Deafness Problem Research Articles

The problem of vascular deafness.

The problem of vascular deafness.

Bariery i przykłady wsparcia w procesie edukacji w środowisku osób z wadami słuchu

The article presents the problems of deaf and hard of hearing people in education. This topic is widely analyzed. The text describes the difficulties experienced by students at school, at various stages of learning, and the barriers experienced by deaf and hard of hearing students at higher education levels. In general, the hearing deficit entails various communication complications. The person with hearing impairment has a limited opportunity to have different experiences and what is most important in the text – hearing loss or deafness often makes it impossible to gain an optimal education. There are different methods of educating people from the non-hearing environment, depending on the degree of hearing impairment. Hearing impaired student often has difficulty understanding Polish, as it is not always their first language (their first language may be the Polish sign language). Hearing impaired students sometimes don’t understand academic texts because they have weaker poorer vocabulary due to their communication dysfunction. Another issue is the social isolation of many people with hearing impairments which often have a dilemma which environment to integrate with – with hearing or hearing impaired? Teaching staff approaches such people in different ways. Stereotypes do not help in educational progress (for example, the assumption that such students communicate only in sign language). It is important to be aware of the types of hearing loss and the different types of hearing (each hearing impaired hears differently and needs an individual approach). Finally, the article discusses the issue of education of people with hearing impairment from the category of “space”. Through “space” you can understand here the environment (school space, classes and associated architectural-acoustic barriers) as well as the language of the Deaf. The sign language is specifically designed for living space (some of the signatures must be shown in the specified movement and direction, depending on the intention of the sender).

Audiological Aspects of Neuro-Otology: (The present practice at Queen Square)

IntroductionThe evaluation of the patient with vertigo or other sensations of disturbed spacial orientation can be a difficult and perplexing task. But if these complaints are accompanied by changes in auditory function, the differential diagnosis of the disorder is usually made easier for the clinician. Therefore, a careful and systematic analysis of threshold and suprathreshold auditory functions should be a part of the clinical examination of every ‘dizzy’ patient, but it has not been the custom in Queen Square to perform a large number of tests, but to make sure that a few well-tried ones are meticulously carried out. Thus tests of auditory discrimination of complex signals such as speech, detection of the presence of recruitment, alongside pure tone air and bone conduction with adequate masking, are necessary, but the use of over-elaborate audiological testing schemes in clinical practice does much to discredit neuro-otology.The problem of central deafness is, as yet, often difficult to understan. Sm...

Development of personality and emotional—social adjustment in deaf and partially hearing children

Summary General problems with reference to the study of the development of personality and emotional-social adjustment in hearing impaired children are discussed and brief notes on emotional development in children with normal hearing are given so as to provide a model to which to relate studies of deaf children. The growth of language and its bearing on orectic development is considered with reference to possible effects of linguistic deficiencies in hearing impaired children. Studies of the emotional-social development and adjustment of: (a) pre-school deaf; (b) school age deaf; and (c) partially hearing children attending ordinary classes are described. The relationship between adjustment problems of deaf and partially hearing children is discussed. The final section is devoted to an account of clinical psychological projective techniques which have been used to assess the effects of deafness on personality development and emotional adjustment.

Mrs. Hobart C. Ramsey

READERS of theArchiveswill be interested in learning that the founding president of the Deafness Research Foundation, Mrs. Hobart C. Ramsey, has been recently elected chairman of the Board for the Foundation, with Mr. Glenn Garbutt as President; L. R. Boies, Medical Director of Medical Affairs; and Mr. C. M. Curtis, executive Director. Collette N. Ramsey developed a progressive hearing impairment from age 13 which was finally alleviated by Dr. Julius Lempert, who performed a fenestration operation on one ear in 1952 and on her other ear in 1954. With a deep sense of gratitude for her hearing restoration, Collette determined to establish an organization to advance otologic research and the problems of impaired hearing and deafness. The Deafness Research Foundation was born in 1958 through her efforts, and has become the only national voluntary health organization devoted primarily to furthering research and to the treatment and prevention of

Understanding hereditary nerve deafness.

THE PROBLEM of hereditary nerve deafness is indeed a complex and challenging one. With the otologist having very little to offer medically or surgically, except in the rare case of a conductive malformation combined with the sensorineural loss, treatment today is limited largely to diagnosis and rehabilitation. Because some forms of hereditary deafness may develop insidiously and not become clinically apparent until later in life, because hereditary nerve deafness is sometimes associated with other abnormalities which may overshadow it, and because hereditary factors may be concealed, it is difficult to accurately estimate the frequency of this disease. It appears that hereditary deafness is actually a fairly common disease entity, possibly occurring somewhere between 1 in 2,000 and 1 in 6,000 births. Of all cases of congenital deafness, including deafness secondary to rubella, birth injury, and erythroblastosis, about one third to one half seem to be due to hereditary factors. At

Research in Deafness in Children.

This book represents the proceedings of a conference at Oxford in 1963 organized by the Medical Research Committee of the National Deaf Children's Society, whose function is to foster and support research in order to solve outstanding problems of deafness in children. The first division of the book deals with research in the causes of deafness and, while there is little new information here, some thought-provoking presentations are given. In the second half of the book hearing tests as they are presently practiced in children, problems in testing, problems in interpretation of electroencephalograms and other electrophysical changes in response to auditory stimuli, and the need for hearing tests in the newborn are discussed.

The problem of deafness in children.

In a severly deaf child it is extremely important to make a very early diagnosis of his condition. Simple diagnostic methods given above can be used. The auditory training should be commenced in the first year of life, that is during the physiological period of readiness to listen. In severely deafened children a small monopack hearing aid is fitted for constant use. They should not be placed in schools for the deaf and dumb as in such a place even a normal child would suffer from retardation of speech. Stress should be laid on auditory training rather than on lip reading.

FURTHER OBSERVATIONS ON THE PATHOLOGY OF PRESBYCUSIS.

The light microscopic findings in several recently acquired human temporal bones have prompted me to restudy the problem of deafness from aging and to formulate a new classification for presbycusis. The evidence suggests that there are four pathological types. Although more detailed anatomical and clinical studies are needed to support the concepts to be presented, they do provide an improved basis for understanding the clinical manifestations of deafness of aging and suggest avenues for further study of this important problem. The underlying pathological mechanisms in the aging ear are much more complex than previously conceived and it is safe to predict that our present ideas certainly will be amended as new evidence is accumulated. I now believe that, in addition to the sensory and the neural kinds of presbycusis which have been described previously, 1,2 there are also metabolic and mechanical types. It is not surprising that more than one

Problems of Hearing and Deafness

Modern Developments in Audiology Edited by James Jerger. Pp. xii + 446. (New York: Academic Press, Inc.; London: Academic Press, Inc. (London), Ltd., 1963.) 12 dollars.

THE PROBLEM OF CONGENITAL DEAFNESS.

THE PROBLEM OF CONGENITAL DEAFNESS.

The Deaf and the Hard of Hearing

INVESTIGATORS in problems of the deaf and the hard of hearing have collected their research, organized their results, and published books that are valuable to the students preparing to teach, to test, and to continue research. Two of these were published at the same time and under the same title, but here the similarity ceased. Levine (1960) wrote her text from the rehabilitation point of view, stressed the psychosocial problems of deafness, and thus provided a guide for counselors and students interested in clinical testing. Myklebust (1960) stressed the limitations produced by sensory deprivation on the balance and equilibrium of all psychological processes. He included the results of his experimental work and many of the previously unpublished studies of his graduate students. Davis and Silverman (1960) revised Hearing and Deafness into a textbook for beginning students of audiology. They kept the original chapters intact, with additions to bring them up to date, and replaced the chapter on military aural rehabilitation with a new chapter on vocational guidance. Canfield (1959) wrote his handbook for the use of the person with a hearing impairment and his family. Wever translated and arranged the experiments of Von Bekesy (1960) into a volume that presents problems of auditory research, critical experiments in the field of hearing, and a discussion of cochlear mechanics.

The Problems of Psychogenic Deafness

According to the author, „psychogenic” deafness, or functional deafness not assignable to willful malingering, may be divided in two classes: a) „psychopathic” deafness, due to mental confusion (for instance following battle trauma), severe mental retardation, and various psychoses, including perhaps hysteria as a general psychotic syndrome; b) „hysterical” deafness, as an isolated syndrome, occuring usually after head injury or acoustic trauma.

Recent contributions to the study of deafness.

CONTROVERSIAL issues regarding the problem of deafness and advances that seem significant regarding detection, diagnosis and treatment of deafness will be discussed in this article. It seems appropriate to preface this progress report with a few remarks concerning the investigation of the physiology of normal hearing.Trends in Investigative Physiology of Sound PerceptionThe combined knowledge of all the investigators in the field of the physiology of hearing is still not sufficient to afford a clear picture of how the ear perceives sound, but an ever-increasing amount of original investigative work is being done to shed light on this enigma. . . .

Conductive deafness in children.

Deafness has long presented a challenge to the medical profession. Only recently with the advancement of the antibiotics and the new and improved surgical techniques has the problem of conductive deafness in adults approached a practical solution. This presentation deals with a study directed toward the improvement of conductive deafness in children. It has been known that some children with this type of impairment are relieved by adenoidectomy while others are not. In cases where a fluid level was observed myringotomy and suction have improved and maintained the hearing. The thought occurred that all cases of pure conductive deafness in children might be attended by middle ear effusion. To determine if this were the case was the purpose of this study. Serous otitis media is not a new disease, first being described by Politzer 1 in 1869. Since that time numerous titles such as serous catarrh, hydrops of the middle

Ultrasonics and Progressive Deafness

The solution of the very important and difficult problems presented by progressive deafness due to otosclerosis—its cause, prevention, and cure—is to be found in the biological implications and applications of the newly acquired and as yet incompletely correlated data in the field of ultrasonics. As there are light waves which are beyond the physiological range of human visual perception, there are sound waves that are imperceptible to the human ear—the ultrasonics. The most silent centrifuge has an ultrasonic specter extending to 100 000 cy/sec. The telephone bell produces frequencies to 50 000 cy/sec, powerful, but silent, imperceptible to us. The traffic of everyday life, in the train, bus, car, next to the audible noise, hides a tremendous amount of silent sound which is frightfully dangerous to our hearing organ. A significant fact of modern research is that the intensities of ultrasonics are of not primary importance in influencing the chemical changes in human proteins. Sonics and ultrasonics are equally able to provoke alteration in tissue proteins. Low frequencies of ultrasonics cause liquefaction of thixotropic gels. This occurrence leads to an increase of permeability of the cell membrane and thus advances chemical changes within the protein. The Ph changes are accompanied with a shift within the protein fractions. An increase of the gamma globulins, and a fibrotic trend of defense is in the making. The result of this happening is the structural changes in the living tissue (collagen, bone). The sonorous vibrations are passing from the air into the solid bone of the ossicular chain and into the water medium (liquor) of the labyrinth to arrive at the perceiving apparatus of the cochlea in the inner ear. The sound waves, by reaching new media, are partly reflected and partly transmitted, this according to the exerted resistance. The transferred energy from the air to the tissue is very small. The reflection by the different media can be considerable. The reflected ultrasonics have a damaging effect upon biological structures, because of sublimation of energetic effects (chemical thermic, etc.). Such considerable reflection occurs at the interface of bone medium (stapes) and water medium (the labyrinthin liquor). The body defense which tends to seal the spot of intrusion of ultrasonics develops a fibrotic diathesis. The first stone of this defense barrier is the first step toward the condition of deafness. At this topographic location of defense barrier (the oval window), the aural pathology has been recording for the last half-century the appearance of primary otosclerotic foci, without being able to give any satisfying explanation of their nature. The difficult problem of progressive deafness with its complexity of biological implication could not be understood until sufficient ultrasonic data have been explored and comprehended. The experimentally produced sclerosis by exposing living tissue to ultrasonic has enabled us to penetrate into this enigmatic condition.

Deafness.

THE purpose of this paper is to discuss recent controversial issues regarding the problem of deafness and to relate significant advances in its detection, diagnosis and treatment. The subject of aural rehabilitation is not included.Hearing Tests School Hearing Tests The realization that successful treatment of deafness depends in large measure on early application of therapeutic measures has led to intensive programs for the detection of incipient deafness in the public schools. Figures concerning the proportion of public-school children with a significant hearing loss vary between 5 and 20 per cent. These data are based upon results of group audiometry . . .

Psychosomatic aspects of surgical treatment of otosclerosis.

IN TWO previous papers¹I discussed the development of personality and the psychodynamics of personality as they create psychosomatic disease and affect somatic disease in the field of otolaryngology. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the field of otosclerosis surgery in its psychologic aspects, with the hope of furthering understanding of some of the patients. The problem of deafness has long been studied from the psychologic viewpoint. Hysterical deafness and malingering were among the diseases in which awareness of the psychologic relationship existed early. Our language expresses this in the common phrase "he turned a deaf ear." Also, many physicians and the hearing societies have long concerned themselves with the problem of social inadequacy resulting from organic deafness.²In a recent and outstanding article on the emotional aspects of hearing, Knapp³has discussed some problems of this field. Since the monumental work of Julius Lempert in

CHRONIC PROGRESSIVE DEAFNESS, INCLUDING OTOSCLEROSIS AND DISEASES OF THE INNER EAR: Review of the Literature for 1946

THE MAJOR portion of the 1946 literature on deafness is concerned with the problems of the surgical treatment of otosclerosis and with further observations on acoustic trauma and aerotitis. As in previous years, this review includes only those articles which give some new information relative to the problem of deafness. The material is arranged as follows: Otosclerosis Pathology Treatment Deafness Due to Lymphoid Hyperplasia of the Nasopharynx Treatment of Aerotitis Deafness Due to Trauma Psychogenic Deafness Ménière's Syndrome Miscellaneous Contributions on Causes and Treatment <h3>PATHOLOGY OF OTOSCLEROSIS</h3> Wojniak¹compared the external ear canal and drum membrane of 100 patients with otosclerosis with 70 normal ears and 30 with nerve deafness as to: (1) size of the external auditory canal; (2) cerumen; (3) condition of the skin in the canal; (4) sensitivity; (5) cough reflex; (6) vascular reflex, and (7) condition of the drum membrane as to thinness and transparency, Schwartze's sign and mobility of the malleus and

The problem of stimulation deafness. III. The functional and histological effects of a high-frequency stimulus.

The problem of stimulation deafness. III. The functional and histological effects of a high-frequency stimulus.