Trends in paediatric speech audiometry: a scoping review

Speech tests are essential assessment tools of auditory abilities for both adults and children. A scoping review was conducted with the aim to explore possible changes in materials and methods of paediatric speech tests between 1980 and 2019. Thirty-eight articles were selected, and the extractions of information were made related to the name of the paediatric speech test, country of origin, year of publication, language used in the speech test, the target age range for the speech test, and the procedural parameters. Exploration of the articles provided insights into current trends of paediatric speech test applications that should be taken into careful consideration when developing a new speech test for children

Hearing impairment from the Islamic perspective: a review

Introduction: This discussion paper aims to synthesise available literature on hearing sciences from Islamic perspective and to relate this to the current hearing care practices. The paper focuses on several main scopes: i) the importance of sense of hearing from Islamic and scientific perspectives ii) impacts of hearing impairment iii) limitations in understanding and practicing Islamic teaching due to hearing impairment, iv) Islamic responsibility towards people with hearing impairment, v) current available methods to facilitate Islamic practices among hearing impaired people, and vi) incorporating Islamization in hearing care practice. Design: Narrative review and synthesis Method: Related publications and references were identified through several ways: i) by structured searches in PubMed, Google scholar, Web of Knowledge and Science Direct using the combinations of ‘Islam’, ‘hearing impairment’, ‘hearing loss’, ‘hearing’, ‘social’, learning’, ‘memory’, ‘disability’, ‘Islamic responsibility’, and ‘learning for deaf’ as key words, ii) by inspecting the reference lists of relevant articles, and iii) by identification of relevant references from Quran and Hadith by authors who have background in Quranic studies. Results: The number of publications within the audiology field, which address the aforementioned scopes, is rather limited. Additionally, a review and synthesis of literature from other related fields such as medical, health, and education, with references from Quran and Hadith, were also carried out to facilitate the discussion of the above mentioned scopes. Conclusion: This paper concludes that there is an emerging trend for the studies of hearing and Islam in the literature. Facilitating hearing impaired people in understanding and practicing Islam becomes a shared obligation for parents, society, and the patients themselves. This discussion also identifies that there is a need for more contributions from Muslim scholars in integrating and implementing the Islamic principles in current hearing care practices

Universal hearing screening for neonatal intensive care unit infants : a retrospective study comparing results of Automated Auditory Brainstem Response and presence of risk factors for hearing loss with audiological assessment results

Objective: Implementation of universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Royal Children Hospital (RCH) by the Victorian Infant Hearing Screening Program (VIHSP) provided an opportunity for Automated Auditory Brainstem Response (AABR) screening results to be compared with formal audiological assessment results. This study aimed to ascertain the performance of risk factors for hearing loss in relation to detecting permanent hearing loss as the risk factors available in other studies showed large variability. Design: In this retrospective study, 191 subjects were admitted to the NICU between 1 July 2005 and 31 December 2005. All relevant data was retrieved from the medical records and VIHSP database into data forms. The following risk factors were studied: number of days in NICU, gestation week, birth weight, APGAR score at 5 minutes, meningitis-encephalitis, in utero infaction, craniofacial abnormality, surgery, other diagnosis, mechanical ventilation, neurological insults, hyperbilirubinemia with exchange transfusion, syndrome associated with hearing loss, use of aminoglycosides, use of diuretics in combination with aminoglycosides and family history of congenital hearing loss. Results: Using Chi-square analysis, numbers of days in NICU, mechanical ventilation, neurological insults and hyperbilirubinemia with exchange transfusion showed significant association with referral for immediate audiological assessment in infants with passed AABR screening. Gestation less than 37 weeks, birth weight less than 1500 grams, surgery, other diagnosis, use of aminoglycosides and use of diuretics in combination with aminoglycosides showed no significant associations with the referral for immediate audiological assessment. Conclusion: The risk factors profile for NICU population at the RCH was number of days in NICU, mechanical ventilation, neurological insults and hyperbilirubinemia with exchange transfusion. As a significant number of infants who passed hearing screening were not referred for immediate audiological assessment, it raised possibility that presence of multiple risk factors can be one of the factors that influenced the referral

Intelligent web-based expert system for early diagnosis of cancer

Cancer is one of the major health problems in Malaysia. This disease has become increasingly important as a public health concern with the development and progress that has been achieved in this country. Each year cancer affects at least nine million people world-wide and kills five million. Cancer has been reported as the fourth leading cause of death in Malaysia. The incidence of cancer in Malaysia is estimated to be around 150 per 100,000 population. This means there are about 35,000 new cancer cases each year. In the year 2000, there were 40,244 admissions for cancer in government hospitals. As the number of new cases of cancer growing every year, Malaysia is facing a serious shortage of expert oncologist. Currently, there are only 28 oncologist in Malaysia with 7 of them working in government hospitals. Furthermore, scientific studies and successful control activities have indicated that one third of all cancer cases are preventable, and a further one third are potentially curable if diagnosed sufficiently early. Unfortunately, delays in detection of cancer are common among Malaysian cancer patients. One solution to these problems is to develop a medical expert system that can replicate the expertise of an oncologist. Expert system can play an important role in assisting a doctor to manage their daily duties. It can also improve productivity and replace an expert at any location and time where expertise is not readily available. With the growing influence of World Wide Web (WWW), the expert system can be deployed on the WWW where the system is available anytime and can be easily accessed globally by large number of people. Thus, this study will explore the deployment of a web-based medical expert system that can help to diagnose and provide early detection of cancer. The system will also create the awareness and educate the public on possible preventive measures and risk involves by providing a simple and friendly questions and answers session

The effects of stimulus rate and electrode montage on the auditory brainstem response in infants

Purpose This study investigates the effects of different stimulus repetition rates and multiple electrode recording montages (ipsilateral, contralateral, horizontal, and vertical) on the auditory brainstem response (ABR) wave V amplitude and latency in infants. Methodology Eleven healthy infants with the mean age of 4.36 ± 1.95 months were involved in this repeated-measure design study. Prior to the actual data collection, several preliminary audiological assessments (otoscopic examination, tympanometry, otoacoustic emission and ABR screening at 35 dB normalized hearing level (dBnHL)) were conducted to ensure that all participants had normal auditory functions. Once qualified, the participants were tested with the ABR using 100-microsecond clicks recorded under the four electrode montages at two stimulus repetition rates (19.1 and 61.1 Hz) and at an intensity level of 35 dBnHL. Results The ABR was shown as present in all participants in all four electrode montages and both stimulus repetition rates. The largest wave V amplitude was recorded in the vertical montage for both stimulus repetition rates. No significant changes (P > 0.05) were noted in the wave V amplitudes in all electrode montages when the stimulus repetition rate was changed from 19.1 to 61.1 Hz. Conclusion This study confirmed that combining the vertical montage with high stimulus repetition rates of 61.1 Hz at 35 dBnHL has the potential for detecting auditory dysfunction in infants, because of the larger and more stable wave V amplitude

Simulated learning environment (SLE) in audiology education: a systematic review

There are various types of SLE tool that have been described and developed since the 1970s in the field of audiology. These SLE tools include those for basic audiometry testing, auditory brainstem response waveform analysis, simulated patients for examination and simulated patients for counselling. With this development, many countries are now focusing on research in audiology education by either implementing or piloting the use of SLE training in their audiology curriculum. The objective of this study is to systematically review the relevant previous literature investigating the outcome of Simulated Learning Environment (SLE) training in audiology education. A systematic review research design was used and fifteen databases were searched using various relevant keywords. Based on the analysis, three of the four selected studies revealed positive findings for the use of an SLE. The SLEs group showed higher post-training score compared to the traditional training group or significantly higher post-training score than the non-training groups. One study on the other hand revealed negative findings, where the traditional training group showed significantly higher post-training score than the SLE group. In addition, two studies reported significant improvement after SLE training with the post-training scores were significantly higher than the pre-SLE-training scores. Overall, this review supports the notions that SLE training can be an effective learning tool and can be used for basic clinical training. This conclusion should be treated with caution considering the limited numbers of studies published in this area, exalting more SLE researches to be conducted in the future

Simulated learning environment (SLE) in audiology education: a systematic review

Objective: To systematically review the relevant peer-review literature investigating the outcome of simulated learning environment (SLE) training in audiology education. Design: A systematic review research design. Study sample: Fifteen databases were searched with four studies meeting the inclusion criteria. Results: Three of the four studies revealed positive findings for the use of an SLE (that is, the SLE group showed a higher post-training score compared to the traditional training group or a significantly higher post-training score than the non-training groups). One study revealed negative findings where the traditional training group showed a significantly higher post-training score than the SLE group. In addition, both the studies comparing post- and pre-training scores reported significantly higher post-training scores than the pre-training scores of the participants that underwent SLE training. Conclusions: Overall, this review supports the notions that SLE training is an effective learning tool and can be used for basic clinical training. This conclusion should be treated with caution, considering the limited numbers of studies published in this area and future research should be conducted to cope with the gaps highlighted in this review

Simulated learning environment (SLE) in audiology education: a systematic review

There are various types of SLE tool that have been described and developed since the 1970s in the field of audiology. These SLE tools include those for basic audiometry testing, auditory brainstem response waveform analysis, simulated patients for examination and simulated patients for counselling. With this development, many countries are now focusing on research in audiology education by either implementing or piloting the use of SLE training in their audiology curriculum. The objective of this study is to systematically review the relevant previous literature investigating the outcome of Simulated Learning Environment (SLE) training in audiology education. A systematic review research design was used and fifteen databases were searched using various relevant keywords. Based on the analysis, three of the four selected studies revealed positive findings for the use of an SLE. The SLEs group showed higher post-training score compared to the traditional training group or significantly higher post-training score than the non-training groups. One study on the other hand revealed negative findings, where the traditional training group showed significantly higher post-training score than the SLE group. In addition, two studies reported significant improvement after SLE training with the post-training scores were significantly higher than the pre-SLE-training scores. Overall, this review supports the notions that SLE training can be an effective learning tool and can be used for basic clinical training. This conclusion should be treated with caution considering the limited numbers of studies published in this area, exalting more SLE researches to be conducted in the future