Development and accuracy of a hearing screening application.

Introduction: Hearing impairment, or hearing loss, can be caused by several factors and the implications vary according to the type, degree, cause and age of occurrence. Hearing screening should be a common procedure, allowing the pre-clinical identification and necessary referrals, avoiding the consequences of auditory deprivation. Mobile apps have shown to be a good alternative for hearing assessment.

Questionnaires and checklists for central auditory processing screening used in Brazil: a systematic review.

Introduction: The action of listening involves a complex interaction between the peripheral and central auditory systems. Central auditory processing disorder can be described as any problem in one or more auditory abilities. Literature reports that behavioral questionnaires and checklists can be applied to screen individuals at risk for central auditory processing disorder.

Impact of Lipid-Inflammatory-Oxidative Metabolism on Auditory Skills after Hearing Aid Fitting in the Elderly.

This study aimed to assess whether lipid-inflammatory-oxidative metabolism influences auditory processing skills, and whether they function in changing auditory performance after hearing aid fitting in the elderly. Twelve subjects with bilateral hearing loss were submitted to blood tests (to check their lipid-inflammatory-oxidative metabolism) and auditory processing skill tests. After 3 months of using the hearing aids, their auditory skills were re-evaluated and the data were correlated statistically.

Proposal for implementing the Sentence Recognition Index in individuals with hearing disorders.

Purpose: To present and describe a new strategy and protocol for obtaining the Sentences Recognition Indexes (SRI), using the Lists of Phrases in Portuguese test (LPP), considering words in the analysis of responses; to analyze and compare the results using the previous and the new strategies by checking their applicability and suitability.

Methods: To consider each word of the sentence, words were classified according to their importance: functional and content words, assigning them, respectively, two and one points. SRI were obtained in 33 normal hearing adults, and results were compared using the two strategies.

The impact of speech rate on sentence recognition by elderly individuals.

Unlabelled: Difficulty understanding speech, particularly in situations unfavorable to communication, is a common complaint among elderly individuals.

Objective: to verify the variables connected to hearing loss and stimulus presentation rate and their impact on the speech recognition skills of elderly subjects in quiet and noisy environments.

Method: this case-control study included two groups of subjects (31 elderly subjects with normal hearing and 26 with hearing loss) exposed to the List of Sentences in Portuguese and the Slowed List of Sentences in Portuguese tests.

Survey and data analysis of patients treated in a hearing aids grant program.

Purpose: To establish a profile of the patients treated in a Hearing Aids Grant Program of the Brazilian Ministry of Health, by analyzing the variables: age, sex, type and degree of hearing loss, number of aided patients, adaptation type (unilateral or bilateral), and adapted ear.

Methods: This is a descriptive observational study, retrospective in a cross-sectional perspective, which included patients treated between February 2006 and July 2010, totaling 1,572 individuals;

Results: Their ages ranged from 3 to 100 years, mostly elderly (52.8%), with no frequency difference between the sexes.

Results of auditory rehabilitation in elderly users of hearing aids evaluated by a dichotic test.

Purpose: To verify the effects of auditory rehabilitation through the analysis of quantitative and qualitative aspects of the Staggered Spondaic Word Test (SSW) in elderly people who have recently started wearing hearing aids.

Methods: The study included 17 elderly people, who have recently started wearing hearing aids, aged between 60 and 84 years old, divided into two groups: G1, for those who only wore hearing aids, and G2, for those submitted to an auditory rehabilitation program structured in seven sessions, including auditory counseling and training. All subjects were evaluated with the SSW test at two different moments, the beginning and the end of the study.