Auditory brainstem response in gas station attendants.

Unlabelled: Ototoxicity of organic solvents can affect the hearing system up to the cochlea level and the central structures of hearing.

Objective: To evaluate the neurophysiological integrity of the hearing system in subjects exposed to fuels using ABR.

Method: Prospective study.

Brain stem evoked response audiometry of former drug users.

Unlabelled: Illicit drugs are known for their deleterious effects upon the central nervous system and more specifically for how they adversely affect hearing.

Objective: This study aims to analyze and compare the hearing complaints and the results of brainstem evoked response audiometry (BERA) of former drug user support group goers.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional non-experimental descriptive quantitative study.

Occurrence and suppression effect of otoacoustic emissions in normal hearing adults with tinnitus and hyperacusis.

Unlabelled: The association between tinnitus and hyperacusis is common according to the literature.

Aim: To verify the occurrence and the suppression effect of transient otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE), the existence of association between tinnitus degrees and hyperacusis degrees, and between the suppressive effect of TEOAE and laterality, tinnitus and hyperacusis degrees in normal hearing adults with complaints of tinnitus and hyperacusis.

Materials And Methods: 25 normal hearing subjects with complaints of hyperacusis and tinnitus were studied in this cross-sectional study.

Function of the medial olivocochlear system in children with phonological disorders.

Purpose: To verify whether children with phonological disorders present alterations in the medial olivocochlear system.

Methods: This is a prospective cross-sectional study in which 19 normal hearing children of both genders, with ages between 4 and 7 years, were divided into two groups: 11 children without phonological disorders (control group) and eight with phonological disorders (study group). The auditory condition was verified by visual examination of the external ear canal, pure tone audiometry, and tympanometry.

Cisplatin effects on guinea pigs: cochlear histology and genotoxicity.

Unlabelled: To understand how the DNA answers to external agents such as cisplatin may be relevant to the diagnosis and treatment of hearing disorders caused by the administration of such drug.

Objectives: To investigate the cisplatin influence on the cochlea and DNA of guinea pigs.

Material And Methods: Experimental study carried out with 12 guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus).

Effectiveness of a noise control program in a neonatal intensive care unit.

Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of a noise control program in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Hospital Universitário Santa Maria (NICU-HUSM) in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Methods: NICU-HUSM professionals were initially contacted through informal interviews during the morning, afternoon and night shifts. Leaflets were delivered and posters were installed to raise awareness of the harmful effects of noise on neonates and professionals and to suggest behavioral changes to reduce noise levels.

Habituation of the blink reflex in the neonatal period and development of auditory processing.

Objective: To check the existence of an association between the presence/absence of the blink reflex habituation in the neonatal period and auditory processing development.

Methods: The occurrence of blink reflex habituation was studied in 33 neurologically normal neonates, aged between 9 and 25 months, who had their behavioral responses analyzed and classified according to Azevedo (1993). Habituation of the blink reflex was verified using 90-dB sound stimulus.

[Recognition of speech in noise and relations with suppression of otoacoustic emissions and the acoustic reflex].

Subjects presenting difficulties in understanding speech with competing sounds may have absence of otoacoustic emission suppression and the acoustic reflex. To study the performance of the efferent auditory system in normal hearing subjects complaining of difficulties to understand speech in noise. A prospective study comprising 50 normal-hearing subjects aged from 19 to 32 years, reporting difficulties with speech recognition in noise (with complaints - WC) or not (with no complaints - WNC).

[Association between auditory pathway efferent functions and genotoxicity in young adults].

Efferent auditory pathways modulate outer hair cells of the cochlea, protect against noise, and improve the detection of sound sources in noisy environments. Genotoxicity is DNA damage. To study the association between auditory pathway efferent functions with genotoxic markers.