• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.139-147
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• 2010

Purpose: This study was to find out knowledge, fear, and efficacy of fall in the community dwelling elderly and to investigate how the factors were connected to one another. Methods: Data were collected from June to August, 2009 from 101 aged people who aged 65 or older and agreed to participate in this study sampled among elders at 8 halls of the aged in local communities. The subjects were interviewed by a co-researcher and 3 trained assistants in a way of responding to the questionnaire after being read. The data were analyzed through t-test, ANOVA, Turkey's test and Pearson correlation coefficients. Results: Knowledge of fall was affected significantly by whether the living cost was provided or not, fear of fall was affected by sex, level of education, hearing impairment and regular exercise, and efficacy of fall was affected by age, sex, marital status, level of education, hearing impairment, vertigo and regular exercise. The results also showed a negative correlation between fear of fall and efficacy of fall. Conclusion: According to this study, regular exercise can build up knowledge and efficacy of fall and diminish fear of fall. Thus it is highly recommended to include regular exercise in an effective fall-prevention program.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.173-181
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• 2011

Koo-ni Firing Range in Maehyang-ri consisted of a firing range around 'Nong-sum' and a land-based firing range in the nearby coastal area. From 1951, when the US Air Force began field firing, residents of Maehyang-ri suffered damage to health, environment, life and property due to 54 years of field firing and noise. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the environmental damage, property loss, and health impairment by reviewing literature and related lawsuits. Environmental damage, the destruction of coastal fisheries and wetlands, would be a result of heavy metal contamination of soil. Fishing restrictions and the confiscation of farmlands caused financial hardship. Errant bombings led to the loss of life and property, including buildings and livestock. As a result, residents repeatedly sued the Republic of Korea for damages. The court decided partially in favor of the plaintiffs. Finally, Koo-ni firing range was closed down in 2005. Through the literature review, it is presumed that the noise caused hearing problems, hypertension, and mental illness. Since earlier studies were confined to a small fragment of the damage, additional studies focused on chronic health hazards are needed.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.113-116
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• 1997

Sensorineural hearing loss(SNHL) is defined as a sudden hearing impairment which was develope over a period of hours to days. The definitive cause of SNHL is unknown in most cases. Disturbance of the blood flow of the inner ear is a main causal hypotheses. Most symptomatic treatment is focusing to improving the blood flow of the inner ear. At our hospital, most patients are recommended to bed rest, vasodilators(nicotinic acid, antihistamines) and stellate ganglion block(SGB) for two weeks. We experienced two cases of recurrence immediately after recovery from SNHL. They discontinued SGB after initial recovery. due to associated pain with operation and or psychologic stress. One patient resumed SGB and medication treatment, but the second who gave up treatment was not recovered. Therefore, we recommend to continuance of treatment of stellate ganglion blocks to improve recovery rate of SNHL and avoid further trauma and psychologic stress during the recovery period of SNHL.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.66 no.2
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• pp.61-75
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to develop interactive smart clothing based on visual and tactile sensitivities to promote non-verbal communication between people with hearing impairments. The study analyzed various cases of interactive smart clothing, different non-verbal communication tools, as well as results of user demand survey to extract essential factors. Then these factors were categorized into technology or design concept. The technological aspect of the development considered the following factors: the usability, detachability, purposiveness, and economic feasibility. The design aspect considered the following factors: the usability, detachability, formativeness and wearability. A prototype was designed considering the user's requirements. The developed prototype had sensors, Bluetooth technology, and gave access to wireless communication in order to enable non-verbal communication between people with hearing impairments.

• Healthcare Informatics Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.263-275
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• 2018

Objectives: Automated audiometry provides an opportunity to do audiometry when there is no direct access to a clinical audiologist. This approach will help to use hearing services and resources efficiently. The purpose of this study was to review studies related to automated audiometry by focusing on the implementation of an audiometer, the use of transducers and evaluation methods. Methods: This review study was conducted in 2017. The papers related to the design and implementation of automated audiometry were searched in the following databases: Science Direct, Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus. The time frame for the papers was between January 1, 2010 and August 31, 2017. Initially, 143 papers were found, and after screening, the number of papers was reduced to 16. Results: The findings showed that the implementation methods were categorized into the use of software (7 papers), hardware (3 papers) and smartphones/tablets (6 papers). The used transducers were a variety of earphones and bone vibrators. Different evaluation methods were used to evaluate the accuracy and the reliability of the diagnoses. However, in most studies, no significant difference was found between automated and traditional audiometry. Conclusions: It seems that automated audiometry produces the same results compared with traditional audiometry. However, the main advantages of this method; namely, saving costs and increased accessibility to hearing services, can lead to a faster diagnosis of hearing impairment, especially in poor areas.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.1355-1362
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• 2021

Recently, not only congenital hearing impairment, but also the number of people with hearing impairment due to acquired factors is increasing. The environment in which sign language can be learned is poor. Therefore, this study intends to present a sign language (sign language number/sign language text) evaluation system as a sign language learning assistance tool for sign language learners. Therefore, in this paper, sign language is captured as an image using OpenCV and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). In addition, we study a system that recognizes sign language behavior using MediaPipe, converts the meaning of sign language into text-type data, and provides it to users. Through this, self-directed learning is possible so that learners who learn sign language can judge whether they are correct dez. Therefore, we develop a sign language learning assistance system that helps us learn sign language. The purpose is to propose a sign language learning assistance system as a way to support sign language learning, the main language of communication for the hearing impaired.

• 한국노년학
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.389-404
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• 2019

The present study aims to examine the relationship between self-reported sensory impairment and cognitive function among older adults in Korea. Drawn from the 2017 Survey of Living Conditions and Welfare Needs Korean Older Persons, a total of 10,082 adults aged 65 and over were included in analyses. Results from hierarchial multiple regression analysis show that those who reported greater subjective discomfort about vision, hearing, and oral function were more likely to have poor cognitive function. Results from hierarchial logistic regression analysis show. Results from logistic regression analysis show that having hearing and oral discomfort increased the a risk for dementia. Findings suggest that it is necessary to manage sensory function of the elderly at the government level and to develop self-evaluation tools to monitor changes in sensory function for older adults. Future research should target finding effective ways to improve health of older adults.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.353-357
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• 2005

Declining auditory performance with advanced age is a well known and common problem that is becoming more Prevalent due to the increasing number of elderly people in our society. We introduce a novel ARCISM (Audiogram Result Computer Input. Save & Management software) data management program which enables the assessment of the risk of past history of hearing impairment on the basis of known risk factors. This study investigates the reference levels of pure tone hearing threshold of normal aging in Korean and the difference between fenders. The subjects were carefully selected by questionnaire and absence of any history of otologic infection, noise exposure. and ototoxic drug among 1603 subjects. who visited Health Promotion Center in Daegu Fatima Hospital for one year. The results show (1) hearing sensitivity declines with age. (2) higher frequency shows steeper slope of hearing declines than lower frequency. and (3) there were more hearing loss at 4 and 8 kHz in men than in women. Due to the ARCISM program. it was possible to manage huge data of hearing results and to obtain the reference level of a9e-related hearing declines. Furthermore, we expect that the results of this study can be the fundamental data for hearing rehabilitation for the elderly and for developing suitable hearing aids for Korean.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.41-55
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• 1999

In order to evaluate the effects of knowledge, attitude and practice on noise-induced hearing loss or hearing threshold level, questionnaire survey was performed and hearing thresholds of 1 kHz and 4 kHz were measured on 1,040 subjects with workers exposed to noise, safety and health officers. industrial hygienists, analysts rind office workers. The results were as follows ; 1. The following 6 factors were obtained by factor analysis and factor rotation of 30 questionnaire of knowledge, attitude and practice about noise; knowledge of noise (F1), concern of hearing protective devices (F2), concern of noise induced hearing loss (F3), concern of noise level and hearing impairment (F4), concern of noise in workplace (F5) and recognition of noised-induced hearing loss (F6). 56.1% of variance was explained by 6 factors. 2. Significant variables influencing knowledge, attitude and practice about noise were education level and age in F1, personal protective devices (PPE) and education level in F2, age and education level in F3, education level, age and sex in F4, PPE, education level, age and work duration in F5, and work duration and PPE in F6. 3. Hearing thresholds of 4 kHz were significantly higher in workers exposed to noise than that of in the other subjects and tended to be higher in industrial hygienists, safety and health officers and analysts than that of the office workers. 4. Significant variables influencing hearing thresholds of 1 kHz were age, education level, F5 and F6 in workers exposed to noise, and F1 in industrial hygienists. 5. Significant variables influencing hearing thresholds of 4 kHz were age, F6, sex, work duration, F1, F5, F2 and F3 in workers exposed to noise, F1 and age in safety and health officers, and F6, sex and F4 in industrial hygienists. With the above results, it suggested that workers exposed to noise be needed the education of knowledge, attitude and practice about noise in hearing conservation program for the prevention of noise induced hearing loss. Also, it suggested that health managers in workplace be needed countermeasures to prevent hearing loss although they are intermittently exposed to noise.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.507-512
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• 2006

Purpose : Early detection and intervention of hearing impairment is believed to improve speech and language development and behavior of children. The aim of this preliminary study was to determine the prevalence of hearing impairments, and to identify the association of risk factors relating to refer response in high risk neonates who were screened using distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE). Methods : The subjects included 871 neonates who were admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit of the Pediatric Department in Soonchunhyang University Bucheon Hospital from May, 2001 to December, 2004. They were screened using DPOAE. Based on DPOAE, we divided the neonates in two groups : 'Pass' and 'Refer'. The differences in risk factors between the pass group and the refer group were analyzed. Results : The incidence of the refer group was 12.1 percent(106 out of 871). The bilateral refer rate was 5.4 percent(47 out of 871). And the unilateral refer rate was 6.7 percent(59 out of 871). Gender, birth place, family history of hearing loss, small/large for gestational age, obstetrical factor, hyperbilirubinemia and use of gentamicin were not statistically related to the refer rate. Statistically related to refer rate were birth weight, resuscitated neonates, Apgar score, craniofacial anomaly, mechanical ventilator application, sepsis, using of vancomycin(P<0.05). The prevalence of hearing impairment (${\geq}60dB$) in this study was 2 percent(18 out of 871). Conclusion : This study showed a higher prevalence of hearing impairment in high-risk neonates. Thus neonatal hearing screening should be carried out in high-risk neonates.