Phonak Field Study News: Improving Television Listening for Hearing Aid Users

A review of three studies conducted at the Phonak Audiology Research Center designed to improve the TV listening experience for people who use hearing aids.

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Presbycusis: Causes of age-related hearing loss

Presbycusis the term given to age-related hearing loss. Learn about the causes, symptoms, treatment, and prevention of this condition here.

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Presbycusis: Causes of age-related hearing loss

Presbycusis the term given to age-related hearing loss. Learn about the causes, symptoms, treatment, and prevention of this condition here.

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Presbycusis: Causes of age-related hearing loss

Presbycusis the term given to age-related hearing loss. Learn about the causes, symptoms, treatment, and prevention of this condition here.

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Effects of Voice Therapy: A Comparison Between Individual and Group Therapy

Publication date: Available online 18 July 2017
Source:Journal of Voice
Author(s): Malin Abrahamsson, Moa Millgård, Christina Havstam, Lisa Tuomi
ObjectiveThe primary aim of this clinical evaluation project is to study the effect of voice therapy given in the speech-language pathology clinic, as individual and group therapy, as well as finding out some of the reasons for not attending the recommended therapy.MethodAll patients visiting the speech-language department during the study period were asked to participate in a clinical evaluation project. The project included filling out the questionnaire Swedish Voice Handicap Index (VHI-11) twice: at their first visit at the clinic, and approximately 1 year later. Depending on the degree of voice problems, the patients were offered either individual or group therapy.ResultThe study included 187 patients at their first visit to the clinic and 109 patients at follow-up. All participants completed self-evaluation of voice function with the VHI-11 and separate questions regarding overall voice problems, hoarseness, and vocal fatigue. For the patients who responded to the follow-up survey, statistically significant improvements of self-perceived voice function were demonstrated in individual and group therapy. The improvement between the first visit and the follow-up was found to be of moderate to large effect size, with statistically significant improvements for both patients who attended individual therapy and those who attended group therapy. The most common reason for not attending the recommended voice therapy was lack of time.ConclusionIndividual and group therapy is effective, resulting in improved VHI-11 scores. The magnitude of improvement is similar when comparing individual and group therapy. Patients with higher scores of the VHI-11 were generally recommended individual voice therapy.



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Voice Improvement in Patients with Functional Dysphonia Treated with the Proprioceptive-Elastic (PROEL) Method

Publication date: Available online 18 July 2017
Source:Journal of Voice
Author(s): E. Lucchini, A. Ricci Maccarini, E. Bissoni, M. Borragan, M. Agudo, M.J. González, V. Romizi, A. Schindler, M. Behlau, T. Murry, A. Borragan
The objective of the study was to analyze the outcome of the proprioceptive-elastic (PROEL) voice therapy method in patients with functional dysphonia (FD). Fifty-two patients with FD were involved in the study; they were composed of three subgroups of patients with (1) FD without glottal insufficiency (n = 28), (2) FD and glottal insufficiency (n = 9), and (3) FD, glottal insufficiency, and vocal nodules (n = 15). A multidimensional assessment protocol including videolaryngostroboscopy; maximum phonation time; perceptual evaluation of dysphonia with the Grade, Instability, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, and Strain (GIRBAS) scale; and 10-item version of the Voice Handicap Index was conducted before and after 15 sessions of voice therapy. All voice therapy sessions were conducted by the same speech-language pathologist. The comparison between voice assessment before and after voice therapy with the PROEL method in patients with FD, in all the three subgroups, revealed a statistically significant improvement in periodicity and the mucosal wave in the laryngostroboscopy, maximum phonation time, GIRBAS scale scores, and VHI-10.Voice of patients with FD improved after treatment with the PROEL method. Further studies are needed to analyze the efficacy of the PROEL method with randomized double-blind clinical trials using different methods for voice therapy. At present, the PROEL method represents an alternative tool for the speech pathologist to improve voice in patients with FD.



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Population-Based Study on the Epidemiology of Ménière's Disease

Background and Objective: Ménière's disease (MD) is a disorder of the inner ear typically showing recurrent acute episodes of vertigo, hearing loss, and tinnitus. Epidemiologic studies on MD are scarce. We assessed the incidence rates (IRs) of MD and describe the characteristics of MD cases, comparing them to control patients without recorded evidence of MD. Study Design: We conducted a retrospective population-based follow-up study and a nested case-control analysis using data from the UK-based Clinical Practice Research Datalink. Methods: We identified patients between 18 and 79 years of age with an incident MD diagnosis between January 1993 and December 2014. We assessed the IRs of betahistine-treated MD. In the nested case-control analysis, we matched 4 controls to each MD case on sex, age, general practice, years of active history in the database, and calendar time. We conducted a #x03C7;² test to present p values in order to compare the prevalence of demographics, comorbidities, and co-medication between cases and controls. Results: We identified 5,508 MD cases and 22,032 MD-free controls (65.4% females). The overall IR for MD in the UK was 13.1 per 100,000 person-years. More cases were female, and the mean age at diagnosis was 55.4 ± 13.7 years. Smoking and alcohol consumption were less prevalent among MD cases. Depression, other affective disorders, sleeping disorders, anxiety, and migraine were more prevalent among MD cases than among controls. Conclusions: MD is uncommon in primary care in the UK with a preponderance among females.
Audiol Neurotol 2017;22:74-82

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