A Case Report of Successful Vestibular Rehabilitation for Bilateral Vestibulopathy in a Patient with Hearing and Speech Impairments

Children with hearing and speech impairment are reported to have a higher prevalence of refractive errors and amblyopia. Most studies conducted previously have not primarily concentrated on the binocular vision aspects of near vision in children with hearing impairment (HI). The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the parameters of near phoria and near point of convergence (NPC) among hearing and speech impaired school children with age matched control group of emmetropic non hearing-impaired Children. A total of 279 participants in the age range of 6-15 years participated in this study. Children with ametropia, distance visual acuity lower than 20/30 (0.2 Log MAR), N6 at 40 cm and ocular abnormalities other than non-strabismic binocular vision abnormalities, were excluded from the study. Children who passed the vision screening, and who had no other ocular abnormalities underwent testing for near phoria and near point of convergence. Statistical analyses between the two groups showed that children with HI had a higher median (± IQR) value of near phoria (-3 ± 5 Δ) and receded NPC (10 ± 5 cm) compared to age matched controls (near phoria: -1 ± 3 Δ, NPC: 6 ± 5 cm). This difference was statistically and clinically significant (Mann Whitney U test, Near Phoria p < 0.005, NPC p < 0.05). The prevalence of Convergence Insufficiency (CI) was 33.33% in the hearing and speech impaired group when compared to 20.43% among age matched controls (Z-test, p < 0.05). A higher percentage of children with hearing and speech impairment have receded near point of convergence and larger exophoria compared to their age matched non hearing-impaired counterparts. Since children with hearing impairment depend primarily on visual means of communication by sign language and through understanding signs and facial expressions, it is especially important to diagnose and offer treatment to all visual conditions causing possible detriment to vision.

Schizophrenia often becomes manifest in late adolescence and young adulthood but deviations in physical and behavioural development may already be present in childhood. We investigated the relationship between hearing impairment (measured with audiometry) and speech impairment (broadly defined) at age 4 years and adult risk of non-affective psychosis. We performed a population-based, case–control study in Sweden with 105 cases of schizophrenia or other non-affective psychoses and 213 controls matched for sex, date and place of birth. Information on hearing and speech impairment at age 4, along with potential confounding factors, was retrieved from Well Baby Clinic (WBC) records. Hearing impairment [odds ratio (OR) 6.0, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.6–23.2] and speech impairment (OR 2.6, 95% CI 1.4–4.9) at age 4 were associated with an increased risk of non-affective psychotic illness. These associations were mutually independent and not explained by parental psychiatric history, occupational class or obstetric complications. These results support the hypothesis that psychosis has a developmental aspect with presentation of antecedent markers early in childhood, long before the disease becomes manifest. Our findings add to the growing evidence that early hearing impairment and speech impairment are risk indicators for later non-affective psychosis and possibly represent aetiological clues and potentially modifiable risk factors. Notably, speech impairment and language impairment are both detectable with inexpensive, easily accessible screening.

Communication by telephone is a necessary part of daily living. However, for people with hearing and speech impairments, it is often difficult to communicate by telephone in the usual way. To solve this problem, alternative methods for using telephones have been developed. In the United States, people with hearing and speech impairments have TTsrrDDs (text telephones or telecommunication devices for the deaf) to communicate with other people. In addition, there are message relay services that make it possible for TTrrDD users to communicate with people who do not have such devices. In Japan, where there are few such systems, facsimile (fax) machines are a more popular method for telecommunication than TTsffDDs for people with hearing and speech impairments. However, it is not easy to communicate in real time using the fax machine. In addition, it is impossible to communicate directly via fax with people who do not themselves have a fax machine. Certainly, for people with hearing impairments, TTsrrDDs and fax machines can be useful mechanisms for communication. Many people cannot speak, but they can hear. For people with speech impairments, voice output devices are more convenient than TTs/ TDDs or fax machines because there are no restrictions as to who can receive the message. There are many studies of communication via voice output devices. Some evaluate their intelligibility; 1-3 others study their acceptability. 4,5 Mirenda and Beukelman designed a study to compare intelligibility of single words and sentences

Difficulties for people with hearing and speech impairments in accessing formal employment because companies only open and look for workers in the physically &amp; mentally healthy category, to increase productivity &amp; effectiveness of employee performance. While getting a job is very important &amp; fundamental for sustainability &amp; continuity. One of the problems faced by people with hearing impairments is how to develop skills &amp; knowledge according to their talents and interests, so that they are able to move independently in fulfilling and prospering their needs &amp; desires without depending on the informal sector.This research is descriptive research with a qualitative approach. The researcher will describe survival strategies to foster interest in entrepreneurship for people with hearing and speech impairments according to field conditions with the aim of finding a comprehensive survival strategy formulation. From the results of data analysis in the field, it is clear that the concept of success in the presence of limitations / impairments is that there are 3 types of survival strategies used by people with hearing and speech impairments, namely: active strategy (having, independence, confidence, enthusiasm, optimism, perseverance), passive strategy (making savings in meeting needs: dharuriyat, hajiyat, tahsiniyat, and implementing rational consumption patterns/ mustahlik al-aqlani), network strategy (using available accessibility &amp; building relationships with related agencies).

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a multi-sensory approach to vocabulary instruction for youths with speech impairments and contrast it with conventional techniques. A total of 52 speech-impaired children between the ages of 18 and 20 were included in the study, and they were allocated randomly to either the experimental group (n = 26) or the control group (n = 26) in a proper experimental design. The control group received conventional instruction, while the experimental group received multi-sensory instruction in vocabulary. Data were gathered through observations and questionnaires, and pre-and post-test vocabulary evaluations were completed. The results revealed that, compared to the control group, the experimental group's vocabulary scores significantly improved from the pre-test to the post-test. According to statistical analyses, all sensory modalities, such as visual, auditory, and kinesthetic, contributed to improving vocabulary skills, with the multi-sensory approach producing the most notable improvement. These results offer empirical proof of the value of a multi-sensory approach in helping children with speech impairments improve their vocabulary skills. The use of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic modalities in this method encourages active participation and meets the varied learning requirements of the students. When developing inclusive and successful instructional strategies, educators, practitioners, and parents should consider the practical implications of this research. Future research should explore larger sample sizes, various educational settings, and long-term effects to validate further and improve the multi-sensory approach for vocabulary instruction in children with speech impairments.

This study is an evaluation of the performance of automated speech scoring for speakers with documented or suspected speech impairments. Given that the use of automated scoring of open‐ended spoken responses is relatively nascent and there is little research to date that includes test takers with disabilities, this small exploratory study focuses on one type of scoring technology, automatic speech scoring (the SpeechRaterSM automated scoring engine); one type of assessment, spontaneous spoken English by nonnative adults (six TOEFL iBT® test speaking items per test taker); and one category of disability, speech impairments. The results show discrepancies between human and SpeechRater scores for speakers with documented speech or hearing impairments who receive accommodations and for speakers whose responses were deferred to the scoring leader by human raters because the responses exhibited signs of a speech impairment. SpeechRater scores for these studied groups tended to be higher than the human scores. Based on a smaller subsample, the word error rate was higher for these groups relative to the control group, suggesting that the automatic speech recognition system contributed to the discrepancies between SpeechRater and human scores.

One of the cornerstones ofparticipation in the mainstream ofAmerican society is communication. The combination of a hearing or speech impairment and a society so notably dependent upon the telephone system for day-to-day living has generated tremendous frustration on the part of individuals with speech and hearing impairments. A significant potential market has thus been untapped by telephone companies and telephone-linked businesses. With the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), political will has moved one step closer to supporting full utilization of available technology. Karen Peltz Strauss holds that the establishment of nationwide relay service mandated by title IV will ensure that individuals with hearing andspeech impairments have the opportunity to exercise the civil rights specified by the other sections of the ADA. Examining the state of the art in one of the more technical of the ADA mandates, Strauss concludes that approximately 40 states are well on their way to providing statewide relay services. Utilizing their experience will make compliance with the ADA a relatively easy job. With over a decade of advocacy for the rights ofpersons with disabilities, Strauss is currently supervising attorney for the National Center for Law and the Deaf at Gallaudet University in Washington, D. C. Strauss was actively involved in the congressional deliberations of title IV of the ADA and testified before Congress a number of times. She has pub-

Effective communication is a cornerstone of human interaction, fostering societal cohesion and development. Throughout history, communication has evolved from primitive drawings to complex languages, shaping our societys fabric. However, amidst this progression, individuals with speech and hearing impairments have often faced significant challenges in communication. Despite constituting a minority, their needs are paramount and must not be overlooked. Recognizing the diverse classification of languages into verbal and non-verbal forms, it becomes evident that non-verbal languages play a crucial role, especially for Individuals with Hearing and Speech Impairments (IWSHI). These individuals rely on non-verbal communication methods to interact with the world around them, yet they often face barriers due to the lack of understanding and accessibility. To address this challenge, the HSLR app serves as a transformative tool, enabling IWSHI to communicate confidently. Leveraging technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR) and Machine Learning (ML), our app facilitates real-time recognition of hand signs, providing instantaneous translations for seamless communication. Additionally, the integration of AR technology enhances the user experience, offering immersive and interactive sign-language communication platforms. The MediaPipe model used in real-time achieves high accuracy in recognizing sign language due to the ample dataset we provided. KEY WORDS: Hand Sign Language Recognition (HSLR), Augmented Reality (AR), Machine Learning (ML), American Sign Language (ASL), Computer Vision, MediaPipe

Subject. Deafness, hearing loss are one of the most common sensory pathologies in children. It negatively affects the formation of personality and quality of life. Children with hearing and speech impairments require special medical supervision. It is necessary to develop programs to prevent major dental diseases for deaf children. This requires a comprehensive assessment of the dental status, taking into account age, the severity of the main pathology, and socio-psychological factors that contribute to the development of the formation characteristics of the child’s body. Purpose. To analyze the prevalence and intensity of dental caries and periodontal diseases in children with hearing impairment according to various literature data. Methodology. An analysis of publications was carried out using scientific search library databases: PubMed Central, Google, Medline, eLibrary. The selection of materials was based on using keywords. The search included full-text articles. 36 sources were analyzed. Results. Analysis of the prevalence of dental diseases in children with hearing impairment has not been sufficiently published in Russian-language literary sources. According to various literature data, there is a high prevalence of caries and periodontal diseases in children with hearing impairment. Some authors compared these indicators with a group of healthy children. Children with hearing and speech impairments have higher rates of prevalence and intensity of caries and periodontal diseases. Conclusions. The high prevalence of dental diseases in children with hearing impairment is an additional medical and social problem. For this category of the population, it is of great importance for the development of prevention programs.

Speech and Gesture recognition systems constitute an ideal aid for the disabled with speech and hearing impairments. Approximately, there are 466 million people in the world with hearing impairment and around 16 million with speech impairment. They require an external aid to recognize their speech and gestures, to express their thoughts and ideas to the world. The proposed Speech and Gesture Recognition System (SGRS) takes forward to solve the communication barriers faced by the disabled subjects, by recognizing both the speech and gestures of the subjects with promising accuracy using the convolutional neural network. The proposed SGRS model is competent to convert the sign-language into pictures and speech to text as well with high accuracy. Thus, SGRS can be a suitable aid for the subjects with speech and hearing impairment. SGRS has been evaluated with standard evaluation scores such as validation accuracy, validation loss, recall, precision and F1-score and has been proved to be proficient.

Speech is the easiest way for communication in the world. It becomes difficult for speech impaired people to communicate with normal people as they use sign language for communication. When a speech-impaired person communicates with normal person, the gap between speech impaired and normal masses is too much to fill. The gesture recognition can be done in two ways, Image processing based and sensor-based. The "Smart Gloves for Deaf and Dumb People" project seeks to provide practical solution for individuals with speech and hearing impairments, enabling them to communicate more easily with others. The project utilizes an ESP32 micro-controller, a versatile and powerful platform, to control and process the data from touch sensors integrated into the gloves. These touch sensors are designed to recognize specific hand gestures made by the user, with each gesture corresponding to a particular rerecorded voice message. The APR33A3 voice record and audio playback board plays a critical role in this project, as it stores and outputs audio files linked to the detected gestures. By using the board's 8-channel capability, a range of messages can be stored, providing a variety of responses for different gestures. The system is aimed at enhancing communication for individuals who are deaf or mute by translating sign language or hand gestures into audible speech, thereby improving interaction with others and enhancing social inclusion. This innovative approach combines hardware, software, and audio technology to create a user-friendly tool that empowers individuals with disabilities to express themselves in a more natural and effective manner.

The article considers the essence of psychological readiness for school in the context of social adaptation of children with hearing and speech impairment. The components of psychological readiness (motivational, intellectual, personal) are determined. Described, relying on the work of prominent researchers, the features of each component of the psychological readiness of children with hearing and speech impairment. Conducted a confirmatory experiment to determine the level of psychological readiness of children of the senior preschool age with hearing impairments in school discovered low rates. In particular, the not formed position of schoolchild, insufficient of motivational and intellectual readiness, there is a predominance of game motivation, which necessitates corrective work with this category of children.

Sign language (SL) is a significant communication method for individuals with hearing impairments, using hand gestures to convey letters, words, and sentences. However, several people are unfamiliar with SL, creating a communication gap. An intelligent SL recognition framework must bridge this gap by accurately interpreting hand gestures into text or speech. The system uses deep learning (DL) to ensure real-time, efficient, and inclusive communication between hearing-impaired individuals and others. Hearing aid devices are notable technological developments that assist hearing-impaired individuals in communicating with others. It also helps individuals with partial hearing loss, while those with complete hearing loss rely entirely on SL for communication. Advancements in machine learning (ML) and computer vision (CV) have led to effective recognition and interpretation of SL gestures. This paper proposes an Optimized Fusion-Based Transfer Learning for Sign Language Recognition Using the Bald Eagle Search Algorithm (OFTLSLR-BESA) model. The main aim of the proposed OFTLSLR-BESA technique relies on improving the recognition system of SL to assist individuals with hearing and speech impairments. The adaptive bilateral filtering (ABF) technique initially performs the image pre-processing step to eliminate the unwd noise from input image data. Furthermore, the feature extraction process employs a fusion of InceptionV3, MobileNetV2, NASNetMobile and ResNet50V2 models. Moreover, the random vector functional link (RVFL) method is implemented for classification. Finally, the RVFL model's hyperparameter tuning is performed using the Bald Eagle Search (BES) method. The OFTLSLR-BESA approach is evaluated under the American SL alphabet dataset. The experimental analysis of the OFTLSLR-BESA approach portrayed a superior accuracy value of 99.64% over existing models.

Introduction. Children with hearing impairment do not understand speech without specific instructions and cannot meet daily life requirements. Children with hearing and speech impairment have higher DMFT index and poorer oral hygiene than healthy children of the same age. The aim of this study was to determine oral health status and the prevalence of dental caries in children attending The Center for Education and Rehabilitation of Speech and Hearing in Banjaluka. Material and Methods. The study was conducted as a cross-sectional study and it included 66 children of both genders, age 3 to 18 years, with deciduous, mixed and permanent dentition. General information about the respondents, their socioeconomic status, dental hygiene habits and frequency of dental visits were obtained using a questionnaire. Dental examination was performed using a dental mirror, regular and proximal probe on the daylight, in accordance with World Health Organization guidelines. Oral examination included: number of present teeth, presence of caries, restorations, number of extracted teeth. These data was entered in each patient?s dental record. The DMFT index was used for the assessment of dental status. Results. Results showed that the mean DMFT value in the total sample was 7.79. There was no significant difference in the DMFT index between genders (p=0.19). The significant difference was not found between children who live with parents and those who live in foster families (p=0.15). It was observed that the respondents from rural areas had higher DMFT index (8.68) than respondents from urban areas (5.83). The DMFT index increased with age and school age (p&lt;0.001). Examined patients were most affected with dental caries (6.62%) and least affected with extracted teeth (0.38%). It was revealed that 6% of respondents do not brush their teeth, and 25.8% of respondents had never visited dentist. Conclusion. Children with hearing and speech impairment from Banjaluka have low level of oral health. The DMFT index, as one of the most important parameters of oral health in these children was much higher compared to European countries and other countries in the region.

Ninety-seven (97%) of children with disabilities (CWDs) are still unreached by the public school system in the Philippines. This means that only a small portion has access to special education despite having a national law that mandates inclusivity of CWDs and the right to basic education. Some of the disabilities common in this population group is mental, motor-related, speech, and hearing impairments. The modern time sees disability as a dimension of human culture, both abled and disabled are part of a social function in the community. This human rights perspective gives emphasis that PWD's treatment does not lie medically but in recognition that they are entitled to the same rights as everyone else and are capable of making their own decisions. For CWDs to be motivated to take part in the society, their early childhood development must be given importance. It is believed that these children must be given supplemental educational materials that can help them level with non-disabled children. In this paper, the researchers provided a supplementary tool for preschool students, with speech and hearing impairment under Special Education (SPED) class, in learning basic counting, English alphabet and recognizing basic shapes by using the technological advancement of speech and character recognition in the general education. The developed system were used and tested by SPED teachers, parents and target learners and has been an acceptable technology in developing students' writing and speaking skills.