Exploring the Effects of Alternate Auditory Attention Tasks on Electromotility of Cochlear Outer Hair Cells in Healthy Normal Hearing Adults

Background and Aim: There is limited study on the role of rostral efferent auditory pathway on Outer Hair Cell (OHC) activity. We investigated the effect of integrating alternate auditory attention (ALAUDIN©) tasks with White Noise (WN) and its reliability using contralateral suppression of Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emission (TEOAE). Methods: This study was conducted at the Audiology Clinic, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, with fifty normal-hearing adults. All subjects underwent standard audiological testing to ensure normal hearing, middle ear, and cochlear function. Contralateral suppressors with and without attention tasks were delivered randomly to the non-test ear while simultaneously measuring TEOAE amplitude in the test ear to investigate the effect of auditory attention on OHC electromotility. Suppressors with and without attention refer to the combination of a 1000 Hz tone and speech stimulus embedded in WN and WN alone, respectively. Subsequently, the difference in TEOAE amplitude during the presence and absence of suppressors was calculated, and thus suppression magnitude was determined. Results: Intraclass correlation revealed that 4 suppressors produced high reliability. In paired sample t-tests, the tasks significantly reduced the amplitude of the TEOAE in the right ear compared to the left ear (p0.05). Descriptively, females showed greater TEOAE suppression. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that directing ALAUDIN© tasks to one ear can affect OHC electromotility, as evidenced by TEOAE amplitude changes, but it did not impact the overall suppression magnitude. Additionally, it hinted at potential gender differences in TEOAE suppression, warranting further investigation

The translation and validation of the smartphone use questionnaire (SUQ) into the Malay language

Interruptions caused by frequent smartphone use steals attention away from daily activities, bringing serious implications onto an individual’s health, safety and education. Smartphone Use Questionnaire (SUQ) is a 20-item questionnaire developed to assess the pattern of smartphone use and its effect on attention. This study was done to translate and validate the Malay-language version of the SUQ and to measure the psychometric properties of the Malay-version SUQ to justify its use in Malaysia. A forward and back-translation was done by four individuals, who were three physicians and one linguist. Content and face validity was done involving three experts who were a linguist, psychiatrist and epidemiologist. Psychometric testing was conducted on a sample of 195 individuals proficient in the Malay language. A construct validity test was performed using factor analysis and the internal reliability was tested by calculating for the Cronbach’s Alpha. The age range of the sample was 13-59 years, most of which were female and of the Malay race. Using principal component analysis with direct oblimin rotation, the factor analysis extracted two components similar to the original study: General Use and Absent-Minded Use. However, question number 20 was grouped into General Use component, whereas in the original study it was under the Absent-Minded Use component. The Cronbach’s Alpha for the obtained components was 0.884 and 0.927, respectively. This study found that the Malay-version SUQ was a valid and reliable instrument for use in Malaysia in assessing inattention associated with smartphone use

Kajian kualitatif persepsi pelajar UKM dengan alat bantu pendengaran terhadap sistem modulasi frekuensi dan penstrim

Statistik menunjukkan hanya 1 dari 200 pemakai alat bantu pendengaran (ABP) menggunakan Sistem Modulasi Frekuensi (FM) dan dapatan kajian terkini mengenai persepsi penggunaanya adalah terhad, terutama golongan dewasa. Justeru, kajian ini bertujuan untuk mendapatkan persepsi pelajar Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) pengguna alat bantu pendengaran terhadap sistem FM dan penstrim. Seramai tiga orang pelajar pra-siswazah UKM pengguna ABP yang tidak pernah menggunakan sistem FM terlibat di dalam kajian ini. Mereka melaporkan pengalaman menggunakan sistem FM dan penstrim sepanjang tempoh tiga bulan di dalam templat diari yang disediakan. Proses temubual dijalankan untuk merekodkan pengalaman pemakaian sistem FM dan penstrim setelah tamat tempoh percubaan. Data yang diperolehi dari diari dan temubual dianalisis secara deskriptif. Kualiti bunyi pertuturan termasuk pengurangan gema dan persepsi pertuturan yang lebih baik dalam perbualan bersemuka, dalam jarak jauh atau dalam talian telah ditunjukkan dalam kajian ini. Isu yang dibangkitkan termasuk gangguan teknikal dan gangguan bunyi yang terhasil dalam keadaan tertentu. Selain itu, terdapat faktor seperti kesukaran mengikuti kadar pertuturan, sambungan unilateral , sokongan keluarga dan harga turut mempengaruhi penggunaan sistem FM dan penstrim dalam kalangan pelajar UKM pengguna ABP

Nilai parameter timpanometri Kanak-kanak Pra-sekolah Normal dan Sindrom Down

Guidelines for middle ear screening by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) have suggested the use of quantitative approach for tympanogram interpretation. Compared to the qualitative approach that has been used previously, the quantitative approach is more suitable because it is an objective approach and can be applied with the commercial tympanometer available in the market. This study intended to obtain absolute values of tympanometric characteristics, which are the peak compensated static acoustic admittance (Peak Ytm), tympanogram width (TW) and the external ear canal volume (Vea) in normal preshoolers and Down Syndrome children. Fifteen normal and 12 Down Syndrome children that suited the subject selection criteria have participated in this study. The mean values for Peak Ytm and Vea in normal children were 0.36 mmho and 0.57 cm3 , respectively, while the Down Syndrome children showed mean values of 0.14 mmho and 0.38 cm3. The normal and Down Syndrome children showed TW mean values of 99.73 and 148.65 daPa, respectively. Statistical analysis showed significant difference between the two groups of subject for all three tympanometric parameters obtained in this study

Investigating the effects of dhikr stimulation on auditory brainstem response : a case study of a healthy-normal hearing adult

Dhikr has been studied to a limited extent in its impact on human auditory brainstem response. The article describes the processes involved in preparing Dhikr stimuli and analysing the auditory brainstem waves produced. A total of 18 words of ‘Allah’ recited by male and female Muslims were saved as 16 bit WAV files with sampling rates of 30,000 Hertz (Hz) and 1.09227 seconds (sec) with a sampling rate of 16 bits. Nevertheless, we calibrated and installed only six stimuli in Eclipse EP25 software. A healthy 23-year-old male underwent routine audiological examinations, including click ABR tests, for the purpose of ensuring normal hearing and brain stem function. To produce Dhikr-ABR waves, the subject listened to all six stimuli, initially presented at 100 dB peSPL to the left and right ear. Later, the tester reduced the intensity level and determined whether there were any significant peaks, namely DI, DIII, and DV, as well as IPLs and IALDs. There were robust waves associated with each stimulus. A few waves, however, displayed early peaks. Depending upon the presence or absence of peaks, the IPLs for DI-DIII, DIII-DV, and DI-DV would be about 2.0, 2.0, and 4.0 milliseconds, respectively. A reduction in intensity alters the amplitude and absolute latency of the waves

Sikap terhadap penggunaan alat pelindung pendengaran dalam kalangan pelajar Prasiswazah Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Penggunaan alat pelindung pendengaran adalah salah satu cara yang efisien untuk melindungi pendengaran seseorang dari kerosakan akibat bunyi yang kuat. Kajian mengenai sikap kumpulan dewasa awal, terutamanya dalam kalangan pelajar universiti di Malaysia terhadap penggunaan alat pelindung pendengaran adalah terhad. Sehubungan itu, seramai 134 orang pelajar Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) telah terlibat di dalam kajian soal-selidik ini secara dalam talian. Soalan soal-selidik berkaitan penggunaan alat pelindung pendengaran versi Bahasa Inggeris telah melalui proses terjemahan kehadapan dan kebelakang untuk menghasilkan versi Bahasa Melayu. Hasil kajian mendapati penggunaan alat pelindung pendengaran di tempat yang memainkan muzik dengan kuat adalah rendah iaitu sebanyak 11.9% daripada keseluruhan responden. Hubungan antara faktor sosiodemografi dengan penggunaan alat pelindung pendengaran adalah tidak signifikan (p>0.05). Oleh itu, tidak terdapat hubungan antara faktor sosiodemografi (jantina dan bidang akademik) dengan penggunaan alat pelindung pendengaran. Penemuan kajian ini memberi implikasi bahawa pendedahan terhadap kepentingan penggunaan alat pelindung pendengaran perlu dikembangkan secara lebih meluas untuk meningkatkan penggunaan alat tersebut di tempat yang terdapat bunyi-bunyi yang kuat sebagai langkah untuk mengurangkan risiko masalah hilang pendengaran

Kebolehgunaan dan kesan aplikasi mudah alih (Mobile Apps) dalam Minggu Mesra Mahasiswa UKM

Kajian ini bertujuan untuk menilai kebolehgunaan dan kesan aplikasi mudah alih ‘MESRA@UKM’ dalam Minggu Mesra Mahasiswa (MMM) 2018. Aplikasi mudah alih ini dibangunkan menggunakan alat pengarangan Framework react native language javascript untuk pelantar Android dan iOS yang mempunyai lima fasa iaitu fasa analisis, fasa reka bentuk, fasa pembangunan, fasa pelaksanaan dan fasa penilaian. Untuk menilai perisian ini, kaedah tinjauan dengan menggunakan soal selidik berskala Likert lima pilihan telah digunakan. Seramai 1258 orang pelajar baru UKM telah mengambil bahagian sebagai sampel kajian. Kajian ini menggunakan kaedah deskriptif untuk menilai persepsi pengguna terhadap kebolehgunaan aplikasi mudah alih ‘MESRA@UKM’ yang dibangunkan. Hasil dapatan kajian ini mendapati bahawa pelajar sangat berpuas hati terhadap aplikasi yang dibangunkan ini. Kesimpulannya, pembinaan aplikasi mudah alih ini berjaya dibangunkan dan berpotensi dilaksanakan bagi membantu pelajar seperti dalam penyampaian maklumat, tunjuk arah, jadual program dan pergerakan bas serta bantuan menjawab pelbagai persoalan pelajar dalam memastikan kelancaran sepanjang MMM

Analisis program orientasi Minggu Mesra Mahasiswa 2018

Kajian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis isi kandungan program orientasi pelajar baharu dalam Minggu Mesra Mahasiswa (MMM) UKM 2018. Objektif utama kajian ini adalah untuk mengenalpasti respon pelajar bagi setiap program orientasi yang dilaksanakan dan bagaimana kesannya dalam menyediakan pelajar dengan pelbagai maklumat yang diperlukan. Ia bertujuan untuk membantu pihak pengurusan universiti dalam meningkatkan kualiti program yang akan dijalankan pada masa hadapan. Dapatan kajian membuktikan bahawa program orientasi yang telah dijalankan menunjukkan respon yang amat baik dengan lebih 90% purata tahap kepuasan responden dapat dilihat, namun terdapat juga kelemahan yang memerlukan penambahbaikan