Auditory Disturbances Research Articles

Systemic Toxic Reactions to Procaine Penicillin G

Systemic toxic were encountered in eight of 10,469 patients during or immediately following the intramuscular injection of 4,800,000 units of procaine penicillin G for the treatment of gonorrhea. Fear of imminent death, visual and auditory disturbances, violent combativeness, confusion, disorientation, and restlessness, disturbance in taste, cardiovascular changes, and grand mal seizures are the principal manifestations; these usually subside in two to 10 minutes spontaneously or after treatment. Symptoms and signs closely parallel systemic toxic reactions to local anesthetics. Pharmacokinetic analysis in dogs using 14C-procaine and 14C-procaine penicillin G showed rapid distribution of labeled drugs from plasma to cerebrospinal fluid for the intravenous as compared to the intramuscular route of administration. The animal studies were consistent with the hypothesis that the inadvertent intravenous administration of procaine penicillin G is responsible for the systemic toxic reactions. Plasma procainesterase (pseudocholinesterase) activity was assayed with an ultraviolet spectroscopic method. Substrates were procaine and procaine penicillin G. The plasma procainesterase activity of patients who had experienced systemic toxic reactions was significantly decreased as compared to that of controls, an observation not previously reported.

Recurrent Vertigo of Delayed Onset in Juvenile Unilateral Total Deafness of Unknown Etiology

Children with unilateral total deafness, indistinct in both etiology and time of onset, usually complain of only unilateral hearing loss. Nandate (1963) suggested terming this type of deafness “juvenile unilateral total deafness of unknown etiology”.On the other hand, our clinical experience has indicated that recurrent true vertigo develops preferentially in adolescence or early adulthood in such patients. The objective of this report was to introduce this new clinical aspect of this deafness.1. During the past 14 years, 89 patients with juvenile unilateral total deafness of unknown etiology were seen at the Gunma University Hospital. All patients conformed to the following criteria: i) Unilateral total deafness of unclear etiology and in which the onset of deafness could not be established to be other than very early in infancy; ii) Normal hearing in the other ear or, if deafness were present there also, normal hearing might be inferred to have existed in infancy; iii) Normal tympanic membranes; iv) Absence of central nervous symptoms. Of these patients, recurrent vertigo was the chief complaint of 27, or 30.3%. The age of onset of vertigo ranged from 9 to 60 years. However, in the majority of patients (19 cases: 70.4%), the onset was from 16 to 30 years. The vestibular symptoms were identical to vestibular symptoms seen in Ménière's disease.2. Among these 27 patients with recurrent vertigo of delayed onset, fluctuating sensory-neural auditory disturbances were evident in the originally non-deaf side in 3 (11.1%). These patients were diagnosed as having Ménière's disease.3. In contrast, vertigo attacks in the other 24 patients (88.9%) were never accompanied by cochlear symptoms. Such were considered to fit the delayed hydrops syndrome, a clinical entity newly postulated by Schuknecht (1976) and which is considered to occur as an aftermath of a labyrinthine injury of sufficient magnitude to destroy hearing but leaves the vestibular function intact.

Reccurent Sensori-Neural Hearing Loss Coincident with Impaired Visual Acuity and Narrowing of Visual Field

The authors reported a 60 years old man who had reccurent attacks of bilateral sensori-neural hearing loss concurrent with impaired visual acuities and narrowing of visual fields. The attacks occured four times during two years. The severity of the attack became reduced following to each one. Observing the clinical course, auditory and ophthalmologic findings in this patient, it is reasonable to assume that cochlear and retrobulbar neuritis due to a viral infection had subsided gradually showing the repeated remission for two years, and the neuritis caused the coexistent auditory and visual disturbances.

The subjective experience of perceptual and cognitive disturbances in schizophrenia. A review of autobiographical accounts.

About 60 autobiographical books and articles written by schizophrenics during or after their psychotic episodes were examined for descriptions of changes in the patients' perceptual and cognitive experiences. Frequently reported perceptual changes included both enhanced and muted sensory awareness and numerous specific auditory and visual disturbances. Often mentioned cognitive experiences included attentional deficits, both racing and retarded thinking, increased associations between ideas, mental exhaustion, lack of recognition of familiar words, people, and objects, memory deficits, thought blocking, disturbances in language production and comprehension, mistaking identities, and distorted sense of time. The article includes many descriptive quotations that provide rich glimpses into the inner world of the schizophrenic. It presents an argument for the continued, systematic exploration of patients' subjective experiences.

Positive Buoyancy and Air-Breathing: A New Piscine Gas Bladder Function

Dormitator latifrons is unique among known air-breathing fishes in that it emerges an external respiratory organ when in hypoxic water. The fish normally does so by using supports or generating positive buoyancy by inflation of the gas bladder. To inflate the gas bladder in hypoxic water fish must first emerge the external respiratory organ. The gas bladder is then inflated with oxygen and carbon dioxide. However, inflation of the gas bladder did not commonly occur in the laboratory unless fish were away from visual and auditory disturbances.

Auditory Perception, Reading and the Initial Teaching Alphabet

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the effectiveness of the i.t.a. reading program for children with auditory perceptual disturbances. The children studied were ten boys who were administered a specific, structured reading program. The Gray Oral Reading Test was employed both prior to and following completion of the program in order to measure reading improvement. Results of this investigation revealed that the ten children were reading significantly better at the conclusion of the forty-week program. Implications of the results are discussed.

Central Auditory Disturbances in Dyslexic School Children

Central Auditory Disturbances in Dyslexic School Children

Les neuropathies dites nutritionnelles au Sénégal

Seventy-five patients, representing 3% of the patients seen in a neurological ward, were suffering from neurological disorders of indeterminate etiology. Comparison with identical cases, described chiefly by English-speaking authors, in tropical countries, suggests the presence of a nutritional factor which may cause these disorders; hence their name, nutritional neuropathies. While prior digestive symptoms are frequent (29%) their precise role is difficult to determine in a tropical environment. The relevance of sex and age is clear: 68% of the patients are women, and in 42.6% of the cases, the disorders occurred between the ages of 20 and 30. In 33% of the women, pregnancy was a precipitating factor. Symptomatology is dominated by the affection of the lower limbs. Subjective sensory disturbances and ataxia are the two main symptoms. A polyneuritic syndrome is observed in 62.6% of the cases, combined sclerosis of the spinal cord in 16% and isolated pyramidal signs in 21.4%. In 32% of the cases, visual and auditory disturbances occur; there are no cutaneous or mucous membrane changes. Biological and anatomico-pathological tests reveal a gastric achlorhydria (or hypochlorhydria) in 84% of the cases, a slight disturbance of liver flocculation tests in 73% of the cases, and changes in liver cells in 66% of the cases. Variations in climate or ethnic group and these neurological disorders are clearly related: among the ethnic group of the South, living in a humid forest zone, one finds cases of polyneuritis, and among the Northern ethnic groups, living in the Sahelian zone, the spinal cord syndromes are prevalent. Between these two groups lies the Wolof ethnic group, the major ethnic group of Senegal, in which the type of disorders is mixed, polyneuritis being most frequent. Nutritional surveys give evidence of a quantitatively adequate, qualitatively unbalanced diet. This unbalance occurs chiefly in the protein intake, which consists to a great extent (88.6%) of vegetable proteins. Surveys of vitamin requirements show that thiamine requirements are met, while the intake of riboflavine and nicotinamide is highly inadequate. The probable influence of previous attacks on the organism, in an under-developed African environment, must be emphasized. This factor reveals itself through abnormalities in the serum protein distribution (a constant occurrence among the Senegalese population) and of liver function tests. The pathogenesis of these neurological disorders is obscure. It might be suggested that they result from a combination of achlorhydria and a deficiency both of intake and absorption. But the genesis of achlorhydria is unknown. These obscure points direct further research toward detailed enzymatic studies and thorough family surveys.

EFFECT OF KANAMYCIN ON HEARING ABILlTY

Since kanamycin(KM) treatment is known to cause auditory disturbances as in streptomycin(SM) treatment, the power of hearing was investigated in TB patients, who had either SM or KM treatment of varying duration, and the results may be briefly summarized as follows: 1. The effect of the KM 2gm twice weekly on the power of hearing was similar to SM 1gm twice weekly in causing slight deafness. 2. The auditory impairment due to the KM was directly related to the length of treatment. The administration of KM 2gm twice weekly for more than 6 months resulted in a decrease in hearing of more than 15db at 8,000 cps on the audiogram, while little adverse effect was recorded KM treatment it was administered for less than 6 months.

Impairment of recent memory after temporal lesions in man

Five cases of recent memory impairment following unilateral temporal lesions are described. In three patients auditory and visual recent memory disturbances were produced by the epileptogenic lesion in one hippocampal zone giving afterdischarges in both temporal lobes. In all these cases recent memory deficit cleared completely after unilateral temporal lobectomy when EEG examinations showed no more abnormalities in the contralateral temporal region. In one patient in whom left temporal lobectomy was performed because of a malignant glioma grave impairment of auditory and visual recent memory was revealed 6 months after operation when the tumour began to generate EEG abnormalities in both temporal lobes. The last patient showed selective impairment of verbal recent memory following strict unilateral lesion in the left hippocampal zone.

HEREDO-DEGENERATIVE ATAXIA ASSOCIATED WITH HYPACUSIA

São estudados três irmãos, respectivamente com 16, 8 e 6 anos de idade, todos do sexo masculino, com ataxia heredo-degenerativa associada, em dois dêles, a hipoacusia. Nos antecedentes há referência a moléstia semelhante em um avô e um tio-avô. É discutido o diagnóstico diferencial com a moléstia de Pièrre Marie, a doença de Charcot-Marie-Tooth, a síndrome de Refsum e a neurite intersticial hipertrófica, sendo acentuada a semelhança dos casos estudados com a moléstia de Friedreich. São feitos comentários à associação da doença de Friedreich com distúrbios da audição.

The retarded reader.

About three out of four children can learn to read with ease, probably by any method. About three out of four retarded readers will learn to read well if presented with modifications of current teaching methods and if given enough time and protection from emotional stress. The remainder represent the effects of auditory defects, cerebral damage or emotional disturbances, and require very special attention. Ocular defects are only a contributory factor and do not initiate the reading difficulty. Early recognition is essential, and a varied and flexible remedial approach an absolute necessity.

Ménière's Disease

MENIERE'S DISEASE, when fully developed, is characterized by a triad of symptoms , a sensory-neural hearing loss, tinnitus in the diseased ear of varying intensity, and attacks of true vertigo lasting from several minutes to several hours. The auditory disturbances are usually characterized by wide fluctuations in the threshold of hearing, particularly in the lower and middle range. Tests for recruitment show it to be present in practically every case. During the attacks the threshold drops sharply but, particularly in early stages of the disease, may go back to normal within a few days or weeks. In advanced stages the fluctuations become less marked, and the hearing fails to return to normal or to improve markedly in the intervals between the attacks. A permanent and progressive hearing loss develops which, as a rule, is more marked in the lower and middle range. It may, however, extend uniformly over the entire

On Auditory Disturbances of Streptomycin-users

On Auditory Disturbances of Streptomycin-users

Clinical Observation of the Auditory Disturbances Caused by Streptomycin

Clinical Observation of the Auditory Disturbances Caused by Streptomycin

Clinical Observation of the Auditory Disturbances Caused by Streptomycin

Clinical Observation of the Auditory Disturbances Caused by Streptomycin

The problem of agnosia in the light of a case of pure word deafness.

Although pure word deafness (p.w.d.) is a well-defined clinical picture it usually occurs as part of a more complex syndrome. Almost invariably there is some degree of aphasia and as a rule other auditory disturbances, such as imperception of specific sounds including musical tones, also occur. These associated symptoms tend to diminish or even disappear in time while the deafness for word sounds usually persists in its initial intensity. In the case we describe most of the associated symptoms, especially the aphasia, soon abated leaving an almost pure word deafness. Subsequently this too improved slowly and because of the partial recovery we were able to obtain data which are rarely available in these cases.

人体に於ける電気災害に由る聽器障碍例に就て

人体に於ける電気災害に由る聽器障碍例に就て

A Pulse-Tone Technic for Audiometric Threshold Measurements

The pulse-tone method of testing hearing, used as a basis for the 1939–1940 World's Fair tests in which over one million individuals voluntarily participated, has been adapted for clinical audiometric use. For this purpose, a tri-functional control has been utilized consisting of (1) an electronic method of producing the desired number of tone-pulses (normally one, two, three, or four) in a selected sequence under control of the operator, (2) a visual signal which occurs at the beginning of each pulse series to act as a warning to the observer, and (3) a visual signal which flashes in synchronism with the output tone-pulses to act as a counter for the operator. In threshold tests in which both the pulse-tone method and the standard audiometric method were used, approximately 90 percent of the observers expressed a preference for the pulse-tone procedure. This favorable preference rating was principally a result of the ability of the observer to relax between definite periods of concentration marked by the warning signal at the beginning of each series of pulses. The test, which lends itself to a high degree of standardization, was found to be of particular advantage for observers with tinnitus. For such observers, the regular on-off characteristic of the tone affords a better opportunity to differentiate between the audiometer signal and the auditory disturbances which are characteristic of this disorder.

Clinical and histopathological investigations of the labyrinth in oxycephaly

Three cases of oxycephaly were extensively examined and a great variety of auditory and vestibular disturbances were found. In case IV. the microscopic-anatomical examination showed the formation of hyperostosis with narrowing of the internal auditor?; canals, partial atrophy of the ganglion spirale and vestibularc. The experiments of Mellanby-HaLL pike show that corresponding anomalies are found in cases of experimental A-avitaminosis.