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The Journal of International Medical... Oct 2017There is increasing evidence of a connection between hearing function and myasthenia gravis (MG). Studies of the pathophysiological basis of this relationship suggest... (Review)
Review
There is increasing evidence of a connection between hearing function and myasthenia gravis (MG). Studies of the pathophysiological basis of this relationship suggest that acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) on outer hair cells (OHCs) play a central role. In patients with MG, autoantibodies against AChRs induce a progressive loss of AChRs on OHCs, decreasing their electromotility. The stapedial reflex decay test can be altered in MG patients, and can be used as an additional tool for diagnosis and monitoring. Transient evoked and distortion product otoacoustic emissions are the main diagnostic tool for monitoring OHC functionality in MG patients, and can be used to record subclinical hearing alterations before the onset of clinically evident hearing loss. Understanding the association between MG and hearing dysfunction requires a multidisciplinary approach. Otolaryngologists should take this relationship into account when approaching patients with a diagnosis of myasthenia gravis and "in patients with MG" with ण128;in MG patients, and the progress of hearing alterations should always be monitored in patients with MG.
Topics: Hearing; Hearing Tests; Humans; Myasthenia Gravis; Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous; Otolaryngology
PubMed: 27834304
DOI: 10.1177/0300060516672124 -
American Journal of Audiology Nov 2018The smartphone digits-in-noise hearing test, called hearZA, was made available as a self-test in South Africa in March 2016. This study determined characteristics and...
PURPOSE
The smartphone digits-in-noise hearing test, called hearZA, was made available as a self-test in South Africa in March 2016. This study determined characteristics and test performance of the listeners who took the test.
METHOD
A retrospective analysis of 24,072 persons who completed a test between March 2016 and August 2017 was conducted. User characteristics, including age, English-speaking competence, and self-reported hearing difficulty, were analyzed. Regression analyses were conducted to determine predictors of the speech reception threshold.
RESULTS
Overall referral rate of the hearZA test was 22.4%, and 37% of these reported a known hearing difficulty. Age distributions showed that 33.2% of listeners were ages 30 years and younger, 40.5% were between ages 31 and 50 years, and 26.4% were older than 50 years. Age, self-reported English-speaking competence, and self-reported hearing difficulty were significant predictors of the speech reception threshold.
CONCLUSIONS
High test uptake, particularly among younger users, and high overall referral rate indicates that the hearZA app addresses a public health need. The test also reaches target audiences, including those with self-reported hearing difficulty and those with normal hearing who should monitor their hearing ability.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Child; Child, Preschool; Female; Hearing Loss; Hearing Tests; Humans; Language; Male; Mass Screening; Middle Aged; Referral and Consultation; Retrospective Studies; Self Report; Signal-To-Noise Ratio; Smartphone; South Africa; Speech Reception Threshold Test; Young Adult
PubMed: 30452748
DOI: 10.1044/2018_AJA-IMIA3-18-0016 -
Computational and Mathematical Methods... 2022To detect the carrier rates of deafness gene variants in populations in Ningbo and analyze the risk of hereditary hearing loss through concurrent hearing and genetic...
OBJECTIVE
To detect the carrier rates of deafness gene variants in populations in Ningbo and analyze the risk of hereditary hearing loss through concurrent hearing and genetic screening tests.
METHODS
Two thousand one hundred and seventy-four newborns were enrolled from November 2018 to August 2019. All subjects underwent hearing screening and newborn deafness genetic screening with 15 variants in 4 genes, and the positive sites were simultaneously verified by sequencing.
RESULTS
The total carrier rate of genetic variants in Ningbo reached 4.32%, when c.235delC was the variant with the highest prevalence (2.12%), approximately accounting for 48.9% of the total carrier frequency. The carrier frequency of c.919-2A>G was 0.87%, while the most common variant in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) gene was m.1555A>G, and its carrier frequency was 0.184%. In the OAE testing, 92 newborns passing hearing screening were tested positively for variants in 4 genes, and 2 of 42 newborns who failed in the first hearing test were found to mutate in 4 genes.
CONCLUSION
Herein, the results concerning the carrier rates for deafness gene mutations of Ningbo population are reported. Our study is beneficial to the insight into the deafness genomic epidemiology for deafness genes in Ningbo population and provides the reference for healthcare in Ningbo.
Topics: China; Computational Biology; Connexin 26; Connexins; DNA, Mitochondrial; Deafness; Female; Gene Frequency; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Genetic Testing; Hearing Tests; Heterozygote; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Male; Mutation; Neonatal Screening; Sulfate Transporters
PubMed: 35047053
DOI: 10.1155/2022/1713337 -
Hearing Research Sep 2020Directing gaze towards auditory events is a natural behavior. In addition to the well-known accuracy of auditory elicited gaze responses for normal binaural listening,...
Directing gaze towards auditory events is a natural behavior. In addition to the well-known accuracy of auditory elicited gaze responses for normal binaural listening, their latency is a measure of possible clinical interest and methodological importance. The aim was to develop a clinically feasible method to assess sound localization latency (SLL), and to study SLL as a function of simulated unilateral hearing loss (SUHL) and the relationship with accuracy. Eight healthy and normal-hearing adults (18-40 years) participated in this study. Horizontal gaze responses, recorded by non-invasive corneal reflection eye-tracking, were obtained during azimuthal shifts (24 trials) of a 3-min continuous auditory stimulus. In each trial, a sigmoid function was fitted to gaze samples. Latency was estimated by the abscissa corresponding to 50% of the arctangent amplitude. SLL was defined as the mean latency across trials. SLL was measured in normal-hearing and simulated SUHL conditions (SUHL and SUHL: mean threshold of 30 dB HL and 43 dB HL across 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz). In the normal-hearing condition, the mean ± SD SLL was 280 ± 40 ms (n = 8) with a test-retest SD = 20 ms. A linear mixed model showed a statistically significant effect of listening condition on SLL. The SUHL and SUHL conditions revealed a mean SLL of 370 ± 49 ms and 540 ± 120 ms, respectively. Repeated measures correlation analysis showed a clear relationship between SLL and the average sound localization accuracy (R = 0.94). The rapid and reliable method to obtain SLL may be an important clinical tool for evaluation of binaural processing. Future studies in clinical cohorts are needed to assess whether SLL may reveal information about binaural processing abilities beyond that afforded by sound localization accuracy.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Auditory Perception; Hearing; Hearing Loss, Unilateral; Hearing Tests; Humans; Sound Localization; Young Adult
PubMed: 32792116
DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2020.108011 -
Annali Di Igiene : Medicina Preventiva... 2021Data were collected through a nationwide survey conducted in 2018. All maternity wards active in Italy in 2017 were included.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Data were collected through a nationwide survey conducted in 2018. All maternity wards active in Italy in 2017 were included.
BACKGROUND
The aims of this paper were to present data on the implementation and coverage of simultane-ous Universal Neonatal Hearing and Vision Screening programmes and to evaluate the organization and management of these healthcare procedures in Italy.
CONCLUSIONS
Our results show that implementation of simultaneous hearing and vision screening increased the coverage of both screening tests and is a new multi-disciplinary approach to sensorineural disability. The use of both ABR and TEOAE tests in the hearing screening decreases the number of newborns sent for audiological evaluation, with a notable reduction of costs. The consideration that ocular problems are two to three times more common in deaf and hearing impaired children than their in hearing peers, confirms the importance of establishing guidelines for simultaneous hearing and vision screening, that favors the formation of a multi-disciplinary team (pediatrician, audio-logist, ophthalmologist).
RESULTS
HEARING SCREENING. Overall 427,365 newborns out of 448,386 (95.3%) received the hearing screening test (first level) in 391 out of the 409 maternity hospitals (95.5%), with a national mean referral rate of 3.63% (SD ± 4.58). A statistically significant increase (p<0.034) of newborns sent to audiological examination was found in maternity hospitals with Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) with "TEOAE only" protocol (9.32% SD ± 7.57), compared to those with "TEOAE/AABR" (3.0% SD ± 3.29). VISION SCREENING. Overall 335,262 newborns out of 448,386 (74.7%) received vision screening (Red Reflex test) for vision impairment in 302 out of 409 maternity hospitals (73.8%), before nursery discharge. The mean referral rate, recorded in only 22 maternity hospitals out of 302 (7.2%), was 0.48% with a rate of lost to follow up of 0.75 %.
Topics: Child; Female; Hearing; Hearing Tests; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Italy; Neonatal Screening; Pregnancy; Vision Screening
PubMed: 33300945
DOI: 10.7416/ai.2020.2401 -
CoDAS 2021To evaluate speech audibility in schoolchildren hearing aids users and correlate the Speech Intelligibility Index to phonemes detecion.
PURPOSE
To evaluate speech audibility in schoolchildren hearing aids users and correlate the Speech Intelligibility Index to phonemes detecion.
METHODS
22 children and adolescents hearing aids users, underwent audiological evaluation, in situ verification (and consequent obtaining the Speech Intelligibility Index - SII - for conditions with and without hearing aids) and detection thresholds for phonemes by Ling-6 (HL) test.
RESULTS
The average value for the SII was 25.1 without hearing aids and 68.9 with amplification (p <0.001 *). The phoneme detection thresholds in free field, in dBHL, were, without amplification /m/ = 29.9, /u/ = 29.5, /a/ = 35.5, /i/ = 30.8, /∫/ = 44.2 e /s/ = 44.9, and with amplification /m/ = 13.0, /u/ = 11.5 /a/ = 14.3, /i/ = 15.4, /∫/ = 20.4 e /s/ = 23.1 (p<0.001*). There was a negative correlation between SII and the thresholds of all phonemes in the condition without hearing aids (p≤0.001*) and between SII and the /s/ threshold with hearing aids (p = 0.036*).
CONCLUSION
The detection thresholds for all phonemes are lower than without hearing aids. There is a negative correlation between SII and the thresholds of all phonemes in the situation without hearing aids and between SII and the detection threshold of the phoneme / s / in the situation with hearing aids.
Topics: Adolescent; Auditory Threshold; Child; Hearing Aids; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural; Hearing Tests; Humans; Speech Intelligibility; Speech Perception
PubMed: 34378761
DOI: 10.1590/2317-1782/20202020094 -
Revista de Saude Publica 2020To evaluate Newborn Hearing Screening Program of Hospital Regional de Sobradinho, from January 2016 to December 2017, according to Multiprofessional Committee on...
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate Newborn Hearing Screening Program of Hospital Regional de Sobradinho, from January 2016 to December 2017, according to Multiprofessional Committee on Auditory Health parameters and Joint Committee on Infant Hearing (JCIH) recommendations, as well as to describe the prevalence of risk factors for hearing loss within the study population and their impact on the respective program.
METHOD
This is a quantitative, cross-sectional and retrospective study that carefully analyzed registration books of screened newborns. It was established the prevalence of "pass" and "fail" in test and retest, retest percentage of attendance and referral for audiological diagnosis. Risk factors for hearing loss were described, as well as their influence on "pass" and "fail" rates. Inferential statistical analysis was performed using chi-square test and Anderson-Darling test, with 5% reliability index.
RESULTS
A total of 3,981 newborns were screened; 2,963 (74.4%) presented no risk factors whereas 1,018 (25.6%) did, prematurity being the most frequent (51.6%). In the test, 166 (4.2%) failed and 118 (71.1%) attended the retest. The referral rate for diagnosis was 0.3%.
CONCLUSION
Regarding the percentage of referral for diagnosis, the program reached indexes recommended by the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing and Multiprofessional Committee on Auditory Health. The most prevalent risk factor within the population was prematurity.
Topics: Brazil; Cross-Sectional Studies; Hearing Loss; Hearing Tests; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Infant, Premature; Medical Records; Neonatal Screening; Prevalence; Program Evaluation; Retrospective Studies; Risk Factors
PubMed: 32374803
DOI: 10.11606/s1518-8787.2020054001643 -
BMC Pediatrics Jan 2022The majority of children with sensory impairments live in low- and middle-income countries. More studies of hearing and vision impairment prevalence are needed, in order...
Prevalence and characteristics of hearing and vision loss in preschool children from low income South African communities: results of a screening program of 10,390 children.
BACKGROUND
The majority of children with sensory impairments live in low- and middle-income countries. More studies of hearing and vision impairment prevalence are needed, in order to generate more accurate estimates of trends in sensory impairments. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence and describe the characteristics of hearing and vision loss among preschool children (4-7 years) in an underserved South African community following community-based mobile health (mHealth) supported hearing and vision services.
METHODS
A screening program of sensory impairments was undertaken of children attending preschools in the communities of Khayelitsha and Mitchell's Plain, Cape Town, from September 2017 until June 2019. Hearing and vision screening were done by trained community health workers using mHealth technology. Children who failed hearing and vision screening were seen for follow-up assessments at their preschools. Follow-up assessments were conducted using smartphones that host point-of-care validated and calibrated hearing and vision testing applications (hearTest app, hearX Group, South Africa and PeekAcuity app, Peek Vision, United Kingdom). Descriptive statistical analysis and logistic regression analysis were conducted after extracting data from a secure cloud-based server (mHealth Studio, hearX Group) to Microsoft Excel (2016).
RESULTS
A total of 10,390 children were screened at 298 preschools over 22 months. Of the children screened, 5.6 and 4.4% of children failed hearing and vision screening respectively. Community-based follow-up hearing tests were done at the preschools on 88.5% (514) of children of whom 240 children (54.2% female) presented with hearing loss. A preschool-based follow-up vision test was done on 400 children (88.1%). A total of 232 children (46.1% female) had a vision impairment, and a further 32 children passed the test but had obvious signs of ocular morbidity. Logistic regression analysis found that age was a significant predictor of vision loss (p < 0.05), but not for hearing loss (p = 0.06). Gender was not a significant predictor of hearing (p = 0.22) or vision loss (p = 0.20).
CONCLUSIONS
Hearing loss is prevalent in at least 22 per 1000 and vision loss in at least 23 per 1000 preschool children in an underserved South African community. Timely identification of sensory losses can be facilitated through community-based hearing and vision services supported by mHealth technology.
Topics: Child, Preschool; Deaf-Blind Disorders; Female; Hearing; Hearing Tests; Humans; Male; Mass Screening; Prevalence; South Africa
PubMed: 34986809
DOI: 10.1186/s12887-021-03095-z -
Journal of the American Geriatrics... Feb 2021Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is a widely prevalent yet manageable condition that has been linked to neurocognitive and psychiatric comorbidities. Multiple barriers... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES
Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is a widely prevalent yet manageable condition that has been linked to neurocognitive and psychiatric comorbidities. Multiple barriers hinder older individuals from being diagnosed with ARHL through pure-tone audiometry. This is especially true during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in the closure of many outpatient audiology and otolaryngology offices. Smartphone-based hearing assessment apps may overcome these challenges by enabling patients to remotely self-administer their own hearing examination. The objective of this review is to provide an up-to-date overview of current mobile health applications (apps) that claim to assess hearing.
DESIGN
Narrative review.
MEASUREMENTS
The Apple App Store and Google Play Store were queried for apps that claim to assess hearing. Relevant apps were downloaded and used to conduct a mock hearing assessment. Names of included apps were searched on four literature databases (PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and CINAHL) to determine which apps had been validated against gold standard methods.
RESULTS
App store searches identified 44 unique apps. Apps differed with respect to the type of test offered (e.g., hearing threshold test), cost, strategies to reduce ambient noise, test output (quantitative vs qualitative results), and options to export results. Validation studies were identified for seven apps.
CONCLUSION
Given their low cost and relative accessibility, smartphone-based hearing apps may facilitate screening for ARHL, particularly in the setting of limitations on in-person medical care due to COVID-19. However, app features vary widely, few apps have been validated, and user-centered designs for older adults are largely lacking. Further research and validation efforts are necessary to determine whether smartphone-based hearing assessments are a feasible and accurate screening tool for ARHL. Key Points Age-related hearing loss is a prevalent yet undertreated condition among older adults. Why Does this Paper Matter? Smartphone-based hearing test apps may facilitate remote screening for hearing loss, but limitations surrounding app validation, usability, equipment calibration, and data security should be addressed.
Topics: Aged; Equipment Design; Hearing Loss; Hearing Tests; Humans; Mobile Applications; Smartphone
PubMed: 33341098
DOI: 10.1111/jgs.16985 -
CoDAS 2024To investigate the reliability of the Word-with-Noise Test in a group of normal-hearing adults.
PURPOSE
To investigate the reliability of the Word-with-Noise Test in a group of normal-hearing adults.
METHODS
Forty-five normal-hearing adult subjects participated in the research. The interval between the first and second assessment was 14 to 28 days, performed during the same time of the day and by the same evaluator. The comparison analysis between the test and the retest was performed considering the general result of the ears, totaling 90 ears evaluated. The inferential analysis included the comparison of the situations in the first and second assessment using the Wilcoxon Test, calculation, and interpretation of the Intraclass Correlation Index.
RESULTS
There was a statistically significant difference between the test and retest performances. The intraclass correlation coefficients obtained were indicative of good reliability (r=0.759; p<0.001) for the monosyllabic stimulus and moderate reliability (r=0.631; p<0.001) for the disyllabic stimulus.
CONCLUSION
The Word-with-Noise Test demonstrated satisfactory reliability for both the monosyllabic and disyllabic stimuli.
Topics: Adult; Humans; Reproducibility of Results; Noise; Hearing Tests; Hearing
PubMed: 38597550
DOI: 10.1590/2317-1782/20232023093pt