Background: Noise exposure is the primary cause of acquired hearing loss in several occupational settings, including dental laboratories and clinics. However, the impact of noise exposure on the ...vestibular system is not as well researched. Purpose: To investigate the nature of vestibular damage caused by working in dental laboratories and clinics with high levels of noise exposure due to loud dental equipment. Research Design: A descriptive, case study design was used to evaluate the vestibular function of dental technicians. Study Sample: Out of 30 dental technicians, 5 males who had been working for several years in dental settings were selected based on their reports of severe symptoms of imbalance. Data Collection: Audiologic evaluations were conducted in the vestibular unit of the Doctor Tarek Khrais Center in Amman, Jordan, for one year. Each subject underwent several hearing tests, which included otoscopic examination, pure tone audiometry (PTA), impedance measurements, and speech testing. Assessment of vestibular function was then conducted using a diagnostic test battery which included electrocochleography, ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (oVEMP), cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMP), positional testing using the Thomas Richard-Vitton (TRV) chair, and standing stability testing. Results: All test subjects experienced some form of vestibular impairment, including benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), endolymphatic hydrops (Meniere disease), or a combination of both. Three out of five cases displayed little or no hearing loss, indicating that vestibular function is more at risk than hearing acuity to continuous noise exposure in dental settings. Conclusions: Exposure to loud noise in dental laboratories severely impacts the functioning of the vestibular system of the inner ear more than the cochlea. The main clinical implication of this study is that regular vestibular assessments are a necessity for dental technicians.
Hearing loss is a common disorder, affecting both children and adults worldwide. Individuals with hearing loss suffer from mental health problems that affect their quality of life.
This study aimed ...to investigate the social and emotional consequences of hearing loss in a Jordanian population using Arabic versions of the Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults (HHIA) and the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly (HHIE).
This study included 300 Jordanian participants aged 18-90 years with hearing loss. Each participant underwent a complete audiological evaluation before answering the questionnaires.
The median overall scores of the HHIA and HHIE groups were 39 and 65, respectively. Both HHIA (Cronbach's alpha = 0.79, p < 0.001) and HHIE (Cronbach's alpha = 0.78, p < 0.001) were significantly associated with the social, emotional, and overall scores. Compared to the adult group, the median emotional and social scores of the older adults group were significantly higher than the adults group (Z = -4.721, p = 0.001), using the Mann-Whitney test.
The present research revealed that psychological disabilities associated with hearing loss in the adult Jordanian population are more frequent and severe than in other nations. This may be attributed to the lack of awareness of the mental consequences of hearing loss among Jordanian healthcare providers and the public.
Early detection and management of hearing loss are important to develop ordinary speaking language and academic skills during childhood. Lack of knowledge by either parents or health care providers ...could hinder the process of hearing loss diagnosis, such that the intervention will be less effective. There is little evidence about the knowledge and practice of family physicians regarding hearing screening in Saudi Arabia and worldwide. This study aimed to assess family physicians' knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to hearing loss in children. This in turn will help policy makers and educational institutions to establish and promote a program concerned with screening, diagnosis and intervention of paediatric hearing loss. A cross-sectional descriptive study enrolled 133 family physicians working at primary health centres in Saudi Arabia from March 2020 to September 2020. A self-reported questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of family physicians concerning hearing loss in children. The majority of the participants were working under the umbrella of the Ministry of Health and around half of them did not screen any child for hearing loss. Despite that, 91.7% indicated the importance of neonatal hearing screening, 70.7% indicate infant candidacy for cochlear implant and only 33.1% know about the existence of the early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI) governmental program in kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Participants were able to identify factors associated with hearing loss such as a family history of hearing loss (85.6%), meningitis (75%) and craniofacial anomalies (51.5%). The most frequent specialists for patient referrals were ear nose and throat ENT (75.2%) and audiologists (67.7%). This study shows that family physicians have good general background about the benefits of EHDI programs and the management of hearing loss in the paediatric population. However, it also indicated insufficient knowledge in other domains of hearing loss, including assessments and the presence of the EHDI governmental program in KSA. Further actions on the involvement of family physicians in the process of neonatal hearing screening, diagnosis and intervention for hearing impairment are needed.
Objectives: To explore the benefits of invoking unconscious sentiment to improve the treatment of stuttering and misarticulation. Methods: This cross-sectional study of 80 participants with speech ...issues (44 patients with misarticulation and 36 with stuttering) who underwent comprehensive speech and hearing evaluations to confirm and diagnose speech difficulties. Speech and language pathologists then calculated either the percentage of correctly pronounce sounds in misarticulation cases or stuttering severity index-4 scores in cases of stuttering following the use of therapeutic stimuli recorded with familiar and non-familiar voices of similar linguistic and phonetic complexity. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to compare the data collected following the use of familiar and unfamiliar stimuli. Results: The analysis showed that the number of dysfluencies in cases of stuttering were significantly fewer when employing familiar voices than unfamiliar voices (3% errors vs 12% errors; Z= -5.16 p<0.001). Additionally, the percentages of correct pronouncing of target sounds in cases of articulation disorders were prominently higher when using familiar voices compared with unfamiliar voices (88% PCC vs 66% PCC; Z= -5.65,p<0.001) Conclusion: This study confirms the utility of invoking emotion in improving speech therapy and maximizing therapeutic outcomes. This study also recommends engaging families and friends in providing speech services to the speech-impaired population to improve patient progress. Keywords: articulation, central auditory system, emotions, stuttering phrase omitted
Cognitive abilities like language, memory, reasoning, visualization, and perceptual functioning shape human action and are considered critical to the successful interaction with the environment. ...Alternatively, hearing loss can disrupt a child's ability to communicate, and negatively impact cognitive development. Cochlear implants (CI) restore auditory input thereby supporting communication and may enhance cognitive performance. This study compares general cognitive development after cochlear implantation (2017-2019) in two groups of Jordanian children implanted earlier (age:4-6 years, N = 22) and later (7-9 years, N = 16) to the development of randomly selected normal hearing peers (N = 48).
Visualization, reasoning, memory, and attention were assessed using the Leiter-R scale at baseline (before implantation), 8 months and 16 months post implantation for children with hearing loss. Same times of testing (baseline, 8 months and 16 months) were used for normal hearing peers.
Over the 16-month period, the cognitive improvement of 4-6-year-old deaf children was greater than that of their normal hearing peers on the scales of visualization (5.62 vs. 4.40), reasoning (2.53 vs. 2.38) and memory (17.19 vs. 11.67). while the improvement of 7-9-year-old was less major than that of their normal hearing peers on all scales.
These results suggest that CI not only enhances communication skills but may improve cognitive functioning in deaf children. However, the extent of this improvement was dependent on age at intervention; current results demonstrated that the children received CI at young ages had better cognitive improvements.
Abstract
Introduction
One of the main factors that affect the early diagnosis and intervention of hearing loss is inadequate knowledge by the health care workers. Ear, nose, and throat (ENT) ...specialists are the main source of information about hearing loss and its management in most developing countries, such as Jordan.
Objective
The purpose of the present study is to explore the level of knowledge and the practice of hearing screening and hearing loss management for children among ENT physicians in Jordan as an example of health care providers in developing countries of the Middle East.
Methods
This was a cross-sectional study, adapting a questionnaire of knowledge and the practice of hearing screening and hearing loss management for children. The questionnaire consisted of 2 sections with 20 questions. A total of 40 ENT physicians completed the questionnaire.
Results
The majority of the respondents acknowledged the importance of hearing screening for children; however, there was limited knowledge regarding hearing loss management and testing. Only 10 of the ENT physicians believed that a referral to an audiologist is warranted, and the majority of the respondents were not aware that a child with a confirmed permanent hearing loss should be referred to a speech pathologist or to a rehabilitation center. Managing unilateral and mild sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) was another area about which ENT physicians have limited knowledge.
Conclusion
There is a strong need for professional intervention programs, providing the latest updates and standardizations in the field of audiology and pediatric rehabilitation for ENT physicians.
Phonological Awareness (PA) in deep orthographies like English can be used to predict reading abilities in later grades. PA is a sensitive measure in identifying Arabic speaking children who struggle ...to read. The main objective of the present study was to compare two matched versions of a sound blending task to determine whether any of the two created versions (i.e., one with short vowels and the other without short vowels) of this task could yield a more accurate measure of PA in children speaking Jordanian Arabic. Data was collected from 20 randomly selected schools in Jordan. A randomly selected sample of 200 participants in grade 4 who were randomly divided into two groups (100 students each) and were tested on word blending, elision, word recognition, and oral reading fluency. Each group of participants was tested using a different version of the word blending task, while the other tasks used to test the two groups were the same. The major finding of the study revealed a significant difference between the two versions of the blending task in favor of the assumption that using a task without short vowels can produce inflated scores (i.e., the blending task without short vowels yielded higher scores); such scores demonstrated weak correlation with the reading measures. The implications of the current study support the presentation of blending tasks with all the constituent segments of the word including short vowels (i.e., presenting the word with consonants, long vowels, and short vowels), which can better contribute to gauging children's PA abilities.
To explore the difficulties and obstacles of hearing-technology users during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Descriptive, cross-sectional study.
Individuals with permanent hearing ...loss (n = 278) answered a questionnaire designed to identify potential obstacles caused by using hearing aids during the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the reasons and deleterious effects associated with the devices. Each category reflected challenges in communicating, learning, and working during the pandemic. Different response categories were compared using descriptive and inferential statistics.
The duration of daily device usage before the imposed lockdown was significantly higher than that during (Z = −2.01, p < 0.05), potentially attributable to the pandemic-induced difficulties faced by hearing-technology users. Such challenges include the shortage of batteries for hearing devices, limited access to repair or programming services of said devices and accessories, termination of speech therapy sessions, and obstacles to employment and education.
Among audiologists, efficiency and professionalism are required to educate the public and private health sectors regarding the prevalent challenges and their harmful impact on hearing-technology users during the COVID-19 pandemic. To overcome these issues, awareness of telepractice and its importance in providing audiological services to hard of hearing individuals should be raised.
This study investigated audiologists' knowledge of COVID-19 characteristics and infection control measures they followed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, it examined the impact of COVID-19 on ...audiology practice, and audiologist's knowledge of telehealth as an alternative.
A web-based cross-sectional study using a questionnaire consisting of four sections.
This study engaged 164 audiologists practicing in Jordan and Arab countries.
Fever, cough, difficulty in breathing, and fatigue were identified as COVID-19 characteristics by over 80% of the audiologists. Other symptoms were identified by less than half of the audiologists. The audiologists showed limited knowledge regarding measures against COVID-19 transmission. This study revealed the limited availability of infection control measures in many audiologists' workplace. The majority of audiologists stopped working due to the COVID-19 crisis and only 61.6% of the audiologists were familiar with the concepts of tele-audiology and its related aspects. However, most participants were keen to learn more.
This study revealed limited knowledge among audiologists regarding some of the COVID-19 characteristics, and limited compliance with the infection control policies. Limited knowledge in the application of telehealth in audiology practice was also shown.
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