• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1997 no.11
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• pp.67-70
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• 1997

In this paper, we evaluated the character of speech of hearing impaired person (HIP) who acquire his hearing loss after the youth. It is usually observed that severe HIP decreased not only speech perception but also vocalization. so there is a need for sensitive and quantitative measures or the assesment of the speech of the HIP to serve both diagnostic and prognosic purposes, 7 HIP and 12 normal hearing person(NHP) were studied with pure tone test and speaking test using word/sentence table which consists of vowel(a:), mono and two syllables and a sentence. we analyzed formant frequency, pitch, sound intensity, speech duration of HIP and NHP speech. According to the results, in the HIP's speech we find that formant frequency was shifted, first-formant prominence was reduced, the dynamic range of sound intensity was decreased, speech duration was prolonged. In the next, we expect the correlation between hearing and speech character of HIP is cleared through analysis of more acoustic parameters and precise selection of HIP group.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.152-161
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• 2024

Although hearing loss in the elderly is one of the common symptoms of aging, as the aging population continues to grow, policies such as home care and welfare housing for the elderly are implemented with a focus on mobility, often overlooking the issue of hearing loss in the elderly. In this study, our aim is to enhance the quality of life for the elderly by improving the auditory environment within residential spaces, which plays a pivotal role in determining their overall well-being. We have proposed a technique that focuses on reducing reverberation, minimizing noise levels, and enhancing sound quality to improve the listening environment for the elderly, and we have verified its effectiveness. Building upon this, we have developed an acoustic design model for residential facilities catering to elderly home care.

• 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 Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.30 no.2 s.57
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• pp.356-368
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• 1997

In effort to determine whether aircraft noise can have health effects such as hearing loss, hypertension and psychological stress, a total of 111 male professors and administrative officers working a college near a military airport in Korea(exposed group) and a total of 168 males and 112 females matched by age groups(control groups) were analyzed. Personal noise exposure and indoor and outdoor sound level of jet aircraft noise were measured at the exposed are3. And pure tone, air conduction test and measurement of blood pressure were given to the exposed(males) and matched control groups (males and females). BEPSI(Brief Encounter Psychological Instrument) and psychological response to aircraft noise were examined for the exposed group. The noise dosimetry results revealed time-weighted averages(TWAs) that ranged from 61 to 68 dBA. However the levels encountered during taking off jet airplanes reached 126 dBA for two half minutes time period. Th, audiometric, test showed that mean values of HTL(hearing threshold level) in exposed group at every frequency(500, 1,000, 2,000, 4,000, and 8,000 Hz were much lower than them of male and female control groups. And in old age groups, interaction of age and noise was observed at 8,000 Hz in both ears(p<0.05). Conclusively, aircraft noise does not appear to induce hearing loss directly in high frequency, but may decreased hearing threshold level by interaction of aging process and noise exposure. However, difference of mean values of exposed and control groups on blood pressure was not significantly. In psychological test, annoyance was the most severe psychological response to noise in exposed group, but mean value of BEPSI was not correlated with job duration in exposed group.

• 한국노년학
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.973-992
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• 2010

The hearing impairment is the representative disorder that affects the quality of the routine life of the aged period. This study was aimed to develop the Korean evaluation scale for hearing handicap(KESHH) with which we can evaluate social and psychological effects of the hearing impairment. Applying this scale clinically, we can analyze the geriatric hearing loss specifically and improve the quality of the aural rehabilitation that can help the hardness of the hearing impairment. Data were collected from 288 participants(176 hearing aid users and 112 non-hearing aid users) and the average age of the participants was 67.4 years old ( 60.15 for the hearing aids users and 78.9 for the non hearing users). The composition ratio of the male and female participants were 58.0% and 42.0% and extrovert and introvert personality were 49.3% and 50.7% showing balanced formation. The tentative draft of KESHH measurements were produced with 30 items and following 5 subscales. Using factor analysis, 6 items were erased and 4 subscales - social effect, psycho/emotional effect, interpersonal effect, and perception of hearing aids - were identified. As each subscale consisted of 6 items, 24 items were corrected and remained totally. Conclusively, the KESHH was developed with 24 items and 4 subscales including 6 items on each subscale. In addition, the KESHH was divided into type-1 and 2 depending on hearing aid users and non hearing aid users. The results of this study can be summarized as the following 5 parts. Firstly, the reliabilities of the KESHH were proved to be high because the subscales' Cronbach alpha values were from 0.723 through 0.895. Secondly, the KESHH showed systematically increasing score as the hearing impairment increased. The lowest score was 24 and the highest score was 117 and the average scores of the hearing impaired and non-hearing impaired are 72.06(SD=15.67) and 66.98(SD=20.94) showing 5.08 increased score for the hearing impaired. Depending on the degree of the hearing loss, the scores recorded 52.63 at the below of the mild hearing loss, 67.29 for the moderate hearing loss, 71.89 for the moderately severe hearing loss, and 75.57 for the severe hearing loss The comparison of the scores by hearing levels indicated that the higher the hearing levels were, the higher the scores of the KESHH with statistical significance(p<0.001). Thirdly, the correlation among 4 subscales was 0.384~0.880(p<0.001). Also, the pure tone average, personality, and the four subscales correlations showed statistical significance with 0.148~0.880 except for the pure tone average and personality and the pure tone average and perception of hearing aids. Fourthly, the total variances explained for the independent subscles were analyzed with multiple regression. The social effect was explained 17.4% with pure tone average, personality, and the status of hearing aid use variances. The psycho/emotional effect was explained 14.4% with puretone average, personality, and age variances. The interpersonal effect was explained 11.2% with pure tone average, personality, and the status of hearing aid use variances. The perception of hearing aids effect was explained 2.2% with only personality. Finally, test-retest reliability was proved to be high with 0.791(p<0.001). Conclusively, the KESHH that was developed considering Korean culture can be a useful instrument for expressing the hearing handicaps of the Korean aged hearing impaired in scores for both hearing aid users and non-users. Also, it is thought that the KESHH is useful clinically for identifying the changes of the hearing handicap scores before and after wearing hearing aids and aural rehabilitation at diverse situations.