Antoni Pruszewicz

Assessment of Smell and Taste in Patients with Allergic Rhinitis

We examined the senses of smell and taste in 240 patients with verified hypersensitivity reactions of the respiratory tract. Olfactometry was performed according to Elsberg and Levys method and followed by electrogustometry. The examinations revealed that the incidence of smell and taste disorders in patients with allergic rhinitis is 21.4% and 31.2%, respectively. No significant relationships between smell and taste dysfunction were found. We evaluated statistically positive correlations between the olfactory and gustatory thresholds compared with 78 qualitative and quantitative factors assessed in the study. There was a statistically significant relationship between the olfactory thresholds and levels of eosinophils in blood and in nasal discharge, acid reaction of the nasal mucosa, coexisting nasal polyps and X-ray changes in the ethmoid sinuses. There was a positive influence of pharmacotherapy as well as specific desensitization and surgery on the impairment of the sense of smell in allergic rhinitis.We examined the senses of smell and taste in 240 patients with verified hypersensitivity reactions of the respiratory tract. Olfactometry was performed according to Elsberg and Levys method and followed by electrogustometry. The examinations revealed that the incidence of smell and taste disorders in patients with allergic rhinitis is 21.4% and 31.2%, respectively. No significant relationships between smell and taste dysfunction were found. We evaluated statistically positive correlations between the olfactory and gustatory thresholds compared with 78 qualitative and quantitative factors assessed in the study. There was a statistically significant relationship between the olfactory thresholds and levels of eosinophils in blood and in nasal discharge. acid reaction of the nasal mucosa, coexisting nasal polyps and X-ray changes in the ethmoid sinuses. There was a positive influence of pharmacotherapy as well as specific desensitization and surgery on the impairment of the sense of smell in allergic rhinitis.

VEP latency and some properties of simple motor reaction-time distribution

SummaryThe median of simple motor reaction (RT) to a flash parallels the latencies of visually evoked potential (VEP) deflections if flash intensity is varied. However, mean and median reaction times are not equal because of the skewness of RT distribution. It therefore seemed plausible that the mean reaction time — intensity relationship would be steeper than that for VEP latency. Such divergence would account for the intensity-dependent motor component of RT revealed by other psychophysical studies. The latencies of VEP deflections were measured as a function of intensity and the results were compared with mean and median RTs. The difference between mean and median RT is constant and independent of flash intensity. Moreover, both values are parallel to VEP latency. The general pattern of results remains the same after a change in the distribution from which the foreperiod is sampled.

Low birth weight as a risk factor of hearing loss.

The purpose of this study was the audiological evaluation of low birth weight children as well as to investigate any possible relation between very low birth weight and the associated risk factors and the subsequent hearing loss. A group of 110 children was examined audiologically. The prenatal, perinatal and postnatal risk factors were related to the audiological diagnosis. Depending on the patients age, audiological examination consisted of auditory brainstem responses, pure tone audiometry and impedance audiometry. The presence of more than two risk factors in the perinatal and postnatal categories was connected with profound hearing loss in later life. No such relation was found with the cumulation of the prenatal risk factors. In our material the greatest risk of the acquired profound hearing loss and deafness occurring in low birth weight children was connected with the general physical status of the neonates and the treatment programme in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Speech audiometry for children and subjective probability of Polish words.

Word lists used for speech audiometry should fulfill a number of conditions in order that the results of hearing tests be unambiguous and directly interpretable not only in terms of possible hearing loss but also in terms of the neurolinguistic decoding process. In order to construct a proper word list, it was decided to attempt to estimate the subjective probability of word occurrence in schoolchildren. Nine different lists of over 300 words each were prepared, containing words of all assumed degrees of familiarity. In the preliminary stage, the lists were presented to 600 children in primary and secondary schools. The children were asked to mark each word with a number indicating their relative familiarity with the word. The answers were examined for homogeneity.

Variability analysis of Fo parameter in the voice of individuals with hearing disturbances.

The material of this investigation comprised a group of 18 patients with deep hypoacousis (over 70 dB) or complete deafness which, depending on the onset of the deafness, was divided into the 3 categories: congenital, early childhood to 3rd year of life, and postlingual. All of them underwent ENT, phoniatric and stroboscopy examinations; in 10, X-ray tomography of the larynx was also performed. The status of hearing ability was assessed by audiometric examinations using pure tones in air and bone conductions. The acoustic examinations comprising spectrographic and tonographic analyses were performed on an appropriate linguistic material including vowels, isolated words, sentences and reading text. The measurement of Fo was performed on isolated vowels. In order to characterise the degree and kind of periodicity disturbances the following parameters were estimated: the medium value of fundamental frequency, the range of Fo variability, the maximal change of period length from cycle to cycle, and its medium value (jitter). The results of the acoustic examinations revealed different degrees and kinds of periodicity disturbances depending on the depth of the hypoacousis and its onset.

Identification and Discrimination of Speech Sounds in Monosyllabic Meaningful Words and Nonsense Words by Children

297 children aged 9-14 with normal hearing and intelligence level were examined by speech audiometry. Ten lists with monosyllabic meaningful and nonsense words were used. All the lists were phonemically and structurally balanced in the same way and were applied with an intensity level varying between 26 dB and 61 dB. The identification and discrimination scores for Polish speech sounds were calculated from written-response sheets. The identification scores were generally significantly lower for nonsense words, and up to a certain extent, increased with age. An examination of the discrimination scores showed that confusions were related to the distinctive features of the phonemes. The results represent the first stage of a project on speech sound identification in children and may have practical implications for the rehabilitation of children with hearing loss.

Metody badania czynności fonacyjnej krtani w Klinice Otolaryngologicznej Uniwersytetu Poznańskiego w latach 1922–1939

Summary Introduction Indirect laryngoscopy development and progress initiated in 1854 by the autolaryngoscopy of the famous singing voice teacher Manuel Garcia in ENT speciality is connected with the names of L. Tuerck and J.N. Czermak, the last one being called the father of laryngoscopy. In 1878 M. Oertel used for the first time stroboscopic light in indirect laryngoscopy. The perception of stroboscopic picture is based on the Talbot principle. Object of the paper Two apparatuses used for the evaluation of larynx function in the Poznan ENT Department before the II World War are presented: – Polylaryngoscop enabling evaluation the indirect laryngoscopy simultaneously by several individuals. – Mechanical stroboscop of Oertel type with perforated disc moved by electrical engine. Conclusion For 130 years laryngostroboscopy belongs to the basic examination methods of larynx phonatory function.

Electromyography of cricopharyngeal muscles in patients with oesophageal speech

Subject for the examination were 30 patients who during total laryngectomy had had two silver clips for haemostasis inserted into the cricopharyngeous muscle about 3 cm from the sewing place in the midline, facilitating the location of the muscle and the placing of a needle electrode. Twelve to 18 months after laryngectomy and phoniatric rehabilitation, electromyographic examinations were performed. Each EMG recording was evaluated as to amplitude, discharge frequency and time duration of muscle electric activity. EMG recordings made during deglutition and phonation proved dependences of cricopharyngeous muscle activity on quality of oesophageal voice production and higher activity of muscle during phonation than deglutition in patients who developed very good and good oesophageal speech.

Usefulness of Acoustic Studies on the Differential Diagnostics of Organic and Functional Dysphonia

Phoniatric and acoustic examinations were carried out in a group of 30 patients with dysphonia, including 15 with organic type and 15 with functional type. A complex phoniatric assessment offered the possibility to differentiate between these two groups of pathological voices. This was achieved also on the basis of acoustic analysis of the voice by extracting characteristics such as: formant frequency, Fo and its range, percentage of noise in the analysed verbal text, mean and maximum values of jitter. The possibility of differential diagnosis of these two different types of dysphonia in acoustic studies was confirmed by clinical examinations. The acoustic studies presented can be regarded as a new approach to a fast and sufficiently precise method in the screening diagnostics of dysphonia conditioned by growth of the vocal fold mass.

Cochlear implantation after meningitis: does the post-meningitic deafness aetiology influence worse speech rehabilitation progress?

Many factors influence the speech rehabilitation progress, including: duration of deafness, aetiology, communication mode before implantation, family support. Meningitis can affect not only the cochlear hair cells, but also the upper stages of hearing paths or even other parts of the central nervous system. In the literature we can find the sentence: ‘Rate of neurologic sequelae in children who have had meningitis ranges from 20% to 30% and the prevalence of potentially subtle entities such as learning disability, perceptual and attention deficits, and behavioural problems may be even more pervasive.’ The aim of this study was to compare radiological and surgical observations with the evaluation of speech rehabilitation progress in patients implanted due to post-meningitic deafness.