Tinnitus Talk

Tinnitus is a common condition that affects approximately one out of five people at some point in their life. Yet, the irritating symptoms can often make it feel as though you are the only one suffering. It can also be challenging to keep up with all of the latest research and to find others who can share their experiences with the many different treatment strategies that are available for tinnitus. Fortunately, Tinnitus Talk provides one central location that you can visit to find out everything you need about living with constant sounds in your ear.

Catch Up On the Latest Research
Whether you are interested in genetic therapy or inner ear cell regeneration, you will find what you are looking for on Tinnitus Talk. Every day, members of the forum add new articles that explain the latest science behind tinnitus treatments. You can also read the opinions of others who are both inside and outside of the scientific community. Knowing the latest research will give you a starting point when discussing potential treatments with your physician.

Chat with Doctors
Sometimes, you may have a question that only a doctor can answer, but it’s after your regular doctor’s hours. Or, you may be curious about something you are nervous about bringing up in front of someone you know. On Tinnitus Talk, several doctors are part of the community, and they use their free time to educate others about tinnitus. While they cannot comment on individual cases due to the need for an exam, they can provide general information about things they see every day in their practice.

Find Peer Support
Although your family and friends try to provide support, only someone with tinnitus can truly understand what you are going through. Tinnitus Talk has several different forums where you can meet other people with your specific type of tinnitus. There are also areas where you can chat about the emotional aspects of living with the condition, or you can enjoy an off-topic chat to get your mind off of it. Whichever you choose, you can know that you have found a friend who truly understands tinnitus.

When you live with tinnitus, it is important to have a full range of support. For this reason, Tinnitus Talk is a place where many people go to find friends and information that can help with treatment and coping strategies. By exploring the forum, you can learn more than you ever thought you could about managing your symptoms.

 

---

from #Audiology via xlomafota13 on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1SKMej0
via IFTTT

An Investigation of Language Environment Analysis Measures for Spanish–English Bilingual Preschoolers From Migrant Low-Socioeconomic-Status Backgrounds

Purpose

The current study was designed to (a) describe average hourly Language Environment Analysis (LENA) data for preschool-age Spanish–English bilinguals (SEBs) and typically developing monolingual peers and (b) compare LENA data with mean length of utterance in words (MLUw) and total number of words (TNW) calculated on a selected sample of consecutive excerpts of audio files (CEAFs).

Method

Investigators examined average hourly child vocalizations from daylong LENA samples for 42 SEBs and 39 monolingual English-speaking preschoolers. The relationship between average hourly child vocalizations, conversational turns, and adult words from the daylong samples and MLUw from a 50-utterance CEAF was examined and compared between groups.

Results

MLUw, TNW, average hourly child vocalizations, and conversational turns were lower for young SEBs than monolingual English-speaking peers. Average hourly child vocalizations were not strongly related to MLUw performance for monolingual or SEB participants (r = .29, r = .25, respectively). In a similar manner, average hourly conversational turns were not strongly related to MLUw for either group (r = .22, r = .21, respectively).

Conclusions

Young SEBs from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds showed lower average performance on LENA measures, MLUw, and TNW than monolingual English-speaking peers. MLUw from monolinguals were also lower than typical expectations when derived from CEAFs. LENA technology may be a promising tool for communication sampling with SEBs; however, more research is needed to establish norms for interpreting MLUw and TNW from selected CEAF samples.

from #Audiology via xlomafota13 on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1Uy6hl4
via IFTTT

Exploring the Utility of a School-Age Narrative Microstructure Index: Proportion of Restricted Utterances

Purpose

This research attempted to replicate Hoffman's 2009 finding that the proportion of narrative utterances with semantic or syntactic errors (i.e., ≥ 14% “restricted utterances”) can differentiate school-age children with typical development from those with language impairment with a sensitivity of 83% and specificity of 88%.

Method

Methods similar to Hoffman (2009) were used to evaluate an existing set of narratives from 16 age-matched pairs of 8- to 9-year-old children, half with known language impairment. Transcripts were segmented into T-units; a code of [RESTRICTED] was assigned to any utterance with semantic or syntactic errors.

Results

A Welch's t test for independent samples revealed a statistically significant difference in the mean proportion of restricted utterances between the two groups after accommodation for an outlier with typical development. A cutoff of ≥ 14% restricted utterances replicated Hoffman's (2009) sensitivity but not specificity. Post hoc analysis of specific error types found sensitivity and specificity rates similar to Hoffman's as well as a significant difference in means when using a proportion of sentence–internal morphosyntactic errors.

Conclusion

Results support further exploration of utterance-level error coding for diagnostic purposes and future development of this approach to meet clinical assessment needs.

from #Audiology via xlomafota13 on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1q4bKm5
via IFTTT

Secondary School Teachers' Beliefs, Attitudes, and Reactions to Stuttering

Purpose

The study identifies teachers' beliefs about and attitudes toward stuttering and explores to what extent these beliefs and attitudes prompt specific teachers' reactions to the stuttering of a student.

Method

Participants were teachers in secondary education in Flanders (Belgium), currently teaching an adolescent who stutters. They were the student's class teacher or instructed a course in which communication is important. Ten semistructured interviews were conducted and analyzed thematically.

Results

Teachers believed that (a) when peers do not react to the stuttering, the lesson is not disrupted by it, and the student who stutters participates in the lesson, stuttering is not necessarily a problem; (b) when attention is paid to it, stuttering can become a problem; (c) they try to react as little as possible to the stuttering; and (d) they seldom talk about the stuttering.

Conclusion

Although teachers reported that they feel confident in how to deal with stuttering, and although it is possible that students who stutter do not feel the need to talk about their stuttering, teachers could consult their students on this matter. This way, they would acknowledge the stuttering and likely encourage the students to approach them when they feel the need.

from #Audiology via xlomafota13 on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1XtPrkQ
via IFTTT

Using Language Sample Analysis to Assess Spoken Language Production in Adolescents

Purpose

This tutorial discusses the importance of language sample analysis and how Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT) software can be used to simplify the process and effectively assess the spoken language production of adolescents.

Method

Over the past 30 years, thousands of language samples have been collected from typical speakers, aged 3–18 years, in conversational and narrative contexts. These samples have been formatted as reference databases included with SALT. Using the SALT software, individual samples are compared with age- and grade-matched samples selected from these databases.

Results

Two case studies illustrate that comparison with database samples of typical adolescents, matched by grade and elicitation context, highlights language measures that are higher or lower than the database mean values. Differences in values are measured in standard deviations.

Conclusion

Language sample analysis remains a powerful method of documenting language use in everyday speaking situations. A sample of talking reveals an individual's ability to meet specific speaking demands. These demands vary across contexts, and speakers can have difficulty in any one or all of these communication tasks. Language use for spoken communication is a foundation for literacy attainment and contributes to success in navigating relationships for school, work, and community participation.

from #Audiology via xlomafota13 on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1RIZiiW
via IFTTT

An Investigation of Language Environment Analysis Measures for Spanish–English Bilingual Preschoolers From Migrant Low-Socioeconomic-Status Backgrounds

Purpose

The current study was designed to (a) describe average hourly Language Environment Analysis (LENA) data for preschool-age Spanish–English bilinguals (SEBs) and typically developing monolingual peers and (b) compare LENA data with mean length of utterance in words (MLUw) and total number of words (TNW) calculated on a selected sample of consecutive excerpts of audio files (CEAFs).

Method

Investigators examined average hourly child vocalizations from daylong LENA samples for 42 SEBs and 39 monolingual English-speaking preschoolers. The relationship between average hourly child vocalizations, conversational turns, and adult words from the daylong samples and MLUw from a 50-utterance CEAF was examined and compared between groups.

Results

MLUw, TNW, average hourly child vocalizations, and conversational turns were lower for young SEBs than monolingual English-speaking peers. Average hourly child vocalizations were not strongly related to MLUw performance for monolingual or SEB participants (r = .29, r = .25, respectively). In a similar manner, average hourly conversational turns were not strongly related to MLUw for either group (r = .22, r = .21, respectively).

Conclusions

Young SEBs from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds showed lower average performance on LENA measures, MLUw, and TNW than monolingual English-speaking peers. MLUw from monolinguals were also lower than typical expectations when derived from CEAFs. LENA technology may be a promising tool for communication sampling with SEBs; however, more research is needed to establish norms for interpreting MLUw and TNW from selected CEAF samples.

from #Audiology via ola Kala on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1Uy6hl4
via IFTTT

Exploring the Utility of a School-Age Narrative Microstructure Index: Proportion of Restricted Utterances

Purpose

This research attempted to replicate Hoffman's 2009 finding that the proportion of narrative utterances with semantic or syntactic errors (i.e., ≥ 14% “restricted utterances”) can differentiate school-age children with typical development from those with language impairment with a sensitivity of 83% and specificity of 88%.

Method

Methods similar to Hoffman (2009) were used to evaluate an existing set of narratives from 16 age-matched pairs of 8- to 9-year-old children, half with known language impairment. Transcripts were segmented into T-units; a code of [RESTRICTED] was assigned to any utterance with semantic or syntactic errors.

Results

A Welch's t test for independent samples revealed a statistically significant difference in the mean proportion of restricted utterances between the two groups after accommodation for an outlier with typical development. A cutoff of ≥ 14% restricted utterances replicated Hoffman's (2009) sensitivity but not specificity. Post hoc analysis of specific error types found sensitivity and specificity rates similar to Hoffman's as well as a significant difference in means when using a proportion of sentence–internal morphosyntactic errors.

Conclusion

Results support further exploration of utterance-level error coding for diagnostic purposes and future development of this approach to meet clinical assessment needs.

from #Audiology via ola Kala on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1q4bKm5
via IFTTT

Secondary School Teachers' Beliefs, Attitudes, and Reactions to Stuttering

Purpose

The study identifies teachers' beliefs about and attitudes toward stuttering and explores to what extent these beliefs and attitudes prompt specific teachers' reactions to the stuttering of a student.

Method

Participants were teachers in secondary education in Flanders (Belgium), currently teaching an adolescent who stutters. They were the student's class teacher or instructed a course in which communication is important. Ten semistructured interviews were conducted and analyzed thematically.

Results

Teachers believed that (a) when peers do not react to the stuttering, the lesson is not disrupted by it, and the student who stutters participates in the lesson, stuttering is not necessarily a problem; (b) when attention is paid to it, stuttering can become a problem; (c) they try to react as little as possible to the stuttering; and (d) they seldom talk about the stuttering.

Conclusion

Although teachers reported that they feel confident in how to deal with stuttering, and although it is possible that students who stutter do not feel the need to talk about their stuttering, teachers could consult their students on this matter. This way, they would acknowledge the stuttering and likely encourage the students to approach them when they feel the need.

from #Audiology via ola Kala on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1XtPrkQ
via IFTTT

Using Language Sample Analysis to Assess Spoken Language Production in Adolescents

Purpose

This tutorial discusses the importance of language sample analysis and how Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT) software can be used to simplify the process and effectively assess the spoken language production of adolescents.

Method

Over the past 30 years, thousands of language samples have been collected from typical speakers, aged 3–18 years, in conversational and narrative contexts. These samples have been formatted as reference databases included with SALT. Using the SALT software, individual samples are compared with age- and grade-matched samples selected from these databases.

Results

Two case studies illustrate that comparison with database samples of typical adolescents, matched by grade and elicitation context, highlights language measures that are higher or lower than the database mean values. Differences in values are measured in standard deviations.

Conclusion

Language sample analysis remains a powerful method of documenting language use in everyday speaking situations. A sample of talking reveals an individual's ability to meet specific speaking demands. These demands vary across contexts, and speakers can have difficulty in any one or all of these communication tasks. Language use for spoken communication is a foundation for literacy attainment and contributes to success in navigating relationships for school, work, and community participation.

from #Audiology via ola Kala on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1RIZiiW
via IFTTT

An Investigation of Language Environment Analysis Measures for Spanish–English Bilingual Preschoolers From Migrant Low-Socioeconomic-Status Backgrounds

Purpose

The current study was designed to (a) describe average hourly Language Environment Analysis (LENA) data for preschool-age Spanish–English bilinguals (SEBs) and typically developing monolingual peers and (b) compare LENA data with mean length of utterance in words (MLUw) and total number of words (TNW) calculated on a selected sample of consecutive excerpts of audio files (CEAFs).

Method

Investigators examined average hourly child vocalizations from daylong LENA samples for 42 SEBs and 39 monolingual English-speaking preschoolers. The relationship between average hourly child vocalizations, conversational turns, and adult words from the daylong samples and MLUw from a 50-utterance CEAF was examined and compared between groups.

Results

MLUw, TNW, average hourly child vocalizations, and conversational turns were lower for young SEBs than monolingual English-speaking peers. Average hourly child vocalizations were not strongly related to MLUw performance for monolingual or SEB participants (r = .29, r = .25, respectively). In a similar manner, average hourly conversational turns were not strongly related to MLUw for either group (r = .22, r = .21, respectively).

Conclusions

Young SEBs from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds showed lower average performance on LENA measures, MLUw, and TNW than monolingual English-speaking peers. MLUw from monolinguals were also lower than typical expectations when derived from CEAFs. LENA technology may be a promising tool for communication sampling with SEBs; however, more research is needed to establish norms for interpreting MLUw and TNW from selected CEAF samples.

from #Audiology via ola Kala on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1Uy6hl4
via IFTTT

Exploring the Utility of a School-Age Narrative Microstructure Index: Proportion of Restricted Utterances

Purpose

This research attempted to replicate Hoffman's 2009 finding that the proportion of narrative utterances with semantic or syntactic errors (i.e., ≥ 14% “restricted utterances”) can differentiate school-age children with typical development from those with language impairment with a sensitivity of 83% and specificity of 88%.

Method

Methods similar to Hoffman (2009) were used to evaluate an existing set of narratives from 16 age-matched pairs of 8- to 9-year-old children, half with known language impairment. Transcripts were segmented into T-units; a code of [RESTRICTED] was assigned to any utterance with semantic or syntactic errors.

Results

A Welch's t test for independent samples revealed a statistically significant difference in the mean proportion of restricted utterances between the two groups after accommodation for an outlier with typical development. A cutoff of ≥ 14% restricted utterances replicated Hoffman's (2009) sensitivity but not specificity. Post hoc analysis of specific error types found sensitivity and specificity rates similar to Hoffman's as well as a significant difference in means when using a proportion of sentence–internal morphosyntactic errors.

Conclusion

Results support further exploration of utterance-level error coding for diagnostic purposes and future development of this approach to meet clinical assessment needs.

from #Audiology via ola Kala on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1q4bKm5
via IFTTT

Secondary School Teachers' Beliefs, Attitudes, and Reactions to Stuttering

Purpose

The study identifies teachers' beliefs about and attitudes toward stuttering and explores to what extent these beliefs and attitudes prompt specific teachers' reactions to the stuttering of a student.

Method

Participants were teachers in secondary education in Flanders (Belgium), currently teaching an adolescent who stutters. They were the student's class teacher or instructed a course in which communication is important. Ten semistructured interviews were conducted and analyzed thematically.

Results

Teachers believed that (a) when peers do not react to the stuttering, the lesson is not disrupted by it, and the student who stutters participates in the lesson, stuttering is not necessarily a problem; (b) when attention is paid to it, stuttering can become a problem; (c) they try to react as little as possible to the stuttering; and (d) they seldom talk about the stuttering.

Conclusion

Although teachers reported that they feel confident in how to deal with stuttering, and although it is possible that students who stutter do not feel the need to talk about their stuttering, teachers could consult their students on this matter. This way, they would acknowledge the stuttering and likely encourage the students to approach them when they feel the need.

from #Audiology via ola Kala on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1XtPrkQ
via IFTTT

Using Language Sample Analysis to Assess Spoken Language Production in Adolescents

Purpose

This tutorial discusses the importance of language sample analysis and how Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT) software can be used to simplify the process and effectively assess the spoken language production of adolescents.

Method

Over the past 30 years, thousands of language samples have been collected from typical speakers, aged 3–18 years, in conversational and narrative contexts. These samples have been formatted as reference databases included with SALT. Using the SALT software, individual samples are compared with age- and grade-matched samples selected from these databases.

Results

Two case studies illustrate that comparison with database samples of typical adolescents, matched by grade and elicitation context, highlights language measures that are higher or lower than the database mean values. Differences in values are measured in standard deviations.

Conclusion

Language sample analysis remains a powerful method of documenting language use in everyday speaking situations. A sample of talking reveals an individual's ability to meet specific speaking demands. These demands vary across contexts, and speakers can have difficulty in any one or all of these communication tasks. Language use for spoken communication is a foundation for literacy attainment and contributes to success in navigating relationships for school, work, and community participation.

from #Audiology via ola Kala on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1RIZiiW
via IFTTT

Pediatric Audiology Report: Assessment and Revision of an Audiology Report Written to Parents of Children With Hearing Impairment

Objective

The purpose of this study was twofold: first, to evaluate a typical pediatric diagnostic audiology report to establish its readability and comprehensibility for parents and, second, to revise the report to improve its readability, as well as the comprehension, sense of self-efficacy, and positive opinions of parent readers.

Method

In Experiment 1, a mock audiology report was evaluated via a readability analysis and semistructured interviews with 5 parents. In Experiment 2, the report was revised using best practice guidelines and parental recommendations from Experiment 1. The revision was verified by randomly assigning 32 new parent participants to read either the revised or unrevised report before their comprehension, self-efficacy, and opinions were assessed.

Results

In Experiment 1, results confirmed that the report was difficult to read and understand. In Experiment 2, parents who read the revised report had significantly greater comprehension, self-efficacy, and opinion ratings than those who read the unrevised report. In addition, the readability of the revised report was markedly improved compared with the unrevised report.

Conclusions

This study shows that pediatric diagnostic audiology reports can be revised to adhere to best practice guidelines and yield improved readability, in addition to improving the comprehension, sense of self-efficacy, and positive opinions of parents of children with hearing impairment.

from #Audiology via ola Kala on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1SJVrrS
via IFTTT

The Production of Complement Clauses in Children With Language Impairment

Purpose

The purpose of this research was to provide a comprehensive description of complement-clause production in children with language impairment. Complement clauses were examined with respect to types of complement structure produced, verb use, and both semantic and syntactic accuracy.

Method

A group of 17 children with language impairment (mean age = 6;10 [years; months]) was compared with a group of 17 younger children with typical language development (mean age = 4;6). Examples of both nonfinite complements with different subjects and sentential complements involving a range of complement-taking verbs were collected using specially designed elicitation tasks.

Results

The children with language impairment were able to construct both types of complement clauses, had access to a range of verbs that are utilized within these constructions, and had knowledge of the grammatical constraints imposed by these verbs. However, they were more restricted in their production of sentential complements and produced significantly fewer semantically accurate complements (both finite and nonfinite) than the children with typical language development.

Conclusion

Children with language impairment evidenced deviant rather than merely delayed development in the area of complement-clause production. Complex sentences such as complement clauses need to be targeted in language intervention programs.

from #Audiology via ola Kala on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1pzozV6
via IFTTT

Pediatric Audiology Report: Assessment and Revision of an Audiology Report Written to Parents of Children With Hearing Impairment

Objective

The purpose of this study was twofold: first, to evaluate a typical pediatric diagnostic audiology report to establish its readability and comprehensibility for parents and, second, to revise the report to improve its readability, as well as the comprehension, sense of self-efficacy, and positive opinions of parent readers.

Method

In Experiment 1, a mock audiology report was evaluated via a readability analysis and semistructured interviews with 5 parents. In Experiment 2, the report was revised using best practice guidelines and parental recommendations from Experiment 1. The revision was verified by randomly assigning 32 new parent participants to read either the revised or unrevised report before their comprehension, self-efficacy, and opinions were assessed.

Results

In Experiment 1, results confirmed that the report was difficult to read and understand. In Experiment 2, parents who read the revised report had significantly greater comprehension, self-efficacy, and opinion ratings than those who read the unrevised report. In addition, the readability of the revised report was markedly improved compared with the unrevised report.

Conclusions

This study shows that pediatric diagnostic audiology reports can be revised to adhere to best practice guidelines and yield improved readability, in addition to improving the comprehension, sense of self-efficacy, and positive opinions of parents of children with hearing impairment.

from #Audiology via ola Kala on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1SJVrrS
via IFTTT

The Production of Complement Clauses in Children With Language Impairment

Purpose

The purpose of this research was to provide a comprehensive description of complement-clause production in children with language impairment. Complement clauses were examined with respect to types of complement structure produced, verb use, and both semantic and syntactic accuracy.

Method

A group of 17 children with language impairment (mean age = 6;10 [years; months]) was compared with a group of 17 younger children with typical language development (mean age = 4;6). Examples of both nonfinite complements with different subjects and sentential complements involving a range of complement-taking verbs were collected using specially designed elicitation tasks.

Results

The children with language impairment were able to construct both types of complement clauses, had access to a range of verbs that are utilized within these constructions, and had knowledge of the grammatical constraints imposed by these verbs. However, they were more restricted in their production of sentential complements and produced significantly fewer semantically accurate complements (both finite and nonfinite) than the children with typical language development.

Conclusion

Children with language impairment evidenced deviant rather than merely delayed development in the area of complement-clause production. Complex sentences such as complement clauses need to be targeted in language intervention programs.

from #Audiology via ola Kala on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1pzozV6
via IFTTT

Pediatric Audiology Report: Assessment and Revision of an Audiology Report Written to Parents of Children With Hearing Impairment

Objective

The purpose of this study was twofold: first, to evaluate a typical pediatric diagnostic audiology report to establish its readability and comprehensibility for parents and, second, to revise the report to improve its readability, as well as the comprehension, sense of self-efficacy, and positive opinions of parent readers.

Method

In Experiment 1, a mock audiology report was evaluated via a readability analysis and semistructured interviews with 5 parents. In Experiment 2, the report was revised using best practice guidelines and parental recommendations from Experiment 1. The revision was verified by randomly assigning 32 new parent participants to read either the revised or unrevised report before their comprehension, self-efficacy, and opinions were assessed.

Results

In Experiment 1, results confirmed that the report was difficult to read and understand. In Experiment 2, parents who read the revised report had significantly greater comprehension, self-efficacy, and opinion ratings than those who read the unrevised report. In addition, the readability of the revised report was markedly improved compared with the unrevised report.

Conclusions

This study shows that pediatric diagnostic audiology reports can be revised to adhere to best practice guidelines and yield improved readability, in addition to improving the comprehension, sense of self-efficacy, and positive opinions of parents of children with hearing impairment.

from #Audiology via xlomafota13 on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1SJVrrS
via IFTTT

The Production of Complement Clauses in Children With Language Impairment

Purpose

The purpose of this research was to provide a comprehensive description of complement-clause production in children with language impairment. Complement clauses were examined with respect to types of complement structure produced, verb use, and both semantic and syntactic accuracy.

Method

A group of 17 children with language impairment (mean age = 6;10 [years; months]) was compared with a group of 17 younger children with typical language development (mean age = 4;6). Examples of both nonfinite complements with different subjects and sentential complements involving a range of complement-taking verbs were collected using specially designed elicitation tasks.

Results

The children with language impairment were able to construct both types of complement clauses, had access to a range of verbs that are utilized within these constructions, and had knowledge of the grammatical constraints imposed by these verbs. However, they were more restricted in their production of sentential complements and produced significantly fewer semantically accurate complements (both finite and nonfinite) than the children with typical language development.

Conclusion

Children with language impairment evidenced deviant rather than merely delayed development in the area of complement-clause production. Complex sentences such as complement clauses need to be targeted in language intervention programs.

from #Audiology via xlomafota13 on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1pzozV6
via IFTTT

Tinnitus Suppression by Intracochlear Electrical Stimulation in Single Sided Deafness – A Prospective Clinical Trial: Follow-Up

by Remo A. G. J. Arts, Erwin L. J. George, Miranda Janssen, Andreas Griessner, Clemens Zierhofer, Robert J. Stokroos

Introduction

Earlier studies show that a Cochlear Implant (CI), capable of providing intracochlear electrical stimulation independent of environmental sounds, appears to suppress tinnitus at least for minutes. The current main objective is to compare the long-term suppressive effects of looped (i.e. repeated) electrical stimulation (without environmental sound perception) with the standard stimulation pattern of a CI (with environmental sound perception). This could open new possibilities for the development of a “Tinnitus Implant” (TI), an intracochlear pulse generator for the suppression of tinnitus.

Materials and Methods

Ten patients with single sided deafness suffering from unilateral tinnitus in the deaf ear are fitted with a CI (MED-EL Corporation, Innsbruck, Austria). Stimulation patterns are optimized for each individual patient, after which they are compared using a randomized crossover design, with a follow-up of six months, followed by a 3 month period using the modality of patient’s choice.

Results

Results show that tinnitus can be suppressed with intracochlear electrical stimulation independent of environmental sounds, even long term. No significant difference in tinnitus suppression was found between the standard clinical CI and the TI.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that coding of environmental sounds is no requirement for tinnitus suppression with intracochlear electrical stimulation. It is therefore plausible that tinnitus suppression by CI is not solely caused by an attention shift from the tinnitus to environmental sounds. Both the standard clinical CI and the experimental TI are potential treatment options for tinnitus. These findings offer perspectives for a successful clinical application of the TI, possibly even in patients with significant residual hearing.

Trial Registration

TrialRegister.nl NTR3374

from #Audiology via xlomafota13 on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1SFpVYJ
via IFTTT

It is critical to screen patients with rheumatoid arthritis for hearing impairment

The objective of this review is to evaluate published clinical reports related to hearing impairment in patients with RA.

from #Audiology via ola Kala on Inoreader http://ift.tt/26nIKH8
via IFTTT

It is critical to screen patients with rheumatoid arthritis for hearing impairment

The objective of this review is to evaluate published clinical reports related to hearing impairment in patients with RA.

from #Audiology via ola Kala on Inoreader http://ift.tt/26nIKH8
via IFTTT

It is critical to screen patients with rheumatoid arthritis for hearing impairment

The objective of this review is to evaluate published clinical reports related to hearing impairment in patients with RA.

from #Audiology via xlomafota13 on Inoreader http://ift.tt/26nIKH8
via IFTTT