International Journal of Audiology最新文献

Objective: This systematic review examined the audiological and non-audiological factors that influence hearing aid use, benefit and satisfaction in adults based on studies published during the last decade (2010 and 2023).

Design: Studies were identified by using PRISMA guidelines for systematic searches on five platforms (Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, EBSCOhost including CINAHL and Academic Search Complete). The National Institute of Health Quality assessment tool and the Oxford Centre for Evidence Based Medicine tool were used for quality assessment and grading of level of evidence.

Results: Forty-six articles were included in the review. A total of 101 significant factors influencing hearing aid use (n = 47), benefit (n = 17) and satisfaction (n = 37) were identified. Clear determinants of hearing aid use, benefit and satisfaction included hearing sensitivity, self-reported hearing difficulty, speech perception, attitude and beliefs. 34 cross-sectional studies in this review were graded level 4, 9 cohort studies rated level 3, and 3 randomised control trials rated level 2.

Conclusion: Factors associated with hearing aid outcomes identified in the past decade support previous evidence. New factors like social networks and service-delivery models, have also been identified. These factors require further investigations through high quality studies to further strengthen existing evidence.

Objective: The age of identification of hearing loss in children is highly influenced by the hearing help seeking behaviour of their parents, particularly in countries without universal newborn hearing screening programs. In this study, an attempt was made to identify the factors associated with help seeking behaviour in parents of children with hearing loss, and the relationship of such factors with the age of identification of hearing loss.

Design: Focus group discussions based on the framework of health belief model were carried out. The discussions were transcribed and the transcripts were thematically analysed.

Study sample: Participants were 35 parents of children with hearing loss from the state of Karnataka in India.

Results: The findings revealed 30 factors related to their awareness about hearing loss, geographical location, socio-economic status, family, and society. The factors differed between early and late help seekers.

Conclusions: Awareness, accessibility, and affordability are the key factors that influenced the hearing help seeking behaviour of the participants. Effective public awareness programs, newborn hearing screening programs, and provisions to make hearing healthcare affordable to all can reduce the age of identification of paediatric hearing loss in India.

Objective: Hearing disorders are common among music professionals, as they are frequently exposed to sound levels exceeding 100 dB(A). By assessing auditory fatigue, situations that are deleterious for hearing could be identified, allowing the deployment of preventive measures before permanent impairment occurs. However, little is known about the factors contributing to auditory fatigue. The objective is to determine the exposure parameters most influencing auditory fatigue during occupational exposure to amplified music.

Design: Auditory fatigue was defined as variations of both pure tone auditory (ΔPTA) and efferent reflex thresholds (ΔER) during the workday. Noise exposure was monitored and information on the volunteers was gathered using a questionnaire.

Study sample: The population consisted of 43 adult volunteers exposed to amplified music (sound, light or stage technicians, security agents, barmen) and 24 unexposed administrative agents.

Results: ΔPTA and ΔER were positively correlated with the energy of noise exposure and its stability over time, i.e a steady noise tends to create more auditory fatigue.

Conclusion: In addition to a global decrease of music levels and a systematic use of hearing protection, our results advocate for the provision of quiet periods within noise exposures as they reduce auditory fatigue accumulation and long-term risks for hearing.

Objective: To assess the feasibility of implementing a school entry hearing screening programme in the South-East District, Botswana.

Design: A feasibility study design was used. Trained screeners conducted smartphone-based pure tone audiometry screening at 25 dB HL, at 1, 2, and 4 kHz using calibrated headphones. Learners with "refer" results after an immediate rescreen were referred and scheduled for diagnostic hearing assessment at the local hospital. Attendance at diagnostic appointments was encouraged through multiple contacts with the families.

Study sample: The study participants were 403 Grade 1 learners from eight public primary schools.

Results: The overall referral rate for diagnostic hearing assessment was 4.7%, with a referral uptake rate of 90%. The sensitivity and specificity of the hearing screening protocol were 93.3% and 86.4%, respectively. The positive and negative predictive values were 82.4% and 95%, respectively. The average cost per learner screened was US$ 10.75.

Conclusions: School entry hearing screening programmes can be successfully implemented in the South-East District, Botswana. Lessons learnt from this study can potentially guide phased implementation of school hearing screening programmes in other districts.

Objective: To develop a methodologically uniform digits-in-noise (DIN) test in 17 different languages.

Design: The DIN test was developed for Android devices as an extension to the open-access Hearing Test^™ app, available on the Google Play store. It utilised professionally recorded female speech, speech-shaped noise, a digit scoring method and a variable step size. The test was adaptively optimised and evaluated as the results of tests taken online by users of the app became available.

Study sample: Optimisation using 35,534 ears, evaluation using 6012 ears.

Results: Optimisation improved the slopes of the psychometric functions for all languages by an average of 6.8%/dB. Evaluation included calculation of normative speech reception thresholds (SRTs) and estimation of test-retest standard deviations. Normative values for SRTs ranged from -14.2 dB SNR (95% CI -14.3 to -14.0) for Chinese to -11.2 dB SNR (95% CI -11.3 to -11.1) for Japanese, with reliability estimates ranging from 0.48 dB (95% CI 0.36-0.64) for Portuguese to 0.91 dB (95% CI 0.73-1.21) for Romanian.

Conclusions: The optimisation of each language version was confirmed by the improvement in the slopes of the psychometric functions. The normative values obtained from the test evaluation were in agreement with literature data.

Trial registration: Science Support Centre of Wroclaw Medical University BW-59/2020.

Objectives: Standard diagnostic measures focus on threshold elevation but hearing concerns may occur independently of threshold elevation - referred to as "hidden hearing loss" (HHL). A deeper understanding of HHL requires measurements that locate dysfunction along the auditory pathway. This study aimed to describe the relationship and interdependence between certain behavioural and physiological measures of auditory function that are thought to be indicative of HHL.

Design: Data were collected on a battery of behavioural and physiological measures of hearing. Threshold-dependent variance was removed from each measure prior to generating a multiple regression model of the behavioural measures using the physiological measures.

Study sample: 224 adults in the United States with audiometric thresholds ≤65 dB HL.

Results: Thresholds accounted for between 21 and 60% of the variance in our behavioural measures and 5-51% in our physiological measures of hearing. There was no evidence that the behavioural measures of hearing could be predicted by the selected physiological measures.

Conclusions: Several proposed behavioural measures for HHL: thresholds-in-noise, frequency-modulation detection, and speech recognition in difficult listening conditions, are influenced by hearing sensitivity and are not predicted by outer hair cell or auditory nerve physiology. Therefore, these measures may not be able to assess threshold-independent hearing disorders.

Objective: This study examines the interactional management of hearing difficulties and hearing aids (HAs) in real-life, video-recorded social interactions with adults with hearing loss (HL) and their families/friends.

Design: 32 video-recordings in various social settings were analysed using Conversation Analysis.

Study sample: 20 adults with HL and their families/friends.

Results: HL and/or HAs did not typically become explicit in conversation. When adults with HL' hearing difficulties did become explicit in the conversation, they were typically accompanied by laughter/humour. Sometimes the humour/laughter was initiated by the person with HL themselves (i.e. self-directed joking) but more frequently it was initiated by someone else within the conversation (i.e. a tease).

Conclusions: The findings display the management of the "to tell or not to tell" dilemma in practice, and how humour was often used to lighten the tension when "telling" about HL and/or HAs. The findings also highlight that not all humour is equal: there are different outcomes for adults with HL depending on who initiated the humour/laughter within the context of the interaction. This study highlights stigma-in-action - how stigma related to HL and/or HAs is occasioned and managed within real-life social interactions.