The Impact of Amplification on Cognitive Screening Test Scores.

Hearing loss is associated with cognitive decline in older adults. Research has shown that hearing loss negatively affects cognitive screening test measures as patients may mishear verbally administered questions. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the impact of amplification on performance on a commonly used cognitive screening test.

Effect of Reduced Audibility on Mini-Mental State Examination Scores.

Background: The interaction of audition and cognition has been of interest to researchers and clinicians, especially as the prevalence of hearing loss and cognitive decline increases with advancing age. Cognitive screening tests are commonly used to assess cognitive status in individuals reporting changes in memory or function or to monitor cognitive status over time. These assessments are administered verbally, so performance may be adversely affected by hearing loss.

Implications and attitudes of audiologists towards smartphone integration in hearing healthcare.

Unlabelled: In a relatively short period of time, modern societies have been transformed by the ubiquitous uptake of advanced and portable mobile communication, computation, and sensors available on smartphones. Looking forward, it is anticipated that smartphones will have an increasingly important role in health management including the delivery of hearing healthcare and operation of hearing instruments.

Objective: This paper provides a brief overview of the role of smartphones in audiologic rehabilitation and hearing research and reports on the findings of a survey assessing attitudes of audiologists towards smartphone integration in hearing healthcare.

Equivalence and test-retest reproducibility of conventional and extended-high-frequency audiometric thresholds obtained using pure-tone and narrow-band-noise stimuli.

Objectives: Extended high-frequency (EHF) audiometry is useful for evaluating ototoxic exposures and may relate to speech recognition, localisation and hearing aid benefit. There is a need to determine whether common clinical practice for EHF audiometry using tone and noise stimuli is reliable. We evaluated equivalence and compared test-retest (TRT) reproducibility for audiometric thresholds obtained using pure tones and narrowband noise (NBN) from 0.

Prevalence of tinnitus and noise-induced hearing loss in dentists.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to evaluate noise levels in dental offices and to estimate the risk and prevalence of tinnitus and noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) in practicing dentists.

Materials And Methods: First, measures were collected of sound pressure levels produced by dental handpieces and dental suction in the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC) College of Dentistry. Second, a survey was distributed to members of the Oklahoma Dental Association (ODA).

Effects of advancing age and hearing loss on gaps-in-noise test performance.

Purpose: The present study evaluated the effects of advancing age and sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) on approximate temporal gap detection thresholds obtained from the Gaps-in-Noise (GIN; Musiek et al., 2005) test.

Method: Approximate thresholds from the GIN test were compared among 3 groups of participants (older adults with SNHL, older adults with essentially normal hearing, and young adults with normal hearing).

Psychosocial status of children with auditory processing disorder.

Background: Children with hearing loss often exhibit reduced psychosocial status compared to children with normal hearing. It is reasonable to assume that psychosocial function may also be affected in children diagnosed with auditory processing disorder (APD). However, there are no published studies specifically addressing the psychosocial health of children with APD.

Validity of hearing impairment calculation methods for prediction of self-reported hearing handicap.

Worker's compensation for hearing loss caused by occupational noise exposure is calculated by varying methods, from state to state within the United States (US), with many employing arithmetic formulas based on the pure-tone audiogram, to quantify hearing loss. Several assumptions unsupported or weakly supported by empirical data underlie these formulas. The present study evaluated the ability of various arithmetic hearing impairment calculations to predict a self-reported hearing handicap in a sample of presenting with sensorineural hearing loss.

A case law review of the individuals with disabilities education act for children with hearing loss or auditory processing disorders.

Background: In 1975, Congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (Public Law 94-142), and it has been revised and modified several times. At the time of this writing, this law was most recently amended by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (Pub. L.

Multiple benefits of personal FM system use by children with auditory processing disorder (APD).

Children with auditory processing disorders (APD) were fitted with Phonak EduLink FM devices for home and classroom use. Baseline measures of the children with APD, prior to FM use, documented significantly lower speech-perception scores, evidence of decreased academic performance, and psychosocial problems in comparison to an age- and gender-matched control group. Repeated measures during the school year demonstrated speech-perception improvement in noisy classroom environments as well as significant academic and psychosocial benefits.