arise at high frequencies between the sound pressure at the tympanic membrane and at the entrance to the emission probe from sound reflected by the tympanic membrane due to incomplete absorption. A previous work on the ear canal acoustics suggests the emission probe underestimate the sound pressure level of the stimulus at the tympanic membrane by as much as 15-20 dB for the stimulus frequencies near 5-7 KHz. Materials and Method: This study checked the variation of transiently evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) and distorsion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) for the situations of probe which were controlled by ear canal volume. RESULTS: All mean values on TEOAEs (stimulus level, echo response, reproducibility) significantly increased (p 0.05) as the ear canal volume decreased. The mean amplitude of DPOAEs significantly increased at 1.6, 2, 25, 3.2, 4 (F2 frequency) and the variation of the mean noise level was statistically significant at 1, 2, 4 KHz (F2 frequency). The mean signal to noise ratio on DPOAEs significantly increased at 1, 2, 3.2, 4, 6.3 KHz (F2 frequency). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the reliability of measurements of otoacoustic emissions should be improved when the probe is located nearer to the tympanic membrane.