To reconstruct the biography of the Polish otorhinolaryngologist Leon Zamenhof (1875–1934), a brother of Ludwik Zamenhof, who is famous for invention of the international language Esperanto.
Biographical information was collected from pre-World War II resources.
Zamenhof developed several important new forms of treatment to help the hearing impaired. Zamenhof was especially interested in the education of deaf children and the therapy necessary to facilitate their integration into society. His significant achievements were a phonetic method of therapy for the hearing impaired and an automatic device for ear insufflation that was considered indispensable in the management of pyorrhea. In addition, Zamenhof initiated various forms of social support among physicians within the medical community of Warsaw, Poland; made health care available to children with hearing impairments; and organized a Jewish school for deaf children. Zamenhof tried to change public attitudes toward deafness, working to promote the integration of the deaf into wider society. He also translated Polish literature into Esperanto.
With similar aims to his brother Ludwik, Leon Zamenhof strived to enhance and broaden communication among people who could not hear and to persuade people to change their attitudes about deafness.
To evaluate the impact of an educational poster describing treatment options available to patients experiencing tinnitus.
A patient-centered tinnitus management tool (PCTMT) was developed in the form of an educational poster that encouraged patients to decide how they wanted to deal with their tinnitus from the following options: (a) ignore the tinnitus and forget about it, (b) use a sound generator, (c) undertake tinnitus counseling with an expert, or (d) deal with the tinnitus using hearing aids (in the case of tinnitus and hearing loss). Fifty-five patients who were referred to the audiology department of a London hospital from the ENT department for tinnitus counseling were asked to read the PCTMT and to choose the option(s) that suited them the best.
Forty-two percent of the patients wished to undertake counseling, 9% decided to try to ignore their tinnitus without help, 26% wanted to deal with their tinnitus with the help of a sound generator, and 24% decided to use hearing aids.
The PCTMT reduced the number of patients who would otherwise have been referred for tinnitus counseling by 58%. This reduced the length of the waiting list and increased the time available for counseling of those patients who wanted it.
To examine the consistency of hearing aid use by infants. A goal was to identify maternal, child, and situational factors that affected consistency of device use.
Maternal interviews were conducted using a nonvalidated structured interview (Amplification in Daily Life Questionnaire) that included 5-point Likert scale items and open-ended questions. Participants were mothers of 7 infants with mild to moderately severe hearing loss who were enrolled in a longitudinal study. Data were collected at 4 intervals (10.5–12, 16.5, 22.5, and 28.5 months old).
Consistency of amplification use was variable at early ages but improved with age. By age 28.5 months, toddlers used amplification regularly in most settings. Selected daily situations (e.g., in car or outdoors) were more challenging for maintaining device use than contexts where the child was closely monitored. Only 2 families established early, consistent full-time use across all contexts examined. Qualitative results were used to identify familial, developmental, and situational variables that influenced the consistency of infant/toddler device use.
Families may benefit from audiologic counseling that acknowledges the multifaceted challenges that arise. Audiologists can work in partnership with families to promote consistent device use across a variety of daily situations.
To determine the extent to which the goal of hearing aid fitting by 6 months of age is being achieved and to identify barriers to achieving that goal.
Screening and follow-up records from 114,121 infants born at 6 hospitals were collected over a 6-year period. Infants diagnosed with permanent hearing loss requiring amplification were categorized as fit on time, fit late, or lost to follow-up. Seven factors were empirically identified as potential barriers to timely intervention.
Ninety-one percent of referred infants returned for follow-up evaluation. Hearing aids were fit on 107 of the 192 infants requiring amplification. Thirty-nine percent were fit on time, and 61% were fit late or lost to follow-up. Unilateral hearing loss and late diagnosis were statistically significant (p < .0001) predictors for late fitting and loss to follow-up. Conductive hearing loss and coverage by Medicaid were also statistically significant (p < .0001) predictors for loss to follow-up.
High return rate for follow-up does not ensure hearing aid fitting by 6 months of age. Infants with unilateral hearing loss are at particular risk of being lost to follow-up.
To determine whether there is a test order effect of the caloric subtest of videonystagmography on the Sensory Organization Test (SOT) of computerized dynamic posturography, and to assess the learning effect of multiple posturography test sessions on the SOT score.
Scores on the 6 SOT conditions before and after caloric testing were compared for 10 participants age 18–36 years. Four SOT sessions were completed prior to caloric testing to assess the presence of a learning effect and establish precaloric baseline SOT scores. All participants had normal vestibular systems with no history of dizziness or imbalance.
Caloric testing had a significant effect on the equilibrium score for only 1 of 6 test conditions. While meeting statistical significance, the actual change in score for this condition was very small. Equilibrium scores improved for the more difficult test conditions between the 1st and 2nd SOT sessions.
Results indicate that there are minimal test order effects of calorics on the SOT. Results confirm that a significant improvement in score for more challenging test conditions occurs between SOT Sessions 1 and 2 as a result of learning. Therefore, clinicians must be cautious when using posturography to monitor patient improvement.
To determine whether listeners with primarily high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss (HF SNHL) perceived benefit from amplification provided by completely-in-the-canal (CIC) hearing aids.
The Hearing Handicap for the Elderly—Screening version, the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit, and the Satisfaction With Amplification in Daily Life questionnaires were mailed to 2 groups of listeners (n = 79) who matched preset criteria, including threshold at 2000 Hz and use of CIC amplification. Sixty-seven percent (n = 53) of the questionnaires were returned and were divided into 2 groups. Group I (n = 26) consisted of listeners with normal hearing through 2000 Hz, and Group II (n = 27) consisted of listeners with normal hearing only through 1000 Hz.
Results revealed that both groups perceived significant hearing handicap, hearing aid benefit, and hearing aid satisfaction. Differences between the 2 groups on the 3 measures, however, were not statistically significant.
Listeners with HF SNHL perceived benefit and satisfaction from amplification with CIC hearing aids. Individuals with SNHL limited to the high frequencies should be considered candidates for amplification.
To determine the sensitivity of a head shake modification to the Sensory Organization Test (SOT) of dynamic posturography in identifying (a) those patients with unilateral, peripheral vestibular hypofunction as indicated by caloric irrigation findings and (b) those patients who report that head movements provoke disruption in postural control.
A prospective, single-blinded, random selection methodology was used with 91 patients stratified by the presence or absence of a significant caloric asymmetry and by the presence or absence of head movement provoked symptoms (independent variables). Postural control performance, as measured by EquiTest during the standard test and a head shake modification, served as the dependent variables.
Receiver operating characteristic curves demonstrated only minor improvement in sensitivity (a) with the head shake modification for unilateral peripheral asymmetry and (b) for identification of those with complaints of head movement provoked imbalance.
The head shake modification to standard SOT increased the test sensitivity to identification of patients with unilateral, peripheral vestibular hypofunction and those with head movement provoked symptoms. However, this occurred with low specificity, resulting in no significant improvement in overall performance with this head shake protocol. Suggestions for further research to improve the performance of the head shake modification of SOT for clinical application are discussed.
To evaluate the ability of distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) spectral characteristics to distinguish between ears with variable hearing sensitivity within the normal range.
Distortion product grams (DP-grams) were acquired with primary tones decremented in 1/8-octave steps and primary-tone levels presented at 65 dB SPL (L1) and 45 dB SPL (L2) across an f2 frequency range of 842–7996 Hz from 22 normal-hearing adults (44 ears). Hearing thresholds of ears classified in Group A (n = 22) were better than ears classified in Group B (n = 22). Examined parameters of the DP-grams included spectral peak occurrence, peak height, peak width, and DPOAE levels. Analyses of variance were conducted to determine whether DP-gram parameters differed between Group A and Group B.
For the low-resolution DP-grams examined in this study, no significant between-group differences in peak occurrence, peak height, and peak width were observed. DPOAE levels were significantly higher in ears classified in Group A compared with ears classified in Group B in individuals with symmetrical hearing.
Although spectral peaks are evident in DP-grams acquired with low resolution of the primary tones, DPOAE levels are more effective in distinguishing ears with greater hearing sensitivity from less sensitive ears.
To assess experienced hearing aid users' ability to use their hearing aids correctly.
In this study, we developed the Practical Hearing Aid Skills Test (PHAST) to objectively test a hearing aid user's ability to manipulate his or her hearing aids. The PHAST requires hearing aid users to perform 8 hearing aid care and use tasks that are basic skills typically taught to new hearing aid users at the time of their hearing aid fitting. The PHAST was administered to a group of 50 experienced hearing aid users. In addition, participants were administered questionnaires about hearing aid satisfaction (i.e., Satisfaction With Amplification in Daily Life;
Participants' performance on the PHAST ranged from 48% to 100%, and the scores were normally distributed around the mean (78.56%). No significant relationship was observed between the PHAST and any of the other tests administered in this study. The only variable significantly associated with participants' performance on the PHAST was age.
Results from this study suggest that experienced hearing aid users range from having an excellent understanding of how to use their hearing aids to a poor understanding. The variability in performance among experienced hearing aid users highlights the importance of directly assessing a client's ability to use his or her hearing aids.
This is the 1st in a series of 3 planned companion articles that present a selected, annotated, and indexed bibliography of clinical audiology publications from 1988 to 2008.
Research and preparation of the bibliography were based on published guidelines, professional audiology experience, and professional librarian experience.
This article presents reference works (dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, and manuals). The future planned articles will cover other monographs, periodicals, and online resources.
Audiologists and librarians can use these lists as a guide when seeking clinical audiology literature.