DESIGN: Qualitative content analysis on all textbooks used in Malaysian public schools in the year 2019 were conducted to identify the content and structure of information delivery through 11 years of formal education. Information related to hearing health was extracted and categorised according to the themes that emerged. Further analysis was done to characterise the usefulness of the information in promoting active hearing care based on the type of information delivered.
STUDY SAMPLE: A total of 148 elementary and secondary school textbooks were reviewed.
RESULTS: Fourteen textbooks (4 elementary and 10 secondary levels) were found to have relevant hearing health information covering topics of sound, ear and hearing, noise and hearing loss. The contents were mostly theoretical and lacked information about noise-induced hearing loss and proper hearing care.
CONCLUSION: Minimal hearing health information was present in the Malaysian school curriculum. The content was inadequate for teaching students about hearing loss prevention. Areas of improvement and research are recommended to improve school-based hearing health education in Malaysia.
Method: Fifteen hearing mothers of children with severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss were interviewed. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, and a grounded theory approach was used to inductively analyze parental stress in mothers of D/HH children. Theory generation was achieved through triangulation of data sources and systematic organization of data into codes. The coding process identified salient themes that were constantly cross-checked and compared across data to further develop categories, properties, and tentative hypotheses.
Results: In general, two main themes emerged from the interviews: the contextual stressors and stress-reducing resources. The contextual stressors were labeled as distress over audiology-related needs, pressure to acquire new knowledge and skills, apprehension about the child's future, and demoralizing negative social attitudes. The stress-reducing resources that moderated parenting stress were identified to be the child's progress, mother's characteristics, professional support, and social support. The interaction between the identified stressors and adjustment process uncovered a central theme termed maternal coherence.
Conclusion: The substantive theory suggests that mothers of D/HH children can effectively manage parenting stress and increase well-being by capitalizing on relevant stress-reducing resources to achieve maternal coherence.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the relative contributions of auditory functioning and cognition status to speech recognition in quiet and in noise.
METHODS: We measured speech recognition in quiet and in composite noise using the Malay Hearing in noise test on 72 native Malay speakers (60-82 years) older adults with normal to mild hearing loss. Auditory function included pure tone audiogram, gaps-in-noise, and dichotic digit tests. Cognitive function was assessed using the Malay Montreal cognitive assessment.
RESULTS: Linear regression analyses using backward elimination technique revealed that had the better ear four frequency average (0.5-4kHz) (4FA), high frequency average and Malay Montreal cognitive assessment attributed to speech perception in quiet (total r2=0.499). On the other hand, high frequency average, Malay Montreal cognitive assessment and dichotic digit tests contributed significantly to speech recognition in noise (total r2=0.307). Whereas the better ear high frequency average primarily measured the speech recognition in quiet, the speech recognition in noise was mainly measured by cognitive function.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the fact that besides hearing sensitivity, cognition plays an important role in speech recognition ability among older adults, especially in noisy environments. Therefore, in addition to hearing aids, rehabilitation, which trains cognition, may have a role in improving speech recognition in noise ability of older adults.
METHODS: A double-blind quasi-experiment was carried out on NC (n = 43) and NCI (n = 33) groups. Participants in each group were randomly assigned into treatment and control programs groups. The treatment group underwent auditory-cognitive training, whereas the control group was assigned to watch documentary videos, three times per week, for 8 consecutive weeks. Study outcomes that included Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Malay Hearing in Noise Test, Dichotic Digit Test, Gaps in Noise Test and Pitch Pattern Sequence Test were measured at 4-week intervals at baseline, and weeks 4, 8 and 12.
RESULTS: Mixed design anova showed significant training effects in total Montreal Cognitive Assessment and Dichotic Digit Test in both groups, NC (P
Subjects and METHODS: Thirty-five healthy Malaysian children aged 4 to 12 years participated in this repeated-measures study. The CAEP waveforms were recorded from each child using a 1 kHz tone burst and the speech syllable /ba/. Latencies and amplitudes of P1, N1, and P2 peaks were analyzed accordingly.
RESULTS: Significant negative correlations were found between age and speech-evoked CAEP latency for each peak (p< 0.05). However, no significant correlations were found between age and tone-evoked CAEP amplitudes and latencies (p>0.05). The speech syllable /ba/ produced a higher mean P1 amplitude than the 1 kHz tone burst (p=0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: The CAEP latencies recorded with the speech syllable became shorter with age. While both tone-burst and speech stimuli were appropriate for recording the CAEP, significantly bigger amplitudes were found in speech-evoked CAEP. The preliminary normative CAEP data provided in the present study may be beneficial for clinical and research applications in Malaysian children.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Six sounds (broadband noise, rain, ocean, waterfall, Quranic chapters Al-Fatihah, and Yasin recitations) were calibrated at the intensity levels of 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, and 80dBA. The sounds were delivered through a pair of Sennheiser HD 280 Pro headphones connected to the Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro sound card. The long-term average of the sound pressure level over the time of recording (LAseq) was recorded using the 3M SoundPro Class 1 1/3 Octave RTA sound level meter (SLM). The desired intensity levels were obtained by making adjustments to the sound files via the Audacity® software.
RESULTS: All sound files were calibrated at the targeted levels as verified by the value of LAseq.
CONCLUSIONS: Calibration of audio files can be done using a free/open-source software, as all six sound files were successfully calibrated at the targeted levels of 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, and 80dBA. The calibration steps provided in this paper can be easily applied by other researchers for similar purposes, with precautions when calibrating at low levels.
METHODS: This study involved 307 adults aged 60 years and older. Participants had their hearing and cognition measured using pure tone audiometry and Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), respectively.
RESULTS: Pure tone average (low) accounted for significant but minimal amount of variance in measure of MMSE. Multiple regression analyses were also performed on normal and impaired hearing cohorts and cohorts with younger (60-69 years) and older (≥70 years) groups. The results revealed a significant relationship between PTA (low) and MMSE only in the younger age group. In contrast, no significant relationship was found between PTA (high) and cognition in any of the cohorts.
CONCLUSION: Pure tone average (low) is significantly but minimally related to measure of general cognitive status. Similar relationship is not observed between high-frequency hearing and cognition. Further research using a more comprehensive cognitive test battery is needed to confirm the lack of association between high-frequency hearing and cognition.