Clinic Week # 12

This week, I didn't see anything exciting since it was the last week of clinic :) I decided to blog about my friend who is living in New York City.

She is a 26 year old female. She had been sick for a few weeks, cold, sinuses, etc and finally talked herself into going to the doctor. She thought she has a sinus infection. By the time she got an appointment with the ENT, the entire right side of her face was swollen and tender. She went to the ENT who told her that she DID NOt have a sinus infection and everything looked good. He did however test her acoustic reflexes. She did not have any reflexes in either ear. After these test results, the ENT referred her for an full audiologic evaluation and a CT scan. The results of her CT scan were normal, and she has not been able to get an appointment with the audiologist (at the time I wrote this blog).

I found this article titled the Prevalence and audiological characteristics in individuals with auditory neuropathy/auditory dys-synchrony. The results showed that 1 in 348 had auditory dys-synchrony. But, only 1 in 183 when only the individuals with permanent sensory and neural hearing loss had auditory dys-synchrony. Around 60% of the individuals had no measurable speech scores. In the methods section part of the criteria for identifying a aud. neuropathy was no evidence of a space occupying lesion on a neurological examination (i.e. MRI or CT scan).

As clinicians is it important for us know when to refer and what "red flags" we should be aware of. Hope you like it, check it out :)


Kumar, U., Jayaram, M. (2006) Prevalence and audiological characteristics in individuals with auditory neuropathy/auditory dys-synchrony. International Journal of Audiology, 45, 360-366.

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=16&hid=109&sid=e96a8942-9c85-4d8d-8101-9dbf40198a15%40sessionmgr108

Week # 11
This week in Clinic I was retesting a female student. She had been in our clinic before and her puretone air and bone conduction thresholds left us wondering. She is a student and is also a member of the band. She originally seeked a hearing evaulation because of the loud environment she is in so often due to the band. She has played an instrument since elementary school. At the time of her first appointment, our clinic was having a little equipment problems and so a second audiological evaluation was recommened.

During this second audiologic evaluation, threholds were found to be within the normal limits bilaterally. SRT scores were in great agreement with PTA and word recognition scores were 100% in both ears. She was encouraged to wear hearing protection while playing and was given a few pairs to take with her. She was also reassured that the first results were due to the malfucnion of our equipment and that her hearing results looked perfect.

I found this artilce that has to do with malingering or non-organic hearing loss. This is not a case study more of a guide and what we can do as clinicians. I thought it was interesting. Since we were are all worried about this patient and some had concerns that she was possibly faking, I thought this went well with this patient. Thankfully, for our patient, everything turned out OK in the end.

Check it out, i hope you like it :)

Austen, S., & Lynch, C. (2004) Non-organin hearing loss redefined: understanding, categorizing, and managing non-organic behavior. International Journal of Audiology, 8, 449-457.

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=5&hid=109&sid=e96a8942-9c85-4d8d-8101-9dbf40198a15%40sessionmgr108

Week #10

I searched a journal article on cochlear implants since we have been talking about our new cochlear implant class for the fall.  

The link will not post in the blog (I've had to redo this blog 4 times because blogger keeps kicking me out) So you'll have to search for the author and/or title in Ebsco Host, it should come right up. Sorry!

Plyer, P., Bahng, J., & vonHapsburg, B. (2008) The acceptance of background noise in adult cochlear implant users.  Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research, 51, 502-515

The title is The acceptance of background noise in adult cochlear implant users.  This study looked at 9 adult CI users, and 15 normal hearing adults.  The HINT (Hearing in noise Test) was given to both groups and a ANL (acceptable noise level) was determined by taking the average of two trials.  The APHAB (Abbreviated profile of hearing aid benefit) and a questionnaire was given to the adult CI user group only.  

It results found that the ANL was not significantly different for either group, the ANL were not correlated with the HINT results for either group, the ANL was not correlated with the APHAB, and and ANL was significantly correlated with the overall CI benefit on the satisfaction questionnaire.  

Hope you like it, check it out :)