Evaluation of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in Adolescents and Young Adults with Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder.

Prashanth Prabhu

doi:10.1155/2016/4378269

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to determine the severity of stress, anxiety, and depression using Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) in adolescents and young adults with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD). DASS was administered to 20 individuals with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder. The effect of gender on severity of anxiety, stress, and depression on DASS scores was determined. It was attempted to determine the correlation of severity of anxiety, stress, and depression with the reported onset of the problem, degree of hearing loss, and speech identification scores. The results of the study showed that individuals with ANSD had a moderate degree of depression and anxiety. The results also showed that the symptoms were more seen in females than in males. Correlation analysis revealed that DASS scores correlated with the reported onset of condition and speech identification scores (SIS) and the degree of hearing loss showed no correlation. The study concludes that individuals with ANSD experience depression and anxiety and this could be because of the inadequate management options available for individuals with ANSD. Thus, there is a need to develop appropriate management strategies for individuals with ANSD and provide appropriate referral for management of psychological issues.

Highlights

Auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) is defined as a disorder in which a patient has normal outer hair cells functioning and an absent/abnormal auditory brainstem response (ABR) [1,2,3,4,5]
The study attempted to evaluate depression, anxiety, and stress in a group of individuals diagnosed with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder using Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS)
The study tried to assess the emotional disturbances faced by these individuals who do not get benefit from hearing aids and cannot afford cochlear implants or frequency modulation (FM) devices

Summary

Introduction

Auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) is defined as a disorder in which a patient has normal outer hair cells functioning (represented by normal otoacoustic emissions/cochlear microphonics) and an absent/abnormal auditory brainstem response (ABR) [1,2,3,4,5]. The prevalence rate of ANSD varies from 1% [6] to 10% in schools for the deaf [7,8,9] and between 10% in newborns [10] and 40% in hearingimpaired NICU patients [11]. The onset of ANSD symptoms tends to fall into two different age groups. Majority of reports from the western population suggest that only one out of four ANSD patients are over the age of 10 years [1, 12, 14]. Reports from the Indian population have shown that symptoms onset was majorly in adolescence (16 to 25 years) [13, 15, 16]

Objectives

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion