Pro-fono : revista de atualizacao cientifica最新文献

Background: keeping data about Ph.D.s of speech pathologists and audiologists updated allows the retrieval of what has been developed in these fields of knowledge, besides giving a dimension of the development of the Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences in our country.

Aim: to analyze the educational background of Brazilian speech pathologists and audiologists with Ph.D. within the period of 1976-2008.

Method: doctorate dissertations presented by Brazilian speech pathologists and audiologists during the period of 1976 (first presentation) to the end of 2008 were selected through information provided by postgraduation offices and also by consulting data published on Plataforma Lattes (online curriculum vitae for professors and scientists). For each finding the following variables were registered: author's gender, year of presentation, educational institution and post-graduate program where the dissertation was developed (according to the areas of knowledge determined by National Council of Scientific and Technological Development) and chosen theme (Language, Hearing and Balance, Motricity and orofacial functions, Voice e Public Health). The statistical analysis involved the description of the selected parameters, a regression analysis to verify increase of Ph.D. presentations, area of development and chosen theme, and application of the chi-square test to verify possible associations.

Results: a total of 504 dissertations were analyzed. The results were: 97.0% of the dissertations were presented by women; State Institutions were chosen by almost half (47.62%) of the speech pathologists and audiologists to obtain their Ph.D.; the Sciences of Life programs were the most prevalent (57.54%); concerning the chosen theme, most of the dissertations were developed in the field of Language (34.52%) and Hearing and Balance (32.34%). The regression analysis indicated an increase of all of the studied variables with significance mostly related to the year of presentation, choice of the area of Applied Human and Social Sciences and Sciences of Life and themes of Language and Motricity and Orofacial functions (p < 0,001). There was also an increase related to the option for Public Institutions, mostly State Institutions(p < 0,001).

Conclusion: there was a significant increase of speech pathologists and audiologists with Ph. D., which enables major insertion of these professionals in research activities and qualified scientific production.

Background: hearing impairment has a negative impact on communication. This impact can be minimized by hearing aids fitting and auditory training.

Aim: to verify the effectiveness of auditory training in elderly individuals, new users of hearing aids, regarding the benefit in fitting.

Method: forty-two individuals with mild to moderate neurosensorial hearing loss, ranging in age from 60 to 90 years, were selected. Individuals were new users of bilateral hearing aids and were divided in two groups: Experimental Group (EG) and Sham Group (SG). The EG was submitted to training in an acoustic cabin during six sessions. Both groups were assessed through the following tests: Speech in Noise, Dichotic Digits and the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit Aphab self-assessment questionnaire, without the hearing aids, four and eight weeks after they were fitted.

Results: there was a statistically significant difference between the groups in both of the used tests, and for the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit Aphab in the second and third assessments in the sub-scales of: Communication Easiness, Reverberation and Environmental Noise.

Conclusion: auditory training favored the improvement in the auditory processing abilities and benefited the hearing aid fitting process.

Background: researches about the relationship between language, cognition and socialization have evolved since the 70s. Language mediates social development allowing the individual to participate in social situations that include balanced communicative exchanges.

Aim: to assess the effectiveness of the Social-Communicative Adaptation Protocol in two groups of children and adolescents with autistic spectrum disorders and to verify the relationship between the referred protocol and the Social-Cognitive Profile.

Method: participants were 16 children and adolescents with ages between 8.0 and 16.0 years, of both genders, who were diagnosed within the autistic spectrum by neurologists and/or psychiatrists. All participants were receiving, once a week, specialized language therapy by a speech-language pathologist for a period of at least six months. Participants were assessed using the Social-cognitive Profile and the Social-Communicative Adaptation questionnaire.

Results: the analysis of the results indicated absence of significant statistical differences in the Social-Cognitive Profile between the two groups. The Social-Communicative Adaptation demonstrated to be extremely variable among the participants.

Conclusion: this research shows that autistic spectrum children do not have a symmetric and linear development of language, socialization and cognition.

Background: auditory steady-state response (ASSR) is indicated as a promising technique in the assessment of the hearing status of children.

Aim: to investigate the level of agreement between the results of the ASSR and the visual reinforcement audiometry (VRA) in a group of children, thus examining the clinical applicability of this technique in hearing assessment of children.

Method: participants were 14 children with ages between 4 and 36 months (mean 16 months) with the diagnosis of cochlear hearing loss. The ASSR was recorded in the frequencies of 0.5, 1, 2 and 4kHz for multiple simultaneous stimulation and the results were compared with the visual reinforcement audiometry (VRA).

Results: the intraclass correlation coefficients between ASSR and VRA were 0.90, 0.93, 0.93 and 0.89 respectively for the frequencies of 0.5, 1, 2 and 4kHz, indicating a strong correlation between the techniques.

Conclusion: the ASSR can provide accurate information to support the selection of hearing aids for children when it is not possible to perform the VRA.

Background: auditory processing and co-occurrence of pathologies.

Aim: to investigate the performance of children with Dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in behavioral and auditory processing tests, comparing the results to a control group.

Method: participants of the study were 30 children, with ages between 7 and 12 years, divided into three groups: a control group of 10 children, a study group of 10 children with dyslexia and a study group of 10 children with ADHD. All participants were submitted to the following auditory processing tests: Speech in Noise, Dichotic of Digits and Frequency Pattern.

Results: concerning the Speech in Noise Test, there was an interactive effect between the control group and the ADHD group (p < 0.001), with the ADHD group presenting a significantly lower performance; for the Dichotic of Digits test, there was an interactive effect between the three groups (p < 0.001), with the ADHD group presenting a lower performance, followed by the dyslexic and control groups; for the Frequency Pattern, there was a marginal effect (p = 0.056) with the ADHA group presenting a lower performance, followed by the dyslexic and control groups.

Conclusion: the ADHD group presented a poorer performance in all tests when compared to the dyslexic and control groups. This result suggests a relationship between attention and hearing abilities.

Background: gap detection in 11 and 12-year-old children.

Aim: to investigate temporal resolution through the Gap in Noise test in children of 11 and 12 years in order to establish criteria of normal development.

Method: participants were 92 children, with ages of 11 and 12 years, enrolled in elementary school, with no evidences of otologic, and/or neurologic, and/or cognitive disorders, as well as with no history of learning difficulties or school failure. Besides that, participants' hearing thresholds were within normal limits and their verbal recognition in the dichotic test of digits was equal or superior to 95% of hits. All were submitted to the Gap in Noise test. The statistical analysis was performed by non-parametric tests with significance level of 0.05 (5%).

Results: the average of the gap thresholds was 5.05 ms, and the average percentage of correct answers was 71.70%. There was no significant statistical difference between the responses by age (eleven and twelve years), by ear (right and left), by gender (male and female). However, when comparing the tests, it was observed that the 1st test showed a higher percentage of identifications of gap, statistically significant than the 2nd test.

Conclusion: in 78.27% of the population of this study, the gap thresholds were up to 5 ms, response recommended as normality reference for the age group searched.

Background: verb acquisition.

Aim: to verify quantitative and qualitative verb diversity in the spontaneous speech of Brazilian Portuguese-speaking preschoolers and verb acquisition from 2 to 4 years of age.

Method: participants were sixty preschoolers equally matched on gender and age, divided into three groups: GI (2-year-old children), GII (3-year-old children) and GIII (4-year-old children). Spontaneous speech samples obtained through playing interactions, in educational contexts, were collected, and verb productions were listed.

Results: children used 167 different verbs. The quantitative analysis indicated significant statistical differences between all groups (p< .001), with gradual increase of verb usage from 2 to 4 years of age. However, no statistical difference (p= .956) was observed between genders.

Conclusion: preschoolers improved their use of verbs during the initial stages of language acquisition, irrespective of their gender.

Background: prematurity as a risk factor for delay in language development.

Aim: to verify the performance of premature children regarding their receptive and expressive auditory and visual abilities.

Method: participants were 40 children with chronological ages between 12 and 24 months. The experimental group (G1) was composed by 20 children who presented report of prematurity and low or very low weight. The birth age varied from 22 to 34 weeks and weight was below 2500 gr. This group was divided according to weight, i.e. children with low and very low weight. The control group (G2) was composed by 20 children born at term, with weight above 2500 gr and with no report of development delay. The procedures consisted of an interview with the parents and the application of the Early Language Milestone Scale--ELM.

Results: when comparing the groups, the results indicate statistically significant differences. Children of G1 presented a poorer performance in the Expressive Hearing (EH), Receptive Hearing (RH) and Visual (V) areas, although a few children of this group presented the expected results for their age group in some of the tested abilities. The expressive auditory ability was the most affected.

Conclusion: children of G1 presented deficits in the expressive and receptive auditory and visual functions. Premature children with very low weight presented higher deficits in the tested abilities.

Background: auditory training program in students with learning disabilities.

Aim: to verify the efficacy of an auditory training program in students with learning disabilities; to compare the results of students with and without learning disabilities, who were and were not submitted to the auditory training program, in pre and post-testing.

Method: participants were 40 students who were divided according to the following: GI, subdivided in: GIe (10 students with learning disabilities who were submitted to the program), GIc (10 students with learning difficulties who were not submitted to auditory training) and GII, subdivided in: GIIe (10 students without learning difficulties submitted to the auditory training program) and GIIc (10 students without learning difficulties who were not submitted to auditory training). The auditory training program Audio Training was used.

Results: the results indicate that GI presented a lower performance when compared to GII in activities related to auditory skills and phonological awareness. When comparing the pre and post-testing results, GIe and GIIe presented better performances in activities involving auditory skills and phonological awareness after the auditory training program.

Conclusion: the performance of the students with learning disabilities in auditory and phonological tasks is lower when compared to the students without learning disabilities. The use of the auditory training program was effective and allowed students to develop these skills.

Background: oral language disorder and epilepsy in childhood.

Aim: to verify the occurrence of oral language disorders in epileptic preschoolers attended at the Child Neurology Section of a university hospital.

Method: a prospective study with 30 epileptic children who were submitted to an oral speech-language evaluation.

Inclusion criteria: explicit diagnosis of epilepsy according to the ILAE (2005); ages between 3 to 6 years; normal neurological standard and neuropsychomotor development.

Exclusion criteria: dubious diagnosis of epilepsy; altered neurological standard and neuropsychomotor development; children with associated pediatric disorders. Analyzed variables were: gender, age of first seizure, types of seizure and treatment regime. OR (odds ration) was determined, with a significance level of < 0.05.

Results: 18 (60%) children with epilepsy presented oral language disorders and 12 (40%) presented normal language development. Regarding the observed disorders, 12 (67%) presented language disorder and 6 (33%) presented phonological disorder. Male children (OR = 2.03) and those with partial seizure (OR = 2.41) demonstrated to have a higher risk for oral language disorders.

Conclusion: the results indicate that preschoolers with epilepsy present a predominance of oral language development delay, and that the male gender and partial seizure are risk factors for this age group.