Auditory and Vestibular Research
Volume:27 Issue: 4, Autumn 2018

Tinnitus, the phantom perception of sound, in which many cortical and subcortical areas are involved has become one of the popular subjects of neuroscience research. Neuroimaging studies have introduced the tinnitus network model to explain the involvement of auditory and non-auditory areas in this perception. In such a model, the cognitive and emotional aspects of tinnitus can be interpreted conveniently. Therefore, this paper aimed to review the neural basis of tinnitus networks, including data from neuroimaging studies, and discuss the clinical implication of this concept, as well. The data from neuroimaging studies were reviewed and discussed in order to complete the overall image of tinnitus network and its correlates such as the distress network, attentional network and other cognitive mechanisms. In addition to the auditory system, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) were considered to be important hubs in tinnitus distress network, especially for having important connectivity with the other networks like attention and salience networks. Moreover, the top-down control of DLPFC over the other brain areas was regarded as the most important brain area to be targeted using the non-invasive interventions and the results were compelling. Understanding the network model has helped in optimizing the neuromodulation protocols like electrical stimulation techniques. Thus, the clinical implications of this model can be generalized to the other types of treatments and the outcomes might be satisfying

One of the most important aspects of marital life is the satisfaction of couples. Marital satisfaction is a positive and enjoyable attitude that the husband and wife have in different aspects of marital relations such as relationships, personality issues, conflict resolution, financial issues, sexual relations, and children. Deafness affects the relationship between couples and may decrease emotional and physical intimacy. Therefore, loss of hearing has negative consequences for marital satisfaction. This study aimed to investigate marital satisfaction in deaf couples. A review of studies between 1978 and 2017 has shown that marital satisfaction in couples who are both deaf are higher than couples who one of the couples is deaf. Studies show that deaf- hearing marriage leads to less life satisfaction than deaf-deaf or hearing hearing marriage. Lack of national studies in this field is obvious. It seems that teaching the couples life skills by can be helpful

Clinical education is a major component of the Audiology curriculum. Clinical teachers and instructors play an important role in achieving clinical education goals. This research was conducted to survey the view point of Audiology students, teachers, and graduates about clinical teachers’ characteristics affecting clinical education. Through purposeful sampling method, 14 senior undergraduate students, 4 BSc. Graduates, and 7 teachers participated in this qualitative study. The relevant data were collected via focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews. The obtained data were analyzed by conventional content analysis. After data analysis and classification of codes, two main themes and some sub-themes were emerged. Themes included professional characteristics of clinical experience, educational ability and rigor as well as personality characteristics of behavior, motivation and compassion, discipline and timeliness. They were recognized as influential attributes of a clinical teacher by the study participants. It seems that clinical experience, educational ability, rigor, behavior, motivation, timeliness and discipline play an important role in increasing the quality of clinical education. Therefore, the choice of qualified clinical teacher is important in conducting the best clinical education course in the field of Audiology

Dizziness is one the most common complaints of patients in the emergency rooms. It has various etiologies and can lead to falling and other life-threatening injuries, especially in the elderly. Dizziness affects the quality of life and results in negative emotional reactions. This research studied the etiology of dizziness in a three-year study. This study was conducted on 650 patients with the complaint of dizziness, whose specialists suspected them of having possible vestibular involvement, referred to a tertiary audiology clinic from 2015 to 2018. Videonystagmography, electrocochleography and cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials were administered. Other medical tests including neu rologic examinations, blood analysis, and brain imaging were performed based on patients’ complaints. This was a descriptive study of dizziness prevalence with different etiologies. Patients’ age range was 18-85 years with mean (SD) age: 42.34 (13.12), including 377 (58%) females and 273 (42%) males. Patients’ chief complaints included vertigo in 64.8%, dizziness in 20.2% and imbalance in 15.1%. Vestibular disorders were identified in 49.2% of the referred patients. The patients’ final diagnosis in order of prevalence were as follows: systemic involvement (292 cases), benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (187 cases), unilateral vestibular weakness (63 cases), endolymphatic hydrops (51 cases), bilateral vestibular weakness (37 cases), central involvement (20 cases), cervical (10 cases) and migraine-associated vertigo (8 cases). About 49.2% of the patients referred to the ENT clinic had actual vestibular involvement. Careful history taking, teamwork, and comprehensive evaluations are necessary to differentiate underlying cause and selecting appropriate treatment

Hearing loss is one of the complications of the type 2 diabetes mellitus, which commonly affects the central auditory processing. Gap in noise (GIN) test is an appropriate clinical tool for evaluating temporal auditory processing. The purpose of the present research was to compare the results of the GIN test in the diabetic patients with non-diabetic participants. In this cross-sectional study, 30 subjects with type 2 diabetes (mean age=43.33, SD=4.7 years) and 30 normal hearing subjects (mean age=41.26, SD=6.2 years) were examined by the GIN test. The approximate GIN threshold and the percentage of correct answers were measured in all individuals. The findings showed an increase in the approximate GIN threshold and a decrease in the percentage of correct answers in the diabetic group in comparison with the non-diabetic group (p<0.05). In addition, the GIN threshold in the right ear was lower than the left one in the case group (p<0.05). According to the derived results, the patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus appear to have defects in the temporal resolution domain the auditory stimuli and this disorder affects left ear more than right ear

Reading is not only a fundamental skill in learning but also an important channel in dealing with the outside world. However, hearing impairment affects linguistic growth, including speaking and reading; development of understanding; and academic achi evement. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of phonological awareness training on improving phonological reading and awareness in primary school children with hea ring impairment. The present study has a quasi-experimental design. The research was conducted as pretest, intervention and posttest. A total of 20 children with moderate to severe hearing loss were enrolled in the experimental group and 20 subjects in another group as the control. Reading and dyslexia test (NEMA) was used to assess reading improvement and phonological awareness was assessed by the phonological awareness questionnaire. The data normality was checked by Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and non-parametric Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney U test were used to evaluate non-parametric data. Based on the results, after teaching the phonological awareness strategies to the experi mental group, their reading and phonological awareness scores increased significantly higher than the control group (p<0.05). Also the results show higher phonological awareness scores in girls. The results of this study showed that improvement of phonological awareness in children with hearing loss can improve and resolve their reading performance and problems

Migraine is a relatively common neurovascular disease. Audiology studies have shown some ways of influencing migraine by the auditory pathways from cochlea to the auditory cortex. Considering that one of the most important functions of the central auditory system is speech perception in challenging conditions, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability to understand speech in noise in migraineurs without aura, and compare it with normal subjects. In this cross-sectional study, 30 migraineurs without aura aged 17 to 41 years (mean=31.9, SD=6.89) and 30 normal individuals who were matched for age and sex with the migraine group were evaluated by quick speech-in-noise test (Q-SIN). The correlation between duration of the disease and the frequency of attacks per month and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) loss, as well as the role of headache severity on the scores were assessed. In Q-SIN test, the mean SNR loss in migraineurs without aura was greater than that in controls (p<0.05). But this ability did not differ between males and females (p>0.05). There was no correlation between the duration of migraine, frequency of attacks per month and the severity of headache with SNR loss (p>0.05). Migraineurs without aura sometimes have difficulties in speech perception in noise which is not affected by duration of disease, its frequency and the severity of the attacks

Using hearing aids is one of the most important management methods for patients with hearing loss and tinnitus. Many studies have been conducted to assess the effect of hearing aids on tinnitus using different tools, but there is no consensus on their usefulness and effect in relieving tinnitus. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of hearing amplification on tinnitus using the tinnitus handicap inventory (THI) and tinnitus psychoacoustic measurements. A total of 10 patients (5 male and 5 female), aged 39 to 70 years old with mild to severe sensorineural hearing loss (amplifiable hearing loss) and chronic tinnitus entered the study. The Persian version of the THI was completed for the patients and tinnitus psychoacoustic measurements, the visual analogue scale (VAS) loudness, and the annoyance VAS were performed. The patients used hearing aids for six weeks, and measurements were repeated after the intervention. Comparing the total mean score of all of the study variables before and after the intervention showed significant reductions (p<0.05). Based on tinnitus pitch matching, no significant difference was observed in mean score changes in the THI between low-pitch and high-pitch groups. Improvement was observed in tinnitus annoyance after using hearing aids for 6 weeks. Tinnitus pitch is not a good criterion for determining tinnitus treatment prognosis