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Introduction Disorders of hearing are one of the most common disabilities in the country, especially in children. Hearing impairment is the most common congenital disease (3.5–9%) considering all degrees of permanent unilateral or bilateral deafness. Hearing disability can further lead to lifestyle difficulties later on in life. Early identification and a comprehensive treatment can help these people lead a better and productive life. Materials and Methods A retrospective study from the hospital records was done of infants admitted in NICU/PICU in a rural setting in, Davangere, Karnataka from January 2017 to January 2021 who had undergone Oto-acoustic emission (OAE) upon discharge, with a Brainstem Evoked Response Audiometry (BERA) test done in cases that failed the initial test after 3 months. Results Out of the 1115 cases that was included 213(19.1%) cases were found to have hearing disability with low birth weight and hyperbilirubinemia counting for most of the cases with 326(29.2%) and 301(27.0%) cases respectively. Conclusion The findings of our study suggest that an early investigation for hearing disability in high-risk infants for early detection and comprehensive management of hearing disorders. It also points towards a further need for advocating a universal screening of neonates for detecting hearing disability when feasible.

Introduction Disorders of hearing are one of the most common disabilities in the country, especially in children. Hearing impairment is the most common congenital disease (3.5–9%) considering all degrees of permanent unilateral or bilateral deafness. Hearing disability can further lead to lifestyle difficulties later on in life. Early identification and a comprehensive treatment can help these people lead a better and productive life. Materials and Methods A retrospective study from the hospital records was done of infants admitted in NICU/PICU in a rural setting in, Davangere, Karnataka from January 2017 to January 2021 who had undergone Oto-acoustic emission (OAE) upon discharge, with a Brainstem Evoked Response Audiometry (BERA) test done in cases that failed the initial test after 3 months. Results Out of the 1115 cases that was included 213(19.1%) cases were found to have hearing disability with low birth weight and hyperbilirubinemia counting for most of the cases with 326(29.2%) and 301(27.0%) cases respectively. Conclusion The findings of our study suggest that an early investigation for hearing disability in high-risk infants for early detection and comprehensive management of hearing disorders. It also points towards a further need for advocating a universal screening of neonates for detecting hearing disability when feasible.

Introduction Disorders of hearing are one of the most common disabilities in the country, especially in children. Hearing impairment is the most common congenital disease (3.5–9%) considering all degrees of permanent unilateral or bilateral deafness. Hearing disability can further lead to lifestyle difficulties later on in life. Early identification and a comprehensive treatment can help these people lead a better and productive life. Materials and Methods A retrospective study from the hospital records was done of infants admitted in NICU/PICU in a rural setting in, Davangere, Karnataka from January 2017 to January 2021 who had undergone Oto-acoustic emission (OAE) upon discharge, with a Brainstem Evoked Response Audiometry (BERA) test done in cases that failed the initial test after 3 months. Results Out of the 1115 cases that was included 213(19.1%) cases were found to have hearing disability with low birth weight and hyperbilirubinemia counting for most of the cases with 326(29.2%) and 301(27.0%) cases respectively. Conclusion The findings of our study suggest that an early investigation for hearing disability in high-risk infants for early detection and comprehensive management of hearing disorders. It also points towards a further need for advocating a universal screening of neonates for detecting hearing disability when feasible.

Conclusions. The results support bilateral sequential implantation for patients who are not completely satisfied after implantation of one side. Objective. To evaluate the benefit of bilateral Vibrant Soundbridge middle ear implantation as compared with unilateral implantation in quiet and noisy environments. Methods. This was a multicentric and retrospective study of 15 patients with symmetrical sensorineural hearing loss who were implanted sequentially in both ears. The performance of each subject was compared under three conditions: with the right implant activated, with the left implant activated, and with both implants activated. Audiometric tests were compared with self-assessment subjective evaluation by questionnaire. Results. Both qualitative and quantitative assessments demonstrated improvement in speech intelligibility, especially in background noise, but also for low voice intensity in quiet.

OBJECTIVES: We report on the auditory abilities and speech performance in quiet and noise of 35 children with sequential bilateral cochlear implantation after 3 years of bilateral implant use. METHODS: Testing was done in bilateral and both unilateral listening conditions. The assessments took place before the second implantation and at several time intervals after fitting. As different auditory tests were used, the children were categorized by their age at the second implantation: younger or older than 6 years. RESULTS: The pure tone averages for the bilateral condition were significantly better than those for either unilateral condition after 12 months of bilateral implant use and remained so from that test interval onward. The speech recognition outcomes in quiet and noise also improved significantly for almost all children after 36 months, although a linear regression analysis showed a beneficial effect of younger age at first implantation on the speech-in-noise results. CONCLUSIONS: Bilateral cochlear implantation offered advantages to all children in comparison with the first implant--even the children who received the second implant after the age of 6 years. Compared to the younger children, the older children needed a longer adjustment period to gain bilateral benefit. However, they obtained similar results after 2 years of bilateral implant use.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects of sequential bilateral cochlear implantation (CI) on the life of young children after 36 months of bilateral implant use. METHOD: Thirty-five children were assessed prior to and 3 until 36 months after activation of the second CI. Main outcome measures were: the Categories of Auditory Performance (CAP), Speech Intelligibility Rating (SIR), communication mode, classroom placement, parent reports and the Würzburg questionnaire. Results were analysed separately for children younger and older than 6 years at the time of the second implantation. RESULTS: At the 3-year test interval, 80% of the younger children attended mainstream schools and were comprehensible for all listeners. They all used oral communication and almost 70% of them could have a conversation over the telephone. After 3 years of bilateral implant use less than 50% of the older children obtained the highest score on the SIR and CAP. Approximately 70% of them was integrated in mainstream schools and used oral communication. All parents reported a more natural communication and an improved quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: Sequential bilateral implantation seems to offer a wide range of participation benefits to all children and facilitates the social intercourse with their hearing environment.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the subjective benefits of bilateral cochlear implantation in 33 young children after 18 months of second implant use. METHOD: The Wurzburg questionnaire inquiring into a range of hearing functions was filled out by the parents. Additional data concerning the daily life and well-being of the children were gathered with an open-ended questionnaire and the Categories of Auditory Performance. Results were analyzed separately for children younger and older than 6 years at the time of the second implantation. RESULTS: After 18 months of bilateral implant use 30% of the younger and 6% of the older children made the transition to an auditory-oral communication. In this period, 15% of all children switched to mainstream schools. The parents reported an evolution of their children's auditory abilities, which included a better sound and speech perception. Multiregression analysis revealed that early hearing aid fitting and the age at the second cochlear implantation significantly contributed to the variance of the Wurzburg results. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate a wide range of positive subjective changes associated with bilateral cochlear implantation, even in older children. This progress led to a better and easier communication and a better integration in the normal-hearing world.

Mutations in GJB2 gene are the most common cause of genetic deafness. More than 100 mutations have been described. The aim of this work is to describe the personal experience in genetic hearing loss, investigating the audiological and genetical characteristics of Cx26 deafness and correlating genotype and phenotype. We performed audiological and genetical evaluation in 154 patients affected by non-syndromic deafness of different degree. All patients showed a bilateral symmetrical sensorineural hearing loss. From the genetical analysis 127 probands resulted as negatives while 27 as positives (51.8% homozygous for 35 delG, 14.8% compound heterozygosis and 33.3% single mutation); 7.5% of patients had a mild deafness, 37% moderate, 33.3% severe and 22.2% profound. The c.35 delG mutation was detected in 66.6% of patients. Three mutations were found in compound heterozygosis with 35 delG, six different single mutations already described, and a new mutation S138G were also found. Correlation between genotype and phenotype confirmed the high variability of hearing loss.

The author presents the results of his experience concerning brain stem evoked response in children. 122 cases are put forth. It shows that although behavioral audiometry is impossible in 7% of the cases, the BERA (Brain stem Evoked Response Audiology) is not reliable in 26.5% of the treble frequencies and 36% of the bass frequencies. Thus, it is not possible to equip children with hearing aids based on this given alone.

The purpose of these hearing aids is to improve the quantity and quality of amplification of the sound wave. Their operating principle is based on the existence of a transducer which transforms the electric signal captured by the microphone into a mechanical, vibrating wave. This transducer can act either directly on the temporal bone by short-circuiting the middle ear (and is then called a bone conduction implant) or directly on the ossicular chain (in which case it is called an ossicular transduction implant). A) There are 2 types of bone conduction implant: the "Audiant Bone Conduction" system of Hough-Vernon (Xomed), where an outside electromagnetic coil sends signals transcutaneously to a magnetic screw embedded on the temporal bone. Bone conduction must be normal. The "Bone Anchored Hearing Aid" (Nobelpharma) where the outside electromagnetic coil sends signals directly to the magnetic screw that is percutaneous. The mean thresholds in bone conduction can reach up to 45 dB. The drawbacks of this system lie in its inaesthetic appearance and the risk of infection. B) With ossicular transduction implants, the transducer may be: either an electromagnetic coil influencing a magnet fixed to the tympanum, on the ossicular chain, or replacing an element of the ossicular chain (these hearing aids are marketed by Richards); or a piezo-electric crystal which produces vibrations when it is subjected to an AC current, and which can be positioned on the stapes (Yanagihara). This system consumes less energy, gives excellent results for the high frequencies, but is more cumbersome.