• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.141-147
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• 2018

Purpose : Aim of the this study was conducted to determine whether hearing aids are responsible for the quality of life by comparing quality of life between the elderly who are suspected of difficulty in hearing selected by Hearing Handicap Inventory of Elderly (HHIE) without using hearing aids and who are using hearing aids. Methods : For the study, two groups of 33 people were analyzed for independent t-test based on whether they wore Hearing Aids (HA) or not whom wearing hearing aids (hearing aids users) and suspected difficulty in hearing. who are attending the Religious organization Senior Welfare Center in the OO region. Result : The quality of life of hearing aid users is generally observed to be higher than that of non-users in general, and by the section, psychological (p=0.019) and living environment (p=0.032) were appeared statistically signigicant. The elderly showed a significant difference. In the section, "Operation Satisfaction (p=0.038)" in the physical health area, "relationship of reason (p=0.018)" in the social relationship area, "Economic margin (p=0.021)" in the environmental area, "Information accessibility (p=0.020)", In the psychological area, hearing aid was used for "self satisfaction (p=0.033)", "concentration of work (p=0.045)". Conclusion : The use of hearing aids by hearing loss elderly improves the quality of life in the psychological health and living environment section.

• Journal of Audiology & Otology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.189-198
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• 2021

Background and Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the occupational performance of Korean workers with and without hearing loss and analyze the hearing-related difficulties in the working environment. Subjects and Methods: The Amsterdam checklist for hearing and work was used for the analyses and the occupational environments of the Korean workers were investigated. Out of 129 total participants, 86 workers experienced severe to profound hearing loss and 43 had the normal hearing ability. The hearing-impaired workers were recruited from two leading vocational centers and normal-hearing workers were their colleagues. Results: The hearing-impaired workers were found to take fewer sick leaves and exhibited higher rates of permanent job statuses compared to the normal-hearing workers. Workers with hearing loss rarely detected background sound; however, they could perceive reverberation more frequently. They felt more satisfied with their careers than the normal hearing workers as they received social support and needed to put their effort into hearing for most hearing activities. Furthermore, the effort in hearing increased with the increase in job demand, job control, social support, and career satisfaction. The working hours per week increased with the increase in age, education level, job demand, job control, and social support. Different trends were observed in 9 out of 12 variables while comparing the data from the present study with that obtained from the hearing-impaired workers of the Netherlands, indicating a large difference between countries. Conclusions: Although the hearing-impaired Korean workers operate diligently with good job positions, it is necessary to enhance their acoustic environment and provide them social support. Considering the cultural background of the hearing-impaired workers, the development of suitable vocational rehabilitation programs and specific questionnaires is strongly recommended worldwide.

• Korean Journal of Audiology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.189-199
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• 2021

Background and Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the occupational performance of Korean workers with and without hearing loss and analyze the hearing-related difficulties in the working environment. Subjects and Methods: The Amsterdam checklist for hearing and work was used for the analyses and the occupational environments of the Korean workers were investigated. Out of 129 total participants, 86 workers experienced severe to profound hearing loss and 43 had the normal hearing ability. The hearing-impaired workers were recruited from two leading vocational centers and normal-hearing workers were their colleagues. Results: The hearing-impaired workers were found to take fewer sick leaves and exhibited higher rates of permanent job statuses compared to the normal-hearing workers. Workers with hearing loss rarely detected background sound; however, they could perceive reverberation more frequently. They felt more satisfied with their careers than the normal hearing workers as they received social support and needed to put their effort into hearing for most hearing activities. Furthermore, the effort in hearing increased with the increase in job demand, job control, social support, and career satisfaction. The working hours per week increased with the increase in age, education level, job demand, job control, and social support. Different trends were observed in 9 out of 12 variables while comparing the data from the present study with that obtained from the hearing-impaired workers of the Netherlands, indicating a large difference between countries. Conclusions: Although the hearing-impaired Korean workers operate diligently with good job positions, it is necessary to enhance their acoustic environment and provide them social support. Considering the cultural background of the hearing-impaired workers, the development of suitable vocational rehabilitation programs and specific questionnaires is strongly recommended worldwide.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.179-186
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• 2012

The aims of this study are to consider auditory physiological characteristics and to confirm audiological evaluation and interpretation in regards to cases of sensorineural hearing loss that observe an abnormal AB gap. Vestibulosaccular hearing occurs when there is an abnormally large air-bone gap (AB gap) in sensorineural hearing loss, also known as pure cochlear conductive hearing loss. Generally, an AB gap is caused by damage to the external and/or middle ear. In conductive hearing loss, loss of air condition hearing occurs due to a loss of resonance in the outer ear and/or impedance mismatching in the middle ear. Most of these types of hearing loss can be treated medically and surgically. However, there is no medical treatment for an AB gap in sensorineural hearing loss and hearing loss can worsen gradually or suddenly. In addition, many studies have reported that head trauma makes hearing loss even more serious. Therefore, in order to differentiate between conductive hearing losses, it is important to check whether or not there is an enlarged vestibular aqueduct by means of temporal bone computerized tomography and/or magnetic resonance imaging.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.197-202
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• 2005

The cochlear implantation(CI) as an useful tool for aural rehabilitation in bilateral severe to profound hearing impairment. However, CI prefer to usually one ear in spite of bilateral hearing impaired. because of the various characteristics of hearing loss, the hearing conservation for the future possibility, and socioeconomic condition of hearing impaired person and their families. The unilateral CI has limitations such as a directional loss, a difficult speech understanding in noise and a neural plasticity. These limitations will be overcome by hearing aid(HA) which is familiar with hearing impairer. but HA fitting for bimodal-binaural hearing are difficult because the difference output characteristic of HA and CI. This study will be confirm realities of use of HA in unilateral cochlear implantee. For this goal, 25(m:f=10:15) child participated who are used to HA for 1 to 17 months. We had telephone interviews with their mother about use of HA, change of auditory performance and own voice. As the results, hearing threshold levels of unimplanted ear, the use of a appropriate HA, implanted and aided hearing threshold level(HTL) are must be considered for successful biomodal-binaural hearing. Especially, implanted and aided HTL should be very useful parameter for a prediction of HA effect and a criterion of selection for bilateral cochlear implantation.

• Journal of Audiology & Otology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.174-179
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• 2020

Background and Objectives: The integration of auditory-visual speech information improves speech perception; however, if the auditory system input is disrupted due to hearing loss, auditory and visual inputs cannot be fully integrated. Additionally, temporal coincidence of auditory and visual input is a significantly important factor in integrating the input of these two senses. Time delayed acoustic pathway caused by the signal passing through digital signal processing. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of hearing loss and hearing aid digital delay circuit on sound-induced flash illusion. Subjects and Methods: A total of 13 adults with normal hearing, 13 with mild to moderate hearing loss, and 13 with moderate to severe hearing loss were enrolled in this study. Subsequently, the sound-induced flash illusion test was conducted, and the results were analyzed. Results: The results showed that hearing aid digital delay and hearing loss had no detrimental effect on sound-induced flash illusion. Conclusions: Transmission velocity and neural transduction rate of the auditory inputs decreased in patients with hearing loss. Hence, the integrating auditory and visual sensory cannot be combined completely. Although the transmission rate of the auditory sense input was approximately normal when the hearing aid was prescribed. Thus, it can be concluded that the processing delay in the hearing aid circuit is insufficient to disrupt the integration of auditory and visual information.

• Journal of Audiology & Otology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.40-47
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• 2020

Because the psychophysical symptoms of hearing loss and dementia in the elderly are very similar, untrained healthcare professionals in dementia facilities can easily overlook a severity of hearing loss in their patients. The present study identifies their knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) on hearing loss using a survey whether they may help hearing problem of the patients with dementia. A total of 29 health-care professionals responded to the KAP survey. Also, 2 family members participated. The results showed that most of the nurses and caregivers in elderly medical welfare facilities who worked with dementia patients did not have knowledge of their hearing loss. Even the facility managers did not know how to conduct hearing tests for their patients although they did recognize that some of their patients had a hearing loss. Eventually, actual practice was not possible at this moment by the professionals. However, our respondents did have a positive attitude toward screening for hearing loss and help their patients with dementia wear hearing aids if a clinical guideline was provided. We suggest to develop clear and precise clinical guidelines of the hearing screening test for the dementia patients due to the interrelationship between dementia and hearing loss. When these guidelines apply to elderly residents in a medical welfare facility, early diagnosis and treatment of their sensory loss will help alleviate their dementia as well.

• Korean Journal of Audiology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.40-47
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• 2020

Because the psychophysical symptoms of hearing loss and dementia in the elderly are very similar, untrained healthcare professionals in dementia facilities can easily overlook a severity of hearing loss in their patients. The present study identifies their knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) on hearing loss using a survey whether they may help hearing problem of the patients with dementia. A total of 29 health-care professionals responded to the KAP survey. Also, 2 family members participated. The results showed that most of the nurses and caregivers in elderly medical welfare facilities who worked with dementia patients did not have knowledge of their hearing loss. Even the facility managers did not know how to conduct hearing tests for their patients although they did recognize that some of their patients had a hearing loss. Eventually, actual practice was not possible at this moment by the professionals. However, our respondents did have a positive attitude toward screening for hearing loss and help their patients with dementia wear hearing aids if a clinical guideline was provided. We suggest to develop clear and precise clinical guidelines of the hearing screening test for the dementia patients due to the interrelationship between dementia and hearing loss. When these guidelines apply to elderly residents in a medical welfare facility, early diagnosis and treatment of their sensory loss will help alleviate their dementia as well.

• Clinical and Experimental Otorhinolaryngology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.250-258
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• 2018

Objectives. To compare narrative skills between fourth and fifth grades of Persian-speaking students with hearing impairments and typical hearing students of the same grade and also to evaluate the effects of group, sex, hearing age, and educational grade of the students on their spoken/written narrative performance. Methods. The subjects were 174 students aged 10-13 years, 54 of whom wore cochlear implants, 60 suffered from moderate to severe hearing losses and wore hearing aids, with the remaining 60 students being typical hearing in terms of the sense of hearing. The micro- and macrostructure components of spoken and written narrative were elicited from a pictorial story (The Playful Little Elephant) and then scored by raters. Results. Compared to the typical hearing, the students with hearing impairments had significantly lower scores in all of the microstructure components of narratives. However, the findings showed no significant difference among different groups in macrostructure components of narratives. It was also revealed that the students had equal performance in spoken and written narrative. Finally, factor analysis manifested that group, sex, hearing age, and educational level of children might alter the outcome measures in various interactions. Conclusion. Although cochlear implantation was more effective than hearing aid on spoken and written narrative skills, the Persian-speaking students with hearing impairments were seen to need additional trainings on microstructure components of spoken/written narrative.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.704-713
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• 2009

As using recruitment phenomenon, SISI test and Bekesy audiometry are employed to differentially diagnose both the cochlear hearing loss and the retrocochlear hearing loss. The main purpose of this study is to find out the sensitivity and specificity of the SISI test within the scope of 1 KHz to 4 KHz in diagnosing various types of hearing losses. In this study, the Bekesy audiometry was conducted for Bekesy audiograms of certain groups according to Jerger's classification, which included persons with normal hearing and patients with hearing impairment. Subject persons of the SISI test were categorized into the several groups with normal hearing, mild hearing loss, moderate hearing loss, moderate-severe hearing loss and severe hearing loss, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of certain groups were evaluated according to the SISI scores of 20 % below, 25 ${\sim}$ 65 %, and more than 70%. Also, the Bekesy audiometry is conducted on the several subject groups with normal hearing, mixed hearing loss, and sensori-neural hearing loss.