1,720,995 research outputs found
Perceived disability from hearing and voice changes in the elderly
Full text linkAim: Dysphonia and hearing loss are underestimated conditions in the elderly, despite their significant prevalence (18% and 50%, respectively) and their sociopsychological implications. Previous studies have shown that the reason for this lack of consideration is related to the general misconception of a simple age-related issue, as well as to the reduced communication requirements of this population, which can result in infrequent requests/supply of care. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate, within an elderly population, the subjective perception of hearing and voice dysfunctions, the resulting changes in communication skills, and the perception of handicap and disability. Methods: Four anonymous questionnaires were administered to 400 participants (218 men, 182 women) aged older than 65 years, some of whom (276) were hospitalized and some of whom (124) were outpatients. The questionnaires consisted of questions regarding age-related changes in voice, multiple-choice questions on the qualitative characteristics of the voice, questions regarding verbo-acoustic communication (hearing), the Voice Handicap Index, and the Self Assessment of Communication regarding the perception of hearing loss-related handicap and disability. Statistical correlations were calculated for voice dysfunction between the perception of disability and the clinical assessment of voice quality obtained by the Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, Strain scale, and between the perception of disability and the demand for care. Results: More than half of the elderly patients reported not perceiving voice changes throughout their lives. Most of the participants were satisfied with their own voices, although 65% of them judged them to be qualitatively altered, and in 31.5% of the participants, pathology was found on phoniatric evaluation. Low scores for vocal handicap (Voice Handicap Index) were found, and the type of perceived disability was mainly physical, although the association between Voice Handicap Index scores and Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, Strain was statistically significant. A total of 62% of the patients perceived hearing changes over their lifetimes not related to previous ear infections, but significantly correlated with a family history of hearing problems and with the need for specialist consultations. However, the perception of hearing loss handicaps and disability showed lower mean values, showing that older patients recognized dysfunction, but did not consider it to be a disability. Conclusions: The present study showed that, despite the relevant incidence of hearing and voice disorders among the elderly population, the implications for communication abilities seems to be underestimated. Hence, it appears to be extremely important to undergo specialist screening consultations to detect eventual voice and hearing alterations, and to correct them with appropriate therapeutic strategies
Is the Bone-Conduction Headband Test Useful for Predicting the Functional Outcome of a Round Window Active Middle Ear Implant?
No full textObjective: To estimate the reliability of the Bone Conduction-HeadBand (BC-HB) test for predicting the postoperative functional outcome of a round-window (RW) vibroplasty. Study Design: Within-subject comparison of the functional results of the BC-HB test, which is routinely used for the preoperative evaluation of a bone-conduction transducer, with an active middle ear implant (AMEI) placed onto the round window. Setting: Tertiary referral university hospital center. Patients: Seven patients with similar anatomic (absent stapes superstructure) and functional (moderate, mixed hearing loss) sequelae from open tympanoplasty technique. Intervention: All subjects underwent preoperative audiologic assessment with the BC-HB. Subsequently, all subjects underwent surgical placement of an AMEI onto the round window. Main Outcome Measure: Pure tone and speech audiometry in quiet and noise were assessed. Additionally, evaluation of specific satisfactory targets was performed using the Client Oriented Scale of Improvement. Results: Pure tone and speech audiometry in quiet established that both devices had very similar performance and provided remarkable improvement compared with the unaided condition. However, high-frequency gain and speech audiometry in noise demonstrated better performance with RW-AMEI. Conclusion: In patients presenting with mixed hearing loss as a sequela from middle ear surgery, the preoperative BC-HB test may be helpful in predicting the final functional outcome and patient satisfaction with RW-AMEI
Inner Ear Active Hearing Device in Non-Otosclerotic, Severe, Mixed Hearing Loss
Full text linkOBJECTIVE:
To verify the efficacy of a powerful active hearing device in a patient different from far-advanced otosclerosis, specifically when the stapes footplate is mobile.
PATIENT:
A patient with severe-to-profound mixed hearing loss, who was not benefiting from the use of a conventional hearing aid, was selected for an inner ear active implant. This was justified by a bone conductive threshold above 60 dB, which had discouraged any other rehabilitative solutions such as a bone conductive implant, or an active middle ear implant (AMEI).
INTERVENTION:
The hearing device was surgically applied using a combined transmastoid/transcanal approach. During surgery, a mobile stapes were found and was perforated for the insertion of a piston prosthesis, crimped on the new-incus of the device.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE:
The bone conduction threshold was assessed postoperatively to identify any possible surgery-related hearing deterioration. Pure tone audiometry was conducted in a sound field, and a speech reception threshold test was performed with the contralateral ear masked. The hearing outcome was assessed soon after the implant activation (6 weeks after surgery), and 6 months after surgery.
RESULTS:
Upon activation of the device, a PTA of 45 dB was obtained (at 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 kHz). At 6 months after surgery, the speech discrimination score reached 90% at 80 dB SPL.
CONCLUSION:
The application of the Codacs device has shown to be compatible with a mobile stapes footplate, as demonstrated in this report. The footplate perforation did not cause any further hearing deterioration, and has allowed to achieve a favorable auditory outcome
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Bone conductive implants in single sided deafness
Full text linkConclusion: The Bone Conductive Implants (BCI) showed to partly restore some of the functions lost when the binaural hearing is missing, such as in the single-sided deafness (SSD) subjects. The adoption of the single BCI needs to be advised by the clinician on the ground of a thorough counselling with the SSD subject.
Objectives: To perform an overview of the present possibilities of BCI in SSD and to evaluate the reliability of the audiological evaluation for assessing the speech recognition in noise and the sound localization cues, as major problems related to the loss of binaural hearing.
Method: Nine SSD subjects who underwent BCI implantation underwent a pre-operative audiological evaluation, consisting in the soundfield speech audiometry, as word recognition score (WRS) and sound localization, in quiet and in noise. Moreover, they were also tested for the accuracy of directional word recognition in noise and with the subjective evaluation with APHAB questionnaire.
Results: The mean maximum percentage of word discrimination was 65.5% in the unaided condition and 78.9% in the BCI condition. The sound localization in noise with the BCI was better than the unaided condition, especially when stimulus and noise were on the same side of the implanted ear. The accuracy of directional word recognition showed to improve with BCI in respect to the unaided condition, in the BCI side, with either the stimulus on the implanted ear and the noise in the contralateral ear, or when both stimulus and noise were deliver to implanted ear
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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