Calibrating different sounds for sound therapy: A general guide.

INTRODUCTION: Sound therapy is one of the complementary or alternative interventions for various populations. The intensity of the sounds for sound therapy needs to be properly calibrated to ensure their accuracy and effectiveness. This paper aims to provide a general guideline for calibrating sound files using free software, specifically Audacity®. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Six sounds (broadband noise, rain, ocean, waterfall, Quranic chapters Al-Fatihah, and Yasin recitations) were calibrated at the intensity levels of 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, and 80dBA. The sounds were delivered through a pair of Sennheiser HD 280 Pro headphones connected to the Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro sound card. The long-term average of the sound pressure level over the time of recording (LAseq) was recorded using the 3M SoundPro Class 1 1/3 Octave RTA sound level meter (SLM). The desired intensity levels were obtained by making adjustments to the sound files via the Audacity® software. RESULTS: All sound files were calibrated at the targeted levels as verified by the value of LAseq. CONCLUSIONS: Calibration of audio files can be done using a free/open-source software, as all six sound files were successfully calibrated at the targeted levels of 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, and 80dBA. The calibration steps provided in this paper can be easily applied by other researchers for similar purposes, with precautions when calibrating at low levels.

Psychometric properties of the Malay inventory for the perception of Muslims with hearing impairment.

OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study are to measure the psychometric properties of the newly developed preliminary version of hearing impairment inventory for religious duties for Muslim adults, i.e., the Inventori Persepsi Bagi Muslim Yang Memiliki Masalah Pendengaran (IPM3P), and to produce a final version of IPM3P. METHODS: The preliminary version of IPM3P that is used to investigate the perception of Muslim adults with hearing impairment towards Islamic understanding and practice has been tested in this study. The preliminary version of IPM3P consists of three domains (obligation, practice, and difficulty) with 59 items in total. Four phases of validity and reliability testing involved were: i) Content validation, ii) Pretesting, face validity and proofreading, iii) Pilot study, and iv) Psychometric evaluation. RESULTS: The final version of IPM3P consists of 36 items. The findings from the present study suggest that the final version of IPM3P has excellent psychometric properties manifested by: i) good content validity, ii) excellently pretested, iii) good face validity, iv) good construct validity shown by principal component analysis and convergent validity, and v) good discriminant validity showed by divergent validity. CONCLUSION: IPM3P shows good potential to be used as a tool in investigating perception of Muslim adults towards Islamic understanding and practice.

Translation, validation and cross-cultural adaptation of the Malay emotion regulation checklist (ERC-M): A preliminary study.

INTRODUCTION: Emotion Regulation Checklist (ERC) has been used globally and translated to several languages, including Brazilian Portuguese, Italian and Persian. The aim of this study is to translate and validate ERC to the Malay language and to measure the reliability and validity of the translated version of this scale among Malaysian parents. METHODS: This study involved forward and back translation method. The translated questionnaire was then pretested and piloted among 10 parents and 50 participants, respectively. The procedure was repeated using the same questionnaire to evaluate the test-retest reliability. RESULTS: The ERC-Malay (ERC-M) has excellent qualitative and quantitative measurements in both item-level content validation index (I-CVI) and scale-level content validation index (S-CVI). In addition, the ERC-M demonstrated good internal consistency from Cronbach's alpha and test-retest reliability based on the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) in all domains. CONCLUSION: ERC-M can potentially be used as a tool to evaluate emotion for the population with emotional dysregulation issue, such as autism spectrum disorder.

Development of hearing impairment inventory for religious duties of Muslim adult.

OBJECTIVE: This study is a preliminary work to develop a Malay version questionnaire named 'Inventori Persepsi bagi Muslim yang Memiliki Masalah Pendengaran (IPM3P)' to assess the perception on Islamic understanding and practice among Muslim adults with hearing impairment. METHODS: The scale development involved three phases: i) generation of domains based on the literature, ii) generation of sub-domains based on literature review and Islamic panel survey, and iii) generation of items. RESULTS: Preliminary version of IPM3P consists of 59 items was produced, representing three domains: Obligation (18 items), Practice (21 items), and Difficulty (20 items), and seven sub-domains ('Ibadah', 'Aqidah', 'Muamalat', 'Tasawwuf', 'Akhlak','Da'wah', and 'Sirah'). CONCLUSION: The preliminary version of IPM3P needs to be psychometrically tested. This pioneering study may become an impetus towards more research pertaining to understanding the effect of hearing loss towards religious life in the future in Malaysia.

A novel computer-based simulated learning environment in audiology with learning assistance: Preliminary findings.

INTRODUCTION: This paper describes the development and the evaluation of a new Two-dimensional (2D) computer-based (CB) Simulated Learning Environment (SLE) software for routine audiology tests that comes with learning assistance for audiology students. The aim of the study was to serve as preliminary evaluation on the effectiveness of the new 2D CB SLE audiology software among audiology students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The development process of the new 2D CB SLE includes, (i) the identification of common errors made by students in the audiology clinic, (ii) the development of five case simulations that include four routine audiology tests incorporating learning assistance derived from the errors commonly made by audiology students and, (iii) the development of 2D CB SLE from a technical perspective. A preliminary evaluation of the use of the 2D CB SLE software was conducted among twenty-six second-year undergraduate audiology students. RESULTS: The pre-analysis evaluation of the new 2D CB SLE showed that the majority of the students perceived the new 2D CB SLE software as realistic and helpful for them in achieving the course learning outcomes and in improving their clinical skills. The mean overall scores among the twenty-six students using the self-reported questionnaire were significantly higher when using the 2D CB SLE software than with the existing software typically used in their SLE training. CONCLUSIONS: This new 2D CB SLE software has the potential for use by audiology students for enhancing their learning.

Assessment of Inter- and Intra-Audiologist Agreements on Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) Waves Interpretation and ABR Variability.

AIM OF STUDY: This study investigated the consistency in Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) waveform evaluations between two audiologists (inter-audiologist agreement) and within each of the audiologist (intra-audiologist agreement). METHODS: Two audiologists from one of the audiology clinics in Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia were involved in this study. Both audiologists were required to identify and mark the presence of Waves I, III and V in 66 ABR waveforms. Over a one-month interval, each audiologist was required to carry out the same procedure on the same ABR waveforms. This process was continued until we had three separate reviews from each audiologist. RESULTS: There was a high inter-audiologist ABR waveform identification agreement (over the range 81.71-89.77%), but a lower intra-audiologist ABR waveform identification agreement (over the range 50%-78%) for both audiologists. Our results also showed a high intra-audiologist ABR latency agreement within 0.2 ms (>90%), but a slightly lower inter-audiologist latency agreement (75-84%) within 0.2 ms. CONCLUSION: Our results support the need for the clinic to implement further strategies for improving the respective lower agreements and consistencies. These include conducting a continuous education program and using an objective algorithm to support their interpretations.