Facial emotion detection in Vestibular Schwannoma patients with and without facial paresis

This study investigates whether there exist differences in facial emotion detection accuracy in patients suffering from Vestibular Schwannoma (VS) due to their facial paresis. Forty-four VS patients, half of them with, and half of them without a facial paresis, had to classify pictures of facial expressions as being emotional or non-emotional. The visual information of images was systematically manipulated by adding different levels of visual noise. The study had a mixed design with emotional expression (happy vs. angry) and visual noise level (10% to 80%) as repeated measures and facial paresis (present vs. absent) and degree of facial dysfunction as between subjects' factors. Emotion detection accuracy declined when visual information declined, an effect that was stronger for anger than for happy expressions. Overall, emotion detection accuracy for happy and angry faces did not differ between VS patients with or without a facial paresis, although exploratory analyses suggest that the ability to recognize emotions in angry facial expressions was slightly more impaired in patients with facial paresis. The findings are discussed in the context of the effects of facial paresis on emotion detection, and the role of facial mimicry, in particular, as an important mechanism for facial emotion processing and understanding.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Lateralization of facial emotion processing and facial paresis in Vestibular Schwannoma patients

This study investigates whether there exist differences in lateralization of facial emotion processing in patients suffering from Vestibular Schwannoma (VS) based on the presence of a facial paresis and their degree of facial functioning as measured by the House Brackmann Grading scale (HBG).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Quality of life, social function, emotion, and facial paresis in Dutch vestibular schwannoma patients

The present study aimed to replicate the finding that vestibular schwannoma (VS) patients with facial paresis experience lower health related quality of life (QoL) than those without facial paresis in a Dutch sample, and to extend these findings by measuring VS patients' overall satisfaction with life, social function, and emotion.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Lateralization of facial emotion processing and facial paresis in Vestibular Schwannoma patients

Objective: This study investigates whether there exist differences in lateralization of facial emotion processing in patients suffering from Vestibular Schwannoma (VS) based on the presence of a facial paresis and their degree of facial functioning as measured by the House Brackmann Grading scale (HBG). Methods: Forty-four VS patients, half of them with a facial paresis and half of them without a facial paresis, rated how emotive they considered images of faces showing emotion in the left versus right visual field. Stimuli consisted of faces with a neutral half and an emotional (happy or angry) half. The study had a mixed design with emotional expression (happy vs. angry) and emotional half (left vs. right visual field) of the faces as repeated measures, and facial paresis (present vs. absent) and HBG as between subjects’ factors. The visual field bias was the main dependent variable. Results: In line with typical findings in the normal population, a left visual field bias showed in the current sample: patients judged emotional expressions shown in the left visual field as more emotive than those shown in the right visual field. No differences in visual field bias showed based on the presence of a facial paresis nor based on patients’ HBG. Conclusion: VS patients show a left visual field bias when processing facial emotion. No differences in lateralization showed based on the presence of a facial paresis or on patients’ HBG. Based on this study, facial paresis thus does not affect the lateralization of facial emotion processing in patients with VS

Quality of life, social function, emotion, and facial paresis in Dutch vestibular schwannoma patients

Objectives: The present study aimed to replicate the finding that vestibular schwannoma (VS) patients with facial paresis experience lower health related quality of life (QoL) than those without facial paresis in a Dutch sample, and to extend these findings by measuring VS patients' overall satisfaction with life, social function, and emotion. Methods: Forty-seven VS patients, differing in degree of facial functioning, half of them with and half of them without a facial paresis, answered questionnaires about health related QoL (SF-36 and PANQOL), overall satisfaction with life, fear of being evaluated negatively by others, social avoidance and distress, and characteristics and symptoms of depression. Results: We observed that VS patients with facial paresis experience lower health-related QoL as well negatively impacted social function and emotion compared to VS patients without facial paresis. VS patients with facial paresis experienced lower overall satisfaction with life, more characteristic symptoms of depression, and more fear of being evaluated negatively by others than VS patients without facial paresis. Conclusion: These findings corroborate previous research showing an association between impaired facial functioning and lower QoL, but also extend them by showing differences on the quality of social function and emotion. Being aware of this difference between VS patients with and without facial paresis informs health practitioners regarding the specific support these patients might need. Moreover, it is also relevant to consider the influence of a facial paresis on patients' life when deciding between treatment options and in case of surgery the type of resection. Level of evidence: 3

Lateralization of facial emotion processing and facial paresis in Vestibular Schwannoma patients

Objective: This study investigates whether there exist differences in lateralization of facial emotion processing in patients suffering from Vestibular Schwannoma (VS) based on the presence of a facial paresis and their degree of facial functioning as measured by the House Brackmann Grading scale (HBG). Methods: Forty-four VS patients, half of them with a facial paresis and half of them without a facial paresis, rated how emotive they considered images of faces showing emotion in the left versus right visual field. Stimuli consisted of faces with a neutral half and an emotional (happy or angry) half. The study had a mixed design with emotional expression (happy vs. angry) and emotional half (left vs. right visual field) of the faces as repeated measures, and facial paresis (present vs. absent) and HBG as between subjects’ factors. The visual field bias was the main dependent variable. Results: In line with typical findings in the normal population, a left visual field bias showed in the current sample: patients judged emotional expressions shown in the left visual field as more emotive than those shown in the right visual field. No differences in visual field bias showed based on the presence of a facial paresis nor based on patients’ HBG. Conclusion: VS patients show a left visual field bias when processing facial emotion. No differences in lateralization showed based on the presence of a facial paresis or on patients’ HBG. Based on this study, facial paresis thus does not affect the lateralization of facial emotion processing in patients with VS

Quality of life, social function, emotion, and facial paresis in Dutch vestibular schwannoma patients

Objectives: The present study aimed to replicate the finding that vestibular schwannoma (VS) patients with facial paresis experience lower health related quality of life (QoL) than those without facial paresis in a Dutch sample, and to extend these findings by measuring VS patients' overall satisfaction with life, social function, and emotion. Methods: Forty-seven VS patients, differing in degree of facial functioning, half of them with and half of them without a facial paresis, answered questionnaires about health related QoL (SF-36 and PANQOL), overall satisfaction with life, fear of being evaluated negatively by others, social avoidance and distress, and characteristics and symptoms of depression. Results: We observed that VS patients with facial paresis experience lower health-related QoL as well negatively impacted social function and emotion compared to VS patients without facial paresis. VS patients with facial paresis experienced lower overall satisfaction with life, more characteristic symptoms of depression, and more fear of being evaluated negatively by others than VS patients without facial paresis. Conclusion: These findings corroborate previous research showing an association between impaired facial functioning and lower QoL, but also extend them by showing differences on the quality of social function and emotion. Being aware of this difference between VS patients with and without facial paresis informs health practitioners regarding the specific support these patients might need. Moreover, it is also relevant to consider the influence of a facial paresis on patients' life when deciding between treatment options and in case of surgery the type of resection. Level of evidence: 3

Causes of permanent childhood hearing impairment

Item does not contain fulltextINTRODUCTION: The causes of Permanent Childhood Hearing Impairment (PCHI) are often quoted as being hereditary in 50%, acquired in 25%, and unknown in 25% of cases. Interest in the causes of PCHI has grown recently due to increasing diagnostic possibilities. We investigated the evidence for the reported distribution of these causes. METHODS: Population-based study and a systematic review. Inclusion criteria for population-based study: children born between 2003 and 2005, resident in The Netherlands at birth, known at an Audiology Center with PCHI at the age of 3-5 years. The causes of PCHI were determined prospectively by detection of congenital cytomegalovirus on dried blood spots and/or genetic diagnostic investigations in addition to reviewing data from medical records. A systematic review was carried out using three terms (hearing loss, infant, and etiology) and limited to articles published between January 1997 and July 2009. Main outcome measures were: the (weighted) proportions of the various causes of PCHI following diagnostic investigations. RESULTS: In the study-population (n = 185) a hereditary cause was found in 38.9%, acquired cause in 29.7%, miscellaneous cause in 7.1%, and the cause remained unknown in 24.3%. The systematic review of the literature (n = 9 articles) resulted in a weighted mean of 30.4% hereditary, 19.2% acquired, and 48.3% unknown causes of PCHI. DISCUSSION: The systematic review and the results of the population-based study provided little support for the generally accepted distribution of causes of PCHI

Newborn hearing screening vs later hearing screening and developmental outcomes in children with permanent childhood hearing impairment.

Item does not contain fulltextCONTEXT: Newborn hearing screening programs have been implemented in many countries because it was thought that the earlier permanent childhood hearing impairment is detected, the less developmentally disadvantaged children would become. To date, however, no strong evidence exists for universal introduction of newborn hearing screening. OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of newborn hearing screening vs distraction hearing screening, conducted at 9 months of age, on development, spoken communication, and quality of life. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Between 2002 and 2006, all 65 regions in The Netherlands replaced distraction hearing screening with newborn hearing screening. Consequently, the type of hearing screening offered was based on availability at the place and date of birth and was independent of developmental prognoses of individual children. All children born in The Netherlands between 2003 and 2005 were included. At the age of 3 to 5 years, all children with permanent childhood hearing impairment were identified. Evaluation ended December 2009. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Performance (education and spoken and signed communication), development (general and language), and quality of life. RESULTS: During the study period, 335,560 children were born in a newborn hearing screening region and 234,826 children in a distraction hearing screening region. At follow-up, 263 children in newborn hearing screening regions (0.78 per 1000 children) and 171 children in distraction hearing screening regions (0.73 per 1000 children) had been diagnosed with permanent childhood hearing impairment. Three hundred one children (69.4%) participated in analysis of general performance measures. There was no difference between groups in the primary mode of communication or type of education. Analysis of extensive developmental outcomes included 80 children born in newborn hearing screening regions and 70 in distraction hearing screening regions. Multivariate analysis of variance showed that overall, children in newborn hearing screening regions had higher developmental outcome scores compared with children in distraction hearing screening regions (Wilks lambda = 0.79; F(12) = 2.705; P = .003). For social development, the mean between-group difference in quotient points was 8.8 (95% CI, 0.8 to 16.7) and for gross motor development, 9.1 (95% CI, 1.1 to 17.1). For quality of life, the mean between-group difference was 5.3 (95% CI, 1.7 to 8.9), also in favor of children in newborn hearing screening regions. CONCLUSION: Compared with distraction hearing screening, a newborn hearing screening program was associated with better developmental outcomes at age 3 to 5 years among children with permanent childhood hearing impairment