Publications by authors named "Kai Uus"

Objective: To index levels of hearing loss with respect to area-level indices of deprivation in a Welsh population.

Design: A cross-sectional observational study of all adults (aged >18) that attended Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University (ABMU) Health Board audiology services between 2016 and 2018. Service access, first hearing aid fitting appointment rates and hearing loss at time of first hearing aid provision were used to index population hearing loss versus area-level indices of deprivation based on patient postcode.

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Consistent symptom reporting for conditions like tinnitus that do not have an associated sign is critical for evaluating severity and intervention effectiveness, and for interpreting research findings. There is little research examining reporting of tinnitus and hearing difficulty over time. We address this here by comparing reported hearing difficulty and tinnitus at two time-points.

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There are reports of associations between SARS-CoV2, COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccines, and auditory symptoms (hearing difficulty, tinnitus). However, most studies have relied on self-report and lack baseline and/or non-COVID control groups. This makes it problematic to differentiate if symptoms are associated with SARS-CoV2, COVID-19, the vaccine, psychosocial factors or recall bias.

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This rapid systematic review investigated audio-vestibular symptoms associated with coronavirus. The protocol for the rapid review was registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews and the review methods were developed in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Risk of bias was assessed using the National Institute of Heath quality assessment tools.

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Objectives: With the advent of newborn hearing screening and early intervention, there is a growing interest in using supra-threshold obligatory cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) to complement established pediatric clinical test procedures. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility, and parent acceptability, of recording infant CAEPs.

Design: Typically developing infants (n = 104) who had passed newborn hearing screening and whose parents expressed no hearing concerns were recruited.

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Objectives: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is associated with a variety of sensory complications. Very little attention has been given to auditory neuropathic complications in DM. The aim of this study was to determine whether type 1 DM (T1DM) affects neural coding of the rapid temporal fluctuations of sounds, and how any deficits may impact on behavioral performance.

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Objective: This paper explores parental experiences of choices surrounding auditory management and language and communication development for infants and children with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) in the light of the heterogeneity of condition, a poor evidence base for best outcomes in relation to management options, and the scarcity of data rooted in parent and family experience.

Design: Qualitative narrative study.

Study Sample: Twenty-five parents of 21 children (aged four months to six years) identified with ANSD through the newborn hearing screening programme.

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Objective: This paper presents an insight into the parental experiences of how parents made sense of having their child identified with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD), given the broader context of their child's other health issues.

Design: Qualitative narrative study.

Study Sample: Twenty-one families participated whose children had been identified with ANSD through the newborn hearing screening programme.

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Checking patient understanding, by asking questions about information presented in a medical consultation, is a core communication skill but its use is not frequently assessed. The newborn hearing screening commenced in England with a pilot of its implementation in January 2002. Because it is a new screening test, it provided an opportunity for studying the effective communication of novel information.

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Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness in routine practice of the first phase of a national population-based newborn hearing screening and follow-up program that seeks to identify infants with bilateral permanent hearing loss of > or =40-dB hearing loss.

Methods: The study was a part of the independent evaluation of the 23 first phase sites (annual birth population approximately 120,000) of the national newborn hearing screening program in England. For each infant identified with the defined hearing loss, the measures of interest were degree and type of hearing loss, presence of risk factors, age of first audiologic assessment, age of identification of hearing loss, age of enrollment in an early support program, and age of hearing aid fitting.

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Objectives: To describe the impact upon maternal anxiety of newborn hearing screening and examine the Possible moderating role of knowledge.

Methods: Questionnaires assessing maternal state anxiety, worry and certainty about the baby's hearing, and knowledge about screening, were sent to four groups of mothers three weeks after screening: Group 1 consisted of mothers whose babies had clear responses on a first or second screening test (n=103); Group 2 consisted of mothers whose babies had clear responses on the third screening test (n=81); Group 3 consisted of mothers whose babies did not have clear responses in one ear at the third screening test and were referred for audiological assessment (n=105); and Group 4 consisted of mothers whose babies did not have clear responses in either ear at the third hearing test and were referred for audiological assessment (n=55).

Results: Although mean anxiety levels were in the normal range, there was a significant trend for anxiety to rise as testing increased (F(1,327)=4.

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Background: Children with congenital hearing impairment benefit from early detection and management of their hearing loss. These and related considerations led to the recommendation of universal newborn hearing screening. In 2001 the first phase of a national Newborn Hearing Screening Programme (NHSP) was implemented in England.

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As well as evaluating the newborn hearing screen itself, the government-funded evaluation of the implementation of a Newborn Hearing Screening Programme (NHSP) in England is assessing the impact of the screen on follow-up services. In the UK context, these are principally paediatric audiology, education, and social services. This article presents results from a mixed method research study involving paediatric audiology services specifically.

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Until recently, screening for childhood hearing loss in the UK was based on two universal (i.e. whole population) screens: the infant distraction test screen at age eight months and the school entry hearing screen at age four to five years.

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Background: Newborn hearing screening is currently replacing the health visitor distraction test (HVDT) conducted at eight months. Our previous research indicates that recall for further tests following newborn hearing screening can have a negative impact on the emotional well being of mothers, but it is not known if this is greater than that caused by recall following the distraction test.

Objective: To compare the impact on maternal anxiety and satisfaction of recall following newborn hearing screening and the HVDT.

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In this article, the authors explore the role that characteristics and circumstances attendant on the object of an evaluation might play in the choice of epistemological framework underpinning research design. They consider examples from the consumer-focused evaluation of the introduction of universal newborn hearing screening in England. In particular, they look at how screen- and program-specific issues exerted influence at the levels of epistemology and method, arguing that these choices are not simply a product of values and questions that underpinned one kind of approach to knowledge production in comparison with another.

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The provision and understanding of good quality information is one of the key characteristics of an informed choice. However, written materials alone often fail to achieve good understanding of screening tests. The present study describes the preliminary evaluation of a structured, chart-directed presentation, aimed at increasing knowledge of a screening test.

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