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The use of cognitive-based strategies for improving social communication behaviours for individuals who have solid language and cognition is an important question. This study investigated the outcome of teaching Social Thinking®, a framework based in social-cognition, to Chinese adolescents with social communication deficits. Thirty-nine students (33 with Autism Spectrum Disorders and six without), ranging in age from 12 to 15 years with social communication deficits, participated in a 12-week intervention. Students' pre- and post-intervention social behaviours were measured by six aspects of the Social Thinking-ILAUGH Scale involving 115 familiar raters. Students showed significant improvement in all the six subscales of the Social Thinking-ILAUGH except humour after training. Agreements on ratings among parents and school personnel were satisfactory. A framework based in social cognitive strategies, with appropriate linguistic and cultural adaptations, appears to be a promising tool for Chinese adolescents with social learning issues. Social behaviours improved across school and home settings as noted by groups of raters familiar with the students.

Objectives/hypothesis: This study investigated olfactory and gustatory dysfunction in the 2020 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients, and their correlations with viral load evaluation., Study Design: Prospective cross-sectional cohort study., Methods: One hundred forty-three symptomatic patients being screened for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) were invited to participate. The clinical data of 83 confirmed COVID-19 subjects were collected, with 60 patients who were symptomatic but negative for COVID-19 recruited as controls. The prevalence and severity of and recovery time for olfactory and gustatory dysfunction, and cycle threshold (Ct) values from a SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction assay of nasopharyngeal and deep throat swabs were collected. Their correlations with Ct values were reported., Results: Thirty-nine (47.0%) and 36 (43.4%) COVID-19 patients reported olfactory and gustatory dysfunction, respectively. The results of one-way analysis of variance did not show statistically significant relationships between the Ct values and severity of olfactory and gustatory dysfunction (P = .780 and P = .121, respectively). Among the COVID-19 patients who reported smell and taste loss, 28/39 (71.8%) and 30/36 (83.3%) experienced complete recovery, respectively. The mean recovery time was 10.3 ± 8.1 days for olfactory dysfunction and 9.5 ± 6.8 days for gustatory dysfunction. The recovery time was not correlated with the Ct values (Pearson correlation coefficient, smell: -0.008, P = .968; taste: -0.015, P = .940)., Conclusions: There is a high prevalence of olfactory and gustatory dysfunction in COVID-19. However, the severity of and recovery from these symptoms have no correlations with the viral load of SARS-CoV-2., Level of Evidence: 4 Laryngoscope, 130:2680-2685, 2020., (© 2020 American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society Inc, "The Triological Society" and American Laryngological Association (ALA).)

Purpose of Review: Over a short period, China has adopted cochlear implants and emerged as a burgeoning market. This represents a valuable case study for emerging countries in terms of planning, initiating, and growing cochlear implant programs., Recent Findings: Although many challenges such as funding, establishing infrastructure, and recipient community support have been addressed, many more remain. Consistent rapid escalation in numbers has been driven by push-and-pull factors. Federal, state, and private funding have all played a role., Summary: The review highlights the massive need for hearing rehabilitation that currently exists in China. The shortfall can only be addressed by a purposeful and coordinated approach involving government policy, The China Disabled Persons Federation, the industry partnering with hearing and medical professionals and the deaf community.

Objective: To establish the reliability and validity of a computerized self-administered hearing test., Design: Cross-sectional within a comparative study of subjects., Study Sample: Subjects were 100 Chinese adults who attended the audiology clinic in a hospital for a hearing test., Results: There was no significant difference in the thresholds of unmasked air-conduction hearing obtained with the computerized self-administered hearing test via a smartphone and those obtained with standard pure-tone audiometry. High test-retest reliability was observed with the self-administered hearing test (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.95), and was comparable with that observed in standard pure-tone audiometry (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.97). The thresholds of the self-administered hearing test measured in a sound-proof booth were not significantly different from those measured in a quiet office room., Conclusions: The results suggest that the computerized self-administered hearing test is a reliable and valid measure of unmasked air-conduction hearing thresholds.

Objective: To compare the speech perception performance of older adults with that of adult cochlear implant (CI) recipients in a single center in Hong Kong., Design: A retrospective study of 14 older adult CI users (age at operation, 56 to 77 yr old) and 14 adults (age at operation, 18 to 53 yr old) who received CIs and were matched for duration of profound deafness. The outcome indicator of their performance includes ratings of 0 to 7 on the speech perception category (SPC), which is based on their speech perception test scores at 6, 12, and 24 mo after implantation. Statistical analyses were used to compare SPC ratings between the two groups at the tested intervals. Results of specific speech perception tests between the two groups were also analyzed at the tested intervals, along with the rate of improvement of the specific tasks from 0 to 6 mo, 0 to 12 mo, and 0 to 24 mo postoperatively. Multiple regression analysis was used to assess which variables would independently predict the outcome performance of CIs., Results: There were no significant differences (p = 0.228 to 0.724) between the SPC ratings of the adult group and the older adult group at the tested intervals. The adult group scored significantly better in the postoperative 0- to 6-mo improvement rate (p = 0.047) in open-set sentence recognition, but the improvement decelerated so that it was comparable with that of the older adult group by 12 mo after implantation. The adult group also scored significantly better (p = 0.031) in tone identification at 24 mo after implantation compared with the older adult group. The majority of the speech perception task scores, and rates of improvement were comparable between the older adult group and the adult group at the tested time intervals. Multiple regression analysis revealed a significant relationship (p = 0.025) between the outcome indicator of everyday sentence recognition at 12 mo after implantation and the outcome predictor of duration of profound deafness. However, the goodness of fit (r) of this model was 0.11, suggesting that only 11% of the variance in 12-mo postoperative everyday sentence recognition was explained by duration of profound deafness, leaving a large proportion of unexplained variance., Conclusion: : The overall performance of the older adult CI recipients is comparable with that of the adult group. Duration of profound deafness, irrespective of age, is accountable for a small part of the outcome. Because older adults as well as younger adults can benefit from CIs, age should not be the predominant factor for declining CIs among older adults.