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There have been few recent estimates of the prevalence of tinnitus from large population-based samples of older persons. Our study aimed to assess the prevalence and characteristics of prolonged tinnitus in a representative sample of 2015 adults aged 55-99 years, residing in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, Australia, during 1997-99. All participants underwent a detailed hearing examination by an audiologist, including comprehensive questions about hearing. After age adjustment, subjects reporting tinnitus had significantly worse hearing at both lower and higher frequencies (p < 0.001). This difference was more marked in younger than in older subjects (p < 0.05). Overall, 602 subjects (30.3%) reported having experienced tinnitus, with 48% reporting symptoms in both ears. Tinnitus had been present for at least 6 years in 50% of cases, and most (55%) reported a gradual onset. Despite tinnitus being described as mildly to extremely annoying by 67%, only 37% had sought professional help, and only 6% had received any treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The study aims to compare the performance of hearing aids fitted according to the NAL-NL1 and DSL v5 prescriptive procedure for children., Design: This is a crossover four period trial., Study Sample: Sixteen school-aged children with moderately severe to profound hearing losses participated in the study. The children were fitted with Phonak Naida V SP hearing aids according to the two prescriptive procedures., Results: The results showed that children performed significantly better with DSL v5 than with NAL-NL1 prescription for sentence perception in quiet. The paired-comparison judgments of speech intelligibility showed seven children significantly preferred the DSL v5 prescription while two children preferred the NAL-NL1 prescription. The average scores on functional and ratings by parents and teachers performance of children in real life were significantly better for the DSL v5 prescription. At the end of all trials, nine children preferred the DSL v5 prescription, four preferred the NAL-NL1 prescription, and two had no preference., Conclusions: Hearing aids fitted based on the DSL v5 procedure would seem to be more appropriate than the NAL-NL1 procedure for children with moderately severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss, at least in quiet listening environments.

Unlabelled: The parents' evaluation of aural/oral performance of children (PEACH) scale was developed to assess the effectiveness of amplification for children, based on a systematic use of parents' observations of children's performance in real-world environments., Objective: The purpose of the present study was to adapt the PEACH scale into the Malay language, and to collect normative data on a group of children with normal hearing., Study Sample: The participants were parents of 74 children aged between 3 months and 13 years of age. Parents were requested to observe their children's auditory/oral behavior in everyday life and to record their observations in the PEACH booklet., Results: High internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.93) and item-total correlation were found (0.52-0.85). Similar to the published norms for English-speaking children, near-perfect scores were achieved by Malaysian children around 40 months of age., Conclusions: The adapted version can be used to evaluate amplification for children in the Malay speaking environment. The normative curve relating age to scores for the Malay PEACH can be used as a reference against which functional aural/oral performance of hearing-impaired Malaysian children can be evaluated.

In this study, monosyllabic Mandarin speech test materials (MSTMs) were developed for use in word recognition tests for speech audiometry in Chinese audiology clinics. Mandarin monosyllabic materials with high familiarity were designed with regard to phonological balance and recorded digitally with a male voice. Inter-list equivalence of difficulty was evaluated for a group of 60 subjects (aged 18-25 years) with normal hearing. Seven lists with 50 words each were found to be equivalent. These seven equivalent lists were used to measure performance-intensity (PI) functions for a group of 32 subjects with normal hearing and a group of 40 subjects with mild to moderate sensorineural hearing loss. The mean slope of PI function was found to be 4.1%/dB and 2.7%/dB, respectively. The seven lists of Mandarin monosyllabic materials were found to have sufficient reliability and validity to be used in clinical situations.

The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate disyllabic Mandarin speech test materials (MSTMs) in order to facilitate wider use of speech audiometry in Chinese audiology clinics. Phonologically balanced Mandarin disyllabic materials with high familiarity were designed based on the basic rules for developing speech materials and the particular characteristics of Mandarin, and recorded digitally. In order to establish the validity and reliability of these Mandarin disyllabic materials, equivalence of difficulty between the word lists was evaluated for a group of 60 subjects (age-range 18-25 years) with normal hearing. Subsequently, performance-intensity (PI) functions were measured in a group of 30 subjects with normal hearing (age-range 18-25 years), and a group of 35 subjects with sensineural hearing loss. The nine lists of Mandarin disyllabic materials were found to have sufficient reliability and validity to be used in clinical situations.

The Listening in Spatialized Noise test (LISN) produces a three-dimensional auditory environment under headphones, using only a PC and an audiometer, and was designed to provide an ecologically valid assessment of auditory figure-ground skills in children. The listener is required to indicate the intelligibility level of a story presented at 0 degree azimuth, in the presence of distracter sentences simultaneously presented at either 0 degree or +/- 90 degrees azimuth. Various measures assess the extent to which either spatial, vocal, or spatial and vocal cues combined, increase a listener's ability to comprehend the story, without being affected by differences between participants in variables such as linguistic skills. There was a trend of improved performance with increasing age for 48 normally hearing seven-, eight-, and nine-year-olds, and sixteen adults. Whereas some significant differences were found between adults and children, there were no significant differences in performance between the seven-, eight-, and nine-year-olds on any measure, and no significant gender or practice effects were observed. Future studies on children with suspected auditory processing disorder were considered warranted.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether rising-frequency chirps presented via earphones with an extended high-frequency response would optimize the post-auricular muscle response (PAMR). The PAMR was recorded in adults using three different stimuli (a click, a rising-frequency chirp, and a truncated speech stimulus, /t/). Conventional ER-3A insert earphones were compared to ER-2 insert earphones to determine whether the PAMR is enhanced by the ER-2's extended highfrequency response. There were significant stimulus and earphone effects on PAMR amplitudes. The PAMR was largest for the chirp stimulus and the ER-2 earphones. The poorest responses were obtained using the /t/ stimulus and conventional ER-3A earphones. The results support previous ABR studies that have demonstrated a significant advantage of chirps over clicks for evoked response audiometry, and indicate that the PAMR is enhanced by inclusion of additional high-frequency stimulus energy.