Effects of subthalamic deep brain stimulation on dysarthrophonia in Parkinson's disease.

Background: Motor deficits in Parkinson's disease (PD) are reduced by deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN), but the impact of this therapy on dysarthrophonic problems in PD remains controversial. We therefore aimed to disentangle the effects of STN DBS on the speech skills of long-term treated patients.

Methods: Under continued medication, speech and motor functions of 19 patients with PD with bilateral STN DBS were studied when their therapeutic stimulation was active (STIM-ON) versus switched off (STIM-OFF).

[Digital vs. analog hearing aids for children. Is there a method for making an objective comparison possible?].

Until now, the assumed benefits of digital hearing aids are reflected only in subjective descriptions by patients with hearing aids, but cannot be documented adequately by routine diagnostic methods. Seventeen schoolchildren with moderate severe bilateral symmetrical sensorineural hearing loss were examined in a double-blinded crossover study. Differences in performance between a fully digital hearing aid (DigiFocus compact/Oticon) and an analogous digitally programmable two-channel hearing aid were evaluated.

[Phasic audiometry in differential diagnosis of sensorineural hearing loss of different etiology].

An original method of differential diagnosis of neurosensory hypoacusis of different etiology is proposed. It is based on registration of the threshold of hearing a short signal moving from 0 degree to 360 degrees against the fluctuation phase of the masking low-frequency tone. In hydrops of the labyrinth phasic audiogram presents as a straight line and demonstrates the lack of auditory thresholds modulation.

A "virtual hearing aid" for comparing hearing aids in children: a double-blind crossover study.

In this study, a "virtual hearing aid" was used to compare different types of hearing aids. A digital hearing aid (Oticon DigiFocus Compact) and an analogue, automatic reference hearing aid were compared in a group of 17 schoolchildren (median age: 10 years) with moderate to severe, symmetrical, sensorineural hearing loss. Differences in performance were assessed using routine diagnostic methods (speech recognition performance tests, loudness scaling), subjective assessments (questionnaires) and the "virtual hearing aid".

[Is diagnosis of persistent pediatric hearing loss still made too late?].

Since 1994, the German Registry for hearing Loss in Children has registered data of 1500 children and by now can present results concerning the age at diagnosis of permanent hearing loss in children in Germany. The mean age at diagnosis is still very high. There is a strong correlation between age at diagnosis and degree of hearing loss, i.