Neonatal hearing screening in a low-risk maternity in São Paulo state

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Estudo comparativo da classificação do grau de perda auditiva em idosos institucionalizados

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Aplicação dos testes de padrão temporal em crianças com gagueira desenvolvimental persistente

OBJETIVO: caracterizar e comparar o desempenho das crianças com diagnóstico de gagueira nos testes de padrão temporal, com crianças sem queixas e/ou sinais de transtornos psiquiátricos ou neurológicos, dificuldades de fala, audição, linguagem e/ou aprendizagem. MÉTODO: participaram 30 crianças entre 9 e 12 anos de idade, de ambos os gêneros, divididas em dois grupos: GI - 15 crianças com gagueira desenvolvimental persistente; GII - 15 crianças sem queixas e/ou sinais de transtornos psiquiátricos ou neurológicos, dificuldades de fala, audição, linguagem e/ou aprendizagem. Para avaliação do processamento auditivo temporal, foi aplicado os Testes Tonais de Padrão de Frequência (PPS-Pitch Pattern Sequence Test) e Testes Tonais de Padrão de Duração (DPS - Duration Pattern Sequence Test). RESULTADOS: o grupo II apresentou desempenho superior no teste de padrão de frequência e de padrão de duração quando comparado ao grupo I. Os resultados indicaram que houve diferença estatisticamente significante entre os grupos estudados. CONCLUSÃO: os participantes do grupo I apresentaram desempenho alterado nos testes de padrão temporal, o que indica que existe relação entre a gagueira e o transtorno do processamento auditivo.

Testes tonais de padrão de frequência e duração no Brasil: revisão de literatura

Este estudo tem como tema o teste de padrão de frequência e de duração no Brasil e como objetivo revisar e explanar sobre a avaliação do processamento auditivo temporal no Brasil, mais especificamente sobre os testes tonais de ordenação temporal (teste de padrão de frequência e duração). Para atingir tal objetivo foi realizado um trabalho de revisão sistemática da literatura em periódicos nacionais, acessados eletronicamente na base de dado Scielo e Lilacs, sem restrição ao ano de publicação. A pesquisa foi estruturada por meio dos descritores: processamento temporal, processamento auditivo temporal, testes temporais, testes tonais de padrão de frequência e testes tonais de padrão de duração, percepção auditiva e testes auditivos. A pesquisa retornou 33 publicações nacionais sendo 28 artigos de periódicos, uma dissertação de mestrado e quatro teses de doutorado. Com isso, pode-se perceber que a utilização de testes que avaliem a habilidade de ordenação temporal no Brasil é recente, sendo notável o aumento significante das publicações nos últimos cinco anos. Desta forma, o emergente conhecimento possibilitado pelo acesso aos testes no Brasil permite ampliar um campo de pesquisa a todos os profissionais comprometidos com este tema.

Exposição neonatal a drogas ototóxicas e possíveis alterações auditivas

Introduction: Scientific evidence indicates that neonatal exposure to ototoxic drugs cause hearing loss in newborns. Objective: To characterize the use of ototoxic antibiotics in newborns (NB), treated in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and evaluate possible hearing modifications. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional quantitative approach, using data from medical records of infants who were at some time in the NICU and used antibiotics, including ototoxic, from January to June 2004 as much as 2010, and the data were compared and analyzed. Parents/guardians of infants born in 2004 were contacted and applied a questionnaire containing questions about the children’s hearing. These children were submitted to audiological evaluation. Results: There was significant reduction in the time of use, the amount of antibiotics prescribed to newborns and Vancomycin prescription in 2010 compared to 2004. The hearing tests of 13 born in 2004 showed: sensorineural hearing loss in only 2 (one with moderate hearing loss and descending configuration in pure tone audiometry and the other with bilateral cochlear impairment); audiometric thresholds within the normal range in 11 patients, and the presence of otoacoustic emissions in 9. In Evoked Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) no changes were observed. Conclusion: The reduction in the time of use, the amount and types of antibiotics observed may be related to the adoption of a Protocol in 2008, by the service. In contrast, auditory alterations may be related to a neonatal exposure to antibiotics in 2004.

Transient evoked and distortion product otoacoustic emissions in a group of neonates

Introduction The most commonly used method in neonatal hearing screening programs is transient evoked otoacoustic emissions in the first stage of the process. There are few studies comparing transient evoked otoacoustic emissions with distortion product, but some authors have investigated the issue. Objective To correlate the results of transient evoked and distortion product otoacoustic emissions in a Brazilian maternity hospital. Methods This is a cross-sectional, comparative, and prospective study. The study included 579 newborns, ranging from 6 to 54 days of age, born in a low-risk maternity hospital and assessed for hearing loss. All neonates underwent hearing screening by transient evoked and distortion product otoacoustic emissions. The results were analyzed using the Spearman correlation test to relate the two procedures. Results The pass index on transient evoked otoacoustic emissions was 95% and on distortion product otoacoustic emissions was 91%. The comparison of the two procedures showed that 91% of neonates passed on both procedures, 4.5% passed only on transient evoked otoacoustic emissions, 0.5% passed only on distortion product otoacoustic emissions, and 4% failed on both procedures. The inferential analysis showed a significant strong positive relationship between the two procedures. Conclusion The failure rate was higher in distortion product otoacoustic emissions when compared with transient evoked; however, there was correlation between the results of the procedures.

Processamento auditivo (central) em escolares das séries iniciais de alfabetização

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Effects of hearing protector devices on speech intelligibility

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of hearing protection devices (HPDs) on the understanding of speech in young adults with normal hearing, both in a silent situation and in the presence of ambient noise. The experimental research was carried out with the following variables: five different conditions of HPD use (without protectors, with two earplugs and with two earmuffs); a type of noise (pink noise); 4 test levels (60, 70, 80 and 90 dB[A]); 6 signal/noise ratios (without noise, + 5, + 10, zero, - 5 and - 10 dB); 5 repetitions for each case, totalling 600 tests with 10 monosyllables in each one. The variable measure was the percentage of correctly heard words (monosyllabic) in the test. The results revealed that, at the lowest levels (60 and 70 dB), the protectors reduced the intelligibility of speech (compared to the tests without protectors) while, in the presence of ambient noise levels of 80 and 90 dB and unfavourable signal/noise ratios (0, -5 and -10 dB), the HPDs improved the intelligibility. A comparison of the effectiveness of earplugs versus earmuffs showed that the former offer greater efficiency in respect to the recognition of speech, providing a 30% improvement over situations in which no protection is used. As might be expected, this study confirmed that the protectors' influence on speech intelligibility is related directly to the spectral curve of the protector's attenuation. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. Ltd. All rights reserved.

Interventions to promote the wearing of hearing protection

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Application of an auditory steady-state response test to evaluate the attenuation of hearing protection devices

This research aims to present a new method to get real attenuation of hearing protection devices, with good reproducibility and a small standard deviation, without relying on skills and cooperation individual. Thus the authors performed tests in 10 individuals without protection and after with two kinds of ear protections (ear plug and ear muffs), to get the threshold limit value in each of the 3 stages. For this, the research used an electrophysical exam, normally used in speech therapy, named ASSR (auditory steady-state response). The principle of this exam is put on individual’s head 3 electrodes, to capture electrical signs directly in auditory nerve. In summary, the authors presented the final results. The method proposed by ANSI (American National Standards Institute) indicated an attenuation of 27.6 dB for ear plugs, while the value found in this work was 16 dB; and for ear muffs, the ANSI method indicated 29.8 dB while the value found here was 28.5 dB.