Auditory and Vestibular Research
Volume:18 Issue: 1, 2009

Despite the abundance of literature about deaf children, few works specifically address the concept and practice of difficulties in parenting hearing-impaired children. The first interactions of the child are with his parents, and parents have the most important role in child improvements during early intervention programs. The main purpose of this paper was to investigate different aspects of parenting hearing-impaired children. In this article, we reviewed all aspects of parenting hearing-impaired children in papers from 1984-2009 in Medline, Scopus and Proquest and relative textbooks. The semi-professional role of parents of hearing-impaired children make them feel under excessive stress and this usually affects their other roles as fathers and mothers. Many factors including child age, type of hearing loss and parent's individual characteristics may influence the impact of child's hearing loss on parents. Parenting a hearing-impaired child is both similar and different to parenting any other child. Where there are differences, there are usually challenges too. Taking support and advice from professionals and other parents are necessary and invaluable for parents of hearing-impaired children.

As clinical audiometry assessment of each ear needs to know interaural attenuation (IA), the aim of this study was to investigate Persian speech IA in adults. This cross-sectional, analytic study was performed on 50 normal hearing students (25 males, 25 females), aged 18-25 years old in Faculty of Rehabilitation, Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Speech reception threshold (SRT) was determined with descending method with and without noise. Then speech IA for Persian spondaic words was caculated with TDH-39 earphones. Mean speech IA was 53.06±3.25 dB. There was no significant difference between mean IA in males (53.88±2.93 dB) and females (52.24±3.40 dB)(p>0.05). The lowest IA was in females (45 dB) and the highest IA was in males (60 dB). Mother's language has no significant effect on speech IA. We may consider 45 dB as the lowest IA for Persian speech assessment, however generalization needs more study on a larger sample.

Reading is one of the human's communicative skills. Phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming are parts of the person's linguistic knowledge. Research in different languages and communities suggest that there is a relation between phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming and reading. To survey these relations in Persian language is the aim of this study. In this study 130 male students from the first grade were selected at random. They were normal in IQ, visual and hearing status. Language development was also normal in these children. This study was a cross-sectional one. Pearson correlation coefficient and linear regression test were used to analyze data. The relation between phonological awareness and automatized rapid naming was significant (p<0.0001). Pearson correlation coefficient between phonological awareness and reading was direct (0.86). Pearson correlation coefficient between rapid automatized naming and reading was indirect that equals -0.87. In investigating the relation of two variables simultaneously with reading we concluded that the relation between phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming and reading is statistically significant (p<0.0001). The results of this research revealed that in Persian language like other languages there is a relation between phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, and reading. Reading skills of children could be improved with this exercises

In recent years, several tools for assessment of quality of patient life have been designed especially for dysphonics. Nowadays, we have useful assessments in health system that are refered for numerous clinical decisions. In this way, this investigation compares clinician and patient perception in dysphonic and normal voiced for first time. This study was carried out on 30 dysphonic and 30 subjects with normal voice. Their age, sex and job were same. In two groups, Consensus Auditory - Perceptual Evaluation of Voice (CAPE-V) was used for evaluation of clinician perception and Voice Handicap Index - 30 (VHI-30) for assessment of patient perception. After collecting data, they were analyzed by Mann- witney and Wilcoxon tests. The research revealed that mean of total and each section score of VHI-30 have significant difference between dysphonic and control group (p<0.01). Comparison of total and every parameter score of CAPE-V and speed also indicated significant difference between two groups (p<0.01). Study of reliability shows weak reliability (r=0.34) between clinician and patient perception of voice in dysphonics. Dysphonic patients percept their voice problem different and severe rather than clinicians that shows physical, psychological and social affects of dysphonia. This research confirms that patient - based assessment of voice is necessary to be part of common assessments of dysphonia.

Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP) originate from the saccule and the inferior vestibular nerve. In this study, the prevalence of VEMP and latency of the p13 and n23 were compared between three groups of individuals, including symptomatic and asymptomatic Meniere's disease cases and normal participants. This study was conducted on 42 cases with the mean age of 40.48 years; thirty were Meniere's disease patients, of which 19 were symptomatic and 11 were asymptomatic; twelve were normal participants. The VEMP were recorded with 500 Hz tone bursts at 120 dBpeSPL. Then the prevalence and latency of the waves were analyzed and compared in the three above mentioned groups. The prevalence of VEMP in symptomatic Meniere's disease patients (52.6%) was significantly less than asymptomatic individuals (90.9%) and also normal subjects (100%)(p<0.05). There was no significant difference between latencies of the waves in these three groups (p>0.05). The latency of p13 for symptomatic, asymptomatic and normal participants was 16.41, 15.20 and 14.14 ms, respectively and the latency of n23 for these groups was 20.25, 18.77 and 18.50 ms, respectively. In Meniere's disease, after medical management, the succule probably regains normal function resulting in re-existence of VEMP. It seems that there is no change in the latency of the waves, most likely due to involvement of the inner ear and intactness of the nerve. VEMP may be a useful test for diagnosis of Meniere's disease and additionally for monitoring the trend of medical management.

Since some children with speech and language disorders have a reduced diadochokinesis rates, some researchers have concluded that there is a relation between diadochokinitic and rate of speech but some rejected it. The purpose of this study was to compare the oral diadochokinesis with rate of speech and reading in normal student. In this descriptive - comparative study, one hundred of second grade female students participated. The subjects were asked to read a text of their book, tell a story, and perform some oral diadochokinesis tasks. The time was measured by Cool Edit. Descriptive statistics and compaired t-test were used for analysis. Time taking of diadochokinesis tasks /tâ/, /pa/ and /kâ/ were in the orders 4.10, 4.15 and 4.74. The rate of reading was 3.1 syllable per second and rate of talking was 2.8 syllable per second. There was no relationship between the rate of speech and diadochokinesis but there was a significant correlation between the reading rate and diadochokinesis in /kâ/(p=0.03) and /pâtâkâ/(p=0.00). We can use the relevant diadochokinetic tasks for improving the rate of reading. Reading rate was higher than talking rate and the rate of bilabial diadochokinesis is the highest rate that we can expect in our treatments.

Following an early visual deprivation, the neural network involved in processing auditory spatial information undergoes a profound reorganization. In order to investigate this process, event-related potentials provide accurate information about time course neural activation as well as perception and cognitive processes. In this study, the latency and amplitude of auditory P300 were compared in sighted and early blind individuals in age range of 18-25 years old. In this cross-sectional study, auditory P300 potential was measured in conventional oddball paradigm by using two tone burst stimuli (1000 and 2000 Hz) on 40 sighted subjects and 19 early blind subjects with mean age 20.94 years old. The mean latency of P300 in early blind subjects was significantly smaller than sighted subjects (p=0.00.(There was no significant difference in amplitude between two groups (p>0.05). Reduced latency of P300 in early blind subjects in comparison to sighted subjects probably indicates the rate of automatic processing and information categorization is faster in early blind subjects because of sensory compensation. It seems that neural plasticity increases the rate of auditory processing and attention in early blind subjects.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of vestibulo-proprioceptive stimulations of sensory integration theory on the development of gross and fine motor, language and personal-social functions in a child with agenesis of the corpus callosum.Case: We report a 10.5 month old boy with agenesis of the corpus callosum. The intervention was administered based on sensory integration theory an hour a week for 20 weeks. The exercise intervention consisted of proprioceptive and linear, sustained and low frequency vestibular stimulations on suspension device and physio roll. A Denver Developmental Screening- II and milestones skill testing was completed pre-intervention and monthly. Post-intervention, age of gross motor, fine motor adaptive, language, and personal-social functions significantly improved. Based on milestones skills, maintenance of gross motor functions (e.g. sitting and quadruped position) improved. The child could roll from side to side and released objects voluntarily. The reaction time to auditory stimulations became less than 2 seconds.

vestibulo-proprioceptive stimulations using the neuroplasticity ability of the central nervous system is effective for development of gross and fine motor, language, and personal-social functions. These exercises can be administered for a child with agenesis of the corpus callosum.