Junghwa Bahng

Hearing Thresholds for a Geriatric Population Composed of Korean Males and Females.

Background and Objectives The purpose of the present study was to provide the hearing threshold levels in the elderly Korean population, and to compare Korean data with that in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 7029 (2000). Subjects and Methods Data were collected from a total of 526 ears from 112 males and 151 females aged 60-84 years. All participants were screened otologically by the procedure given in ISO 8253-1 (2010). Results Results showed that the pure-tone average was gradually elevated with increasing age. The amount of hearing loss was greater in males than in females, and the high frequency hearing thresholds were worse than the low frequency hearing thresholds in males and females. The hearing threshold levels were higher at low frequencies in males and at all frequencies in females than the norms of ISO 7029 (2000). Conclusions Results from this study will be partly used for standardization of hearing thresholds as a function of age in Korea and for updating the ISO 7029.

Test-Retest Reliability of Word Recognition Score Using Korean Standard Monosyllabic Word Lists for Adults as a Function of the Number of Test Words.

Background and Objectives The purpose was to establish the test-retest reliability of word recognition score (WRS) using Korean standard monosyllabic word lists for adults (KS-MWL-A) recently developed based on the international standard for speech audiometry (ISO 8253-3:2012). Subjects and Methods Subjects consisted of 159 adults aged to 18 to 25 years with normal hearing sensitivity. WRSs were obtained in 2 dB steps from the level of speech recognition thresholds to the level of 86% correct responses or greater. After one or two weeks, retest was performed. Correlation, confidence interval (CI) and prediction interval (PI) were calculated for the reliability. Results Correlation coefficients were 0.88 for 50 test words, 0.76 for 25 and 0.61 for 10 words. Results also showed that 95% CIs and PIs were narrower for 25 and 50 test words than those for 10 test words. Conclusions Korean WRS using the KS-MWL-A has high reliability for 25 and 50 test words, but relatively low for 10 words. It suggested that 95% CIs for each test words would be criteria for significant differences in WRS for groups and 95% PIs at each score of WRS could be utilized for a considerable difference for each individual at retest.

Effect of low frequency on speech performance with bimodal hearing in bilateral severe hearing loss

Unilateral cochlear implantation has emerged as a widely accepted procedure to treat severe to profound hearing loss, but many studies have reported benefits in terms of speech comprehension when listeners with residual low‐frequency hearing in the nonimplanted ear use a hearing aid.

Case Study of Auditory Training for an Elderly Hearing Aid User

Case Study of Auditory Training for an Elderly Hearing Aid User Yun Young Jo, Junghwa Bahng 1 and Jae Hee Lee Department of Audiology, Hallym University of Graduate Studies, Seoul, Korea HHK Hearing Care Center of Hearing Medics, Seoul, Korea Auditory training is known as effective to enhance communication and listening strategy, especially when old listeners need to understand low-redundancy speech in noisy environment. In this study, 70-year-old man who has used a hearing aid for five years participated in 8-week auditory training program. The training program has focused on recognition of time-compressed sentences and sentences in noise. To examine whether the participant received benefit from training, we evaluated the listener’s speech recognition ability as well as subjective responses from the SADL (Satisfaction with Amplification in Daily Life) and IOI-HA (International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids) questionnaires. The results showed that performances in time-compressed sentences and sentences in noise were increased after 8-week auditory training. The training benefit was the greatest in more difficult conditions compared to relatively easier conditions. The participant’s subjective responses of SADL and IOI-HA questionnaires also revealed higher satisfaction with hearing aid after auditory training. In conclusion, 8-week auditory training is likely to be beneficial to hearing aid users to understand communication in difficult condition, which may lead to improve subjective satisfaction with hearing aid.

Study on the Reliability and the Validity for the Sentence-in-Noise Scores at the Fixed Signal-to-Noise Ratios

현대인들은 다양한 소음 속에서 일상생활을 하고 있으며 난 청인은 물론 정상 청력을 가진 청자 또한 소음 속에서 어음을 인지할 때 어려움을 갖는다. 난청인의 어음인지 능력을 측정하 기 위해 임상에서는 대부분 조용한 상황에서 일음절 단어를 제시하고 인지도를 측정하고 있다. 이를 통해 청자의 단어인지 능력을 객관적으로 분석하고 단어 내 음소 오류를 파악하는 데 유리한 장점이 있다. 그러나 단어만을 제시하고 인지도를 측정 할 경우 청자의 일상생활 속 의사소통 능력을 예측하기에는 한 계가 있다. 이러한 한계점을 극복하기 위해 고정된 신호대잡음 비(signal-to-noise ratio, SNR)에서 혹은 SNR을 조절해 가며 소음 하 문장인지도를 측정할 수 있다.

Development of a Story Based Auditory Training Tool and Evaluation of the Training Efficacy for Adult Hearing Impaired Listeners

세계보건기구(World Health Organization)에서는 난청을 전 세계에서 13번째로 흔한 주요 장애로 추정하고 있다. 또한, 후 천성 난청은 당뇨와 후천성 면역결핍증후군의 발병수를 넘어, 2030년에는 7번째의 주요장애가 될 것이라고 예측하였다 (Mathers et al., 2008). 우리나라 국민건강보험공단의 ‘전음성 및 감각신경성 난청’의 건강보험 진료비 지급자료를 분석한 결 과에 따르면, 난청으로 인한 진료인원이 2008년 22만 2,000명 에서 2013년 28만 2,000명으로 연평균 4.8%씩 증가했으며, 전 체 연령대에서 60대 이상이 44.5%로 가장 많은 비중을 차지했 고, 50대 7.1%, 40대 11.5% 순으로 난청으로 인하여 병원을 찾 는 인구가 노년에만 머무르지 않는 것으로 나타났다(National Health Insurance Corporation, 2014). 보청기가 난청을 중재하는 가장 보편적인 방법임에도 불구하 고 의사소통의 능력이 기대만큼 증대하지 않거나 불편하다는 Development of a Story Based Auditory Training Tool and Evaluation of the Training Efficacy for Adult Hearing Impaired Listeners

Test-Retest Reliability of Sentence Recognition Score UsingKorean Standard Sentence Lists for Adults (KS-SL-A)

불쾌레벨(uncomfortable level, UCL)은 일반적으로 음이 불편할 정도로 크게 들리기 시작하는 레벨을 말한다. 이는 크게 두가지 목적으로 측정하는데 하나는 특히 비선 형증폭기의 압축비율(compression ratio, CR), 최대출력 (OSPL 90)을 효과적으로 결정하기 위하여 사용할 수 있 다(신은영 외, 2008). 다른 하나는 누가현상(recruitment) 에 근거하여 난청의 유형을 파악하는 진단 목적으로 사용 할 수 있다. 효과적인 보청기의 적합 및 평가와 비정상적 인 음량증가지각을 갖는 사람들과의 비교를 위하여 먼저 건청인을 대상으로 시행한 정상적인 음량증가지각의 측정 이 필요하다.

Weighting of Static and Transition Cues in Voiceless Fricatives and Stops in Children Wearing Cochlear Implants

Objectives To determine how normal-hearing adults (NHA), normal-hearing children (NHC) and children wearing cochlear implants (CI) differ in the perceptual weight given cues for fricative consonants (having a comparatively long static cue and short transition cue) versus stop consonants (having a comparatively short static cue and long transition cue). Methods Ten NHA, eleven 5- to 8-year-old NHC and eight 5- to 8-year-old children wearing CI were participated. Fricative /su/-/∫u/ and stop /pu/-/tu/continua were constructed by varying the fricative/burst cue and the F2 onset transition cue. A quantitative method of analysis (analysis of variance model) was used to determine cue weighting and measure cue interaction within groups. Results For the fricative consonant, all groups gave more weight to the frication spectral cue than to the formant transition. For the voiceless stop consonant, all groups gave more weight to the transition cue than to the burst cue. The CI group showed similar cue weighting strategies to age-matched NHC, but integration of cues by the CI group was not significant. Conclusion All groups favored the longer-duration cue in both continua to make phonemic judgments. Additionally, developmental patterns across groups were evident. Results of the current study may be used to guide development of CI devices and in efforts to improve speech and language of children wearing CIs.

The Relationship of Tinnitus Handicap and Health StatusMeasured by SF-36 in Discharged Soldiers

This study was performed to examine the relationship between tinnitus handicap and health status measured by SF-36 (Medical Outcome Study Short Form 36) in discharged soldiers. The study was conducted by a survey on 283 males who suffered from tinnitus occurred by noise exposure during military service. Survey questionnaires emphasized the impact on the sociodemograhic characteristics, disease history, health effects to the tinnitus characteristics. The results showed that the relationship between tinnitus handicap inventory scores and SF-36 scores were negative correlation, meaning the greater tinnitus inventory scores, the worse quality of life related to health status. Also, the group with low scores of SF-36 showed more significantly high degree of tinnitus handicap than the group with high scores of SF-36. Taken together, results of this study indicated that tinnitus and health status are associate to the specific. The relationship between noise exposure and tinnitus could not be defined in this study. However, it is suggested that the hearing conservation program in the miliary is need to prevent tinnitus.

The Effects of Auditory Short-Term Training in Passive Oddball Paradigm with Novel Stimuli

Background and Objectives The purpose of this study was to determine how human neural activity might be changed through auditory short-term training when listening to novel stimuli. Subjects and Methods Among the twenty young normal hearing adult listeners who participated, ten were randomly assigned to a training group and ten were assigned to a non-training group as a control. Two synthesized novel stimuli were used: /su/ and /∫u/. Both stimuli similarly sounded like /su/, but had two different onset transition frequencies and fricative pole frequencies. In the experiment, behavioral identification test (i.e., /su/ vs. /∫u/) and the mismatch negativity (MMN) were measured before and after training for the training group. To gauge the training effect, the listeners in the training group were taught by discrimination and identification of two novel stimuli for about 20 minutes. Results The results showed that scores for the behavioral test increased significantly after auditory short-term training. Also, onset latency, duration, and area of the MMN were significantly changed when elicited by the training stimuli. Conclusions These findings indicated that auditory short-term training could change human neural activity, suggesting future clinical applications for auditory training.