The Complexity of Hearing Aid Fitting: Children with Congenital Hearing Loss and Middle Ear Dysfunction.

BACKGROUND: The early diagnosis of hearing loss (HL) and hearing rehabilitation facilitate language and communication development. Some children exhibit mixed HL due to middle ear effusion (MEE) or acute otitis media (AOM). Mixed HL can affect HL evaluation and hearing aid (HA) fitting. The present study retrospectively evaluated the prevalence of MEE/AOM among children with congenital sensorineural HL (SNHL) who were fitted with HAs and its effect on the HA fitting. METHODS: Thirty-six HA fittings carried out between 2017 and 2020 at one rehabilitation center were examined. Medical and audiological information was retrieved for children between 6 and 32 months old. The number of appointments and HA fitting times were recorded. RESULTS: Twenty-eight children were included in the study. Eighteen children, in addition to SNHL, had a conductive component resulting from MEE/AOM. The children with these pathologies required significantly more HA fitting sessions and hearing tests, fewer real ear to coupler difference (RECD) measurements and longer HA fitting periods. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that a large number of children fitted with HAs have an additional conductive component that makes the fitting process longer. Since early rehabilitation is necessary for language development, otolaryngologists should be aware of the adverse effects of MEE/AOE on the HA fitting process. It is important to inform parents that when there is a conductive component, the HA fitting process may take longer and that treatment by an otolaryngologist is vital. This study stresses the importance of multidisciplinary cooperation for optimal HA fitting.

Perceptions of Preceptors and Audiology Students on Practicum During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to assess the perceptions of audiology students and preceptors regarding changes in the practicum as a result of COVID-19. METHOD: This study was conducted during two different periods, with Internet questionnaires posted on social media forums. Preceptors and newly graduated clinicians were recruited in 2019 for a study prior to COVID-19, and students and preceptors were recruited for comparison during COVID-19. Four groups participated in this study: (a) 101 students who were enrolled in the second, third, or fourth year of an Israeli communication disorders Bachelor of Arts (BA) program during the pandemic; (b) 94 newly graduated audiologists with a BA degree from an Israeli communication disorders program granted in the last 3 years (before COVID-19); (c) 18 audiologist preceptors who supervised audiology practicum in an Israeli communication disorders BA programs (before COVID-19); and (d) 20 audiologist preceptors who, during COVID-19, were supervising an audiology practicum in Israel. Perceptions of the various groups were compared. RESULTS: Although perceptions of preceptors and students regarding the practicum were revealed to be similar, perceptions of the practicum before COVID-19 underwent changes in the course of the pandemic. In evaluating the COVID-19 experience, both preceptors and students agreed that more hours of practicum were needed, as well as more variety in types of cases and exposure to varied placements. CONCLUSION: Academic programs and employers should consider implications of changes implemented in the practicum due to COVID-19, which can be addressed either in continuing education and/or by additional supervision in the future workplace. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.19855639.

Effect of auditory feedback on speech intelligibility of adults with cochlear implants.

PURPOSE: Auditory feedback (AF) contributes to speech intelligibility (SI) which is vital in social interactions to examine AF effect on SI of adults with cochlear implant (CI). The relationship between age of CI implantation and AF on SI was examined as well. METHOD: Twenty native Hebrew speaker pre-lingual adults with a hearing loss using CIs from ages 2 to 19 years. Participants were recorded reading excerpts from a book and word lists from MIDBAR test in two situations-with and without using their CIs. Sixteen judges listened to the recordings and rated the speech characteristics of the participants reading the excerpts using an adapted version of Speech Intelligibility Test and Intelligibility Questionnaire for Teachers. RESULTS: Significant differences were found between the SI of words of those who received CI before and after 3 years. AF effect was found only for the older implantation group. The questionnaire indicates good reliability among all the speech characteristics. The speech characteristics most affected by the AF are the disruption of consonants followed by the varied degrees of intonation precision and nasality. CONCLUSIONS: AF affects speech characteristics differently and is vital to SI. The use of the adapted version of Speech Intelligibility Test and Intelligibility Questionnaire for Teachers can be used clinically to assess SI and rehabilitation of young adults with CI. AF accessed at a younger age decreases the dependency on AF in later years.

Parent Couples' Coping Resources and Involvement in their Children's Intervention Program.

Parental involvement is vital to the implementation of intervention programs for deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children. The current study examined the dyadic relationships between mothers' and fathers' coping resources and their involvement in their child's intervention program. In addition, the moderating roles of parent's gender and family religiosity on the associations between coping resources and involvement were examined. Seventy Jewish couples of parents of DHH children, representing various levels of religiosity, completed questionnaires regarding involvement in their child's intervention program, child acceptance, parental self-efficacy, and perceived social support. Multilevel modeling analyses were used to test actor-partner interdependence. The findings indicated significant actor effects for child acceptance, parental self-efficacy, and social support. All were positively associated with parental involvement. Gender was found to moderate the actor effect of child acceptance. Partner effects were found only for mothers, for child acceptance, and social support. Fathers' child acceptance and social support were negatively associated with mothers' involvement. Religiosity did not moderate neither actor nor partner effects. These results have important implications for planning intervention programs that are sensitive to each of the parent's needs.

The Impact of Childhood Hearing Loss on the Family: Mothers' and Fathers' Stress and Coping Resources.

Parenting children who are deaf or hard of hearing (D/HH) presents unique long-term challenges that can place the parents at a greater risk for elevated levels of parenting stress. Adaptation of families to the various challenges presented by childhood hearing loss is influenced by their personal and social coping resources available for managing these stressors and challenges. The current study examined differences in parenting stress and personal (i.e., acceptance of the child who is D/HH and parents' sense of parenting self-efficacy) and social (i.e., formal and informal social support) coping resources between mothers and fathers of children who are D/HH in the Arab sector in Israel. Further, the study examined the relations between coping resources and parenting stress among these parents. Participants included 30 Israeli Arab mother-father couples (n = 60) having a child who is D/HH aged 3-8 years. Findings revealed no significant differences between mothers and fathers regarding parenting stress, child acceptance, or parental support systems. However, mothers reported significantly higher self-efficacy. In addition, correlation analysis indicated that higher coping resources decreased parenting stress levels. Theoretical and practical implications of parental gender in the context of cultural background are discussed regarding parent intervention programs.