ABSTRACT
Parental involvement in the rehabilitation process is one of the critical factors for the success of cochlear implants in their wards. Skills to use a cochlear implant (CI) device appropriately and manipulate the different settings are essential to gain maximum benefits. There was a need to have a tool in Hindi to assess the skills of parents to manage the CI device. The study was conducted with the following aims: To translate and adapt Self-administered Cochlear Implant Management Skills (CIMSSelf) into the Hindi language. To find an association between the CI management skills of parents and outcomes in their implanted wards. To compare pre-post retraining scores on CIMS-self in Hindi (HN) and to find out factors affecting the scores. CIMS-self (English) was translated into Hindi using the forward and backward translation method. CIMS-self (HN) was administered to 22 parents of cochlear implanted children to evaluate their CI device management skills in the pretraining phase. The questionnaire was re-administered between 2 and 4 weeks to check the reliability. The outcome of CI in the children was assessed using the test tools viz. Categories of Auditory Perception, Integrated Scales of Development, Speech Intelligibility Rating, and Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (MAIS). Subjects with less than 100% score received retraining on CI device management skills. CIMS-self (HN) was readministered two weeks after completing training, and results were compared between pre-post training sessions. There was no significant correlation between CIMS-self (HN) scores and demographic of the parents and their implanted wards, CI device factors, and clinical outcomes. A significant correlation was found between the CIMS-self (HN) and MAIS scores (p < .05). The Cronbach's alpha for test-retest reliability of the CIMS-self (HN) survey was 0.998. Participants showed a significant improvement in CIMS-self (HN) scores following the intervention, demonstrating that the CIMS-self (HN) is sensitive enough to detect changes in CI device management following retraining. A client who self-reports difficulty may benefit from consultation if it helps to improve their confidence in CI device management. The CIMS-self (HN) survey can be used to evaluate and re-evaluate CI device management skills at regular intervals and may save clinical time.
ABSTRACT
The objective was to measure the effect of various face masks on speech recognition threshold and the word recognition score in the presence of varying background noise levels. 20 normal-hearing adult subjects (a total of 40 ears) participated. Pure tone audiometry followed by speech recognition threshold and word recognition score at the most comfortable level in varying signal-to-noise ratios (SNR0, SNR10, and SNR15) using surgical, pleated cloth, and N95 masks. Using surgical, cloth, and N95 masks, speech recognition thresholds increased by 1.8 dB, 4.4 dB, and 5.05 dB, respectively. Word recognition scores decreased by 32% without a mask, 43.7% in a surgical mask, 46.3% in a cloth mask, and 46.7% in N95 mask conditions, between SNR15 and SNR0. The speech recognition threshold was negatively affected with cloth and N95 masks. Surgical masks do not affect the word recognition scores at lower background noise levels. However, as the signal-to-noise ratio decreased, even the surgical, cloth, and N95 masks significantly impacted the word recognition score even in normal-hearing individuals.
ABSTRACT
Voice disorders have been estimated to be present in between 3 and 9% of general population. Sports children have vocal abusive behavior i.e. the extra effort which they put on their voice while playing, leading to voice disorders. It is imperative to find out the voice characteristics of children involved in sports activity. To assess voice characteristics of school aged children, who are active participants in a basket ball team. A group of twenty children (13 males and 7 females) were included in the study. He or she was member of school basket ball team and had participated in many events. The perceptual voice assessment was conducted using GRBAS scale, Buffalo III Voice Profile and Voice Handicap Index (VHI). Findings on GRBAS voice rating scale-In the first parameter i.e. grade 46.7% of the subjects reported slight hoarse component. In the second parameter i.e. Roughness 46.7% of the subjects showed slight roughness component. In another parameter i.e. the asthenia 20% % of the subjects reported slight asthenia component in their voice. In the next parameter i.e. strain in the voice, 26.7% of the subjects showed slight strain component in their voice. Finding on BUFFALO III voice screening profile-In the laryngeal tone, 46.7% of the subjects showed mild hoarse component. Findings on voice handicap index (VHI)-28% of the subjects had functional symptoms of voice problems. 43% of the subjects had some physical symptoms while 28% had affected emotional component. Present study is first of its kind to focus on voice disorders among school going children who are members of a basket ball team. During sport events players tend to scream in order to communicate among their team mates, to show their aggressiveness to their opponents and to show excitement of win or frustration of the lost match leading to various voice problems. There is a high probability of occurrence of voice disorders among children who are active participants of basket ball. Proper counselling of these children is required for preventive measures and to seek voice therapy when required.
ABSTRACT
Parents of implanted children develop a set of expectations prior to implantation about future performance and outcomes of their child. This set of expectations has an important impact on post-implant satisfaction levels. The position of the parent in the household makes them uniquely placed to assess the impact of implantation in the context within which the child grows up. There is strong need to find out expectations of parents from CI outcomes in implanted children. The functional benefits of CI may be measured by administering the parental perception of CI benefits in their implanted wards. The primary aim of the study was to find out different expectations of CI outcomes in parents of CI users and the perception of CI outcomes in the parents of CI users. Secondary aim was to find out the most important concerns of parents towards their implanted children. Twenty families with a child implanted for duration of more than 2 years were selected for the study. Two questionnaires (1) Parent Expectations Questionnaire for Cochlear Implants (Nemours children clinic) and (2) Parents and their cochlear implanted child Questionnaire (O'Neill Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 68: 149-160 2004) were administered on these parents. Results were analyzed qualitatively. Parents expected their implanted children to use the telephone, to be able to detect soft sounds, to listen in crowds, to be able to easily understand others, and to show improvement in communication skills. The quality of speech, process of implantation, to take time off for the appointments at the implant centre and making decision to proceed with implantation were main concerns of the parents. Parents have a high expectation from their implanted children in all domains of life i.e. communication abilities, social and academic skills. Parents have high positive views about the outcomes of the CI. However there are areas which need attention for a positive outcome from the point of view of parents of implanted children.
ABSTRACT
FAPCI is a parent/caregiver reporting questionnaire, which evaluates the communication performance of pre-school children with cochlear implants in the age range of 2-5 years, using behavioral examples of children's daily activities. Tools for the objective and effective measurement of communication for cochlear implanted Indian children in Hindi language are lacking. The primary aim of the study was to adapt American English version of FAPCI into the Hindi language. With a secondary aim to find out the communication functioning of Cochlear implanted children by administering FAPCI (HN) and comparing the findings with children with normal hearing. The FAPCI was translated to Hindi using the forward-backward procedure. The FAPCI (HN) was then administered to the parents of children with NH (n = 35) and CI (n = 44), 2-9 years of age. Internal consistency was checked using Cronbach's alpha. Other statistical analysis included Bartlett's test of sphericity, factor loading, Wilcoxon test and t test. During adaptation few items were modified and one item was removed which contained "inversion question" not used in Hindi language. The Hindi version of FAPCI showed excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha > 0.90). The split-half coefficient for the first half of the data was equal to 0.96 and for the second half was equal to 0.95. The CI group had significantly lower FAPCI scores (61.14 ± 21.49) than the NH group (101.43 ± 9.24) (p < 0.05, Wilcoxon test). FAPCI-Hindi can be used to measure the communicative functioning of cochlear implanted children in Indian population and results may be used as a guideline to revise the speech and language therapy plans to maximize the cochlear implant benefits.
