Candidature for and delivery of audiological services: special needs of older people.
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Aged↗
Biomedical subjects
L Hickson
Publications and source records attributed to L Hickson.
Decision-making by adults with mental retardation in simulated situations of abuse.
The ability of women and men with mental retardation to suggest prevention-focused decisions in response to simulated social interpersonal situations of abuse was investigated. Decision-making performance across three types of abusive situations (physical, sexual, psychological/verbal) was examined. Participants were able to suggest direct prevention-focused decisions aimed at resisting or stopping abuse 45% of the time and other-dependent prevention-focused decisions in the form of reporting 20% of the time. Prevention-focused decision-making was higher in situations of physical abuse (59%) than in situations of sexual (51%) or psychological/verbal abuse (26%). Women and men did not differ significantly in their decision-making responses.
Adult↗
The perceptual magnet effect in Australian English vowels.
Recent research (Kuhl, 1991) has suggested that the internal structure of vowel categories is graded in terms of stimulus goodness. It has been proposed that a best instance stimulus reflects a central point or prototype, which effectively renders within-category members perceptually more similar. Discrimination experiments suggest a nonlinear relationship between acoustic and perceptual space near category centers (Iverson & Kuhl, 1995b). This phenomenon has been described as the perceptual magnet effect. The present study investigated the presence of the perceptual magnet effect in five Australian vowel categories. Australian English speakers identified, rated, and discriminated between a pool of 32 vowel stimuli that varied in F1 and F2 values. The results from Experiments 1 and 2 showed that subjects were able to judge the quality and identify of each stimulus and that a general grading of stimulus quality was reported. This was not symmetrical, and the subjects' responses varied considerably. In Experiment 3, closer control of the methodology in the discrimination task and of contextual factors influencing the test materials was exercised. Despite this, evidence of the warping of perceptual space in discrimination data was not found. In general, these results do not provide support for the existence of the perceptual magnet effect, and explanations for this finding are discussed.
Adult↗
A closer look at interpersonal decision-making in adults with and without mental retardation.
Two experiments were conducted to examine the interpersonal decision-making performance of women and men with and without mental retardation. In Experiment 1, adults with mental retardation listened to either short or long vignettes depicting situations in which a female or male protagonist was faced with a decision involving either a peer or authority figure. In Experiment 2, adults without mental retardation were presented with long versions of the vignettes. As expected, the task was considerably more difficult for the participants with mental retardation, possibly because of differences in their ability to fully comprehend the social situations. Women in both studies outperformed men. Results suggest that emotional and motivational factors may have contributed to these differences.
Adult↗
Consonant perception in quiet: effect of increasing the consonant-vowel ratio with compression amplification.
Single-channel syllabic compression amplification may increase the consonant-vowel ratio (CVR). This study was conducted to investigate the effect of CVR increases, associated with syllabic compression, on consonant perception in quiet for people with normal hearing and those with sensorineural hearing impairment. Fifteen hearing-impaired and 15 normal-hearing older people were assessed with different versions of the Nonsense Syllable Test, which had been recorded with linear and compression amplification (compression ratio = infinity). Overall scores did not differ significantly with type of amplification for both subject groups. Analysis of classes of sounds revealed the differential effect of type of amplification for the subject groups. This study highlights the need for audiologists to be aware that applying amplification that raises the level of consonants in relation to vowels is not always beneficial for people with hearing impairment, as the evidence indicates that CVR may be a cue to the perception of some consonants.
Adult↗
Hearing impairment, disability and handicap in elderly people living in residential care and in the community.
This study aimed to compare the prevalence of hearing impairment, disability and handicap in the elderly living in residential care with those living in the community, and to examine the relationship between impairment, disability and handicap in both groups. Fifty community-based and 129 residential subjects were assessed using pure-tone audiometry as a measure of impairment, and a self-assessment questionnaire as a measure of disability and handicap. Community-based subjects were also assessed using a test of speech discrimination as an objective measure of disability. Results indicated 95% of residential subjects and 70% of community-based subjects were hearing-impaired, while 27% of residential subjects and 42% of community-based subjects demonstrated significant disability/handicap. Significant correlations were obtained between impairment, disability and handicap in both subject groups. The implications of the findings for the aural rehabilitation of the elderly are discussed.
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Communication difficulties of nursing home residents. How can staff help?
Recent studies have found a high prevalence of communication disorders in elderly residents of nursing homes. This study was undertaken to investigate staff attitudes to the communication problems and communicative needs of residents in their care. A questionnaire was administered to 32 staff members from one nursing home. Responses indicate little evidence of the negative staff attitudes previously reported in the literature. Staff wanted more time to spend communicating with residents and wanted to learn more about the residents' communication problems. Implications of the questionnaire responses for staff training are presented.
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Consonant perception with linear and compression amplification.
The consonant perception of 15 subjects with mild to moderate sensorineural hearing loss was evaluated using linear amplification and two different types of compression amplification. A specially modified hearing aid was used which allowed for variation of the amplifier input/output function in three steps, such that the compression ratio could be set to 1 (linear), 1.3 or 1.8. The Nonsense Syllable Test (NST) was recorded through the aid in quiet and in two different noise conditions (four-talker babble and a background noise with sharp intermittent sounds), and replayed to the listeners through headphones. No differences in consonant perception were found between the different types of amplification in the quiet condition. In the babble condition, consonant perception was significantly better with linear amplification than with either form of compression. In the sharp noise condition, there was no difference in performance between linear amplification and compression amplification with the ratio of 1.8. Consonant perception was adversely affected, however, by the compression and amplification with the ratio of 1.3 in this condition. Overall NST results and results for particular classes of consonants are discussed.
Adult↗
Performance of assistive listening devices using insertion gain measures.
The electroacoustic performance characteristics of seven assistive listening devices (ALDs), that did not need to be coupled with a hearing aid, were measured using real ear insertion gain. The ALDs, which included TV listening systems and personal amplification systems, were measured on ten subjects. Electroacoustic performance of the ALDs varied although there were similarities for different types of devices. Frequency responses were either basically flat or had an emphasis in the low or mid-frequency region. The majority of devices provided negligible amplification when set at or below half volume. Total harmonic distortion was 10% or less for most ALDs. Overall, insertion gain measures were found to be of value in evaluating the effectiveness of this type of amplification device.
Amplifiers, Electronic↗
Clinical reliability of insertion gain measurements with assistive listening devices.
Real ear insertion gain was measured in 14 persons fitted with a variety of common assistive listening devices. Measurements were made in a quiet, but not soundproofed, clinical environment. The reliability of such insertion gain measures was studied, both for short-term and long-term test-retest conditions. The results indicated that insertion gain measurement of assistive listening devices can be performed as a routine clinical procedure. Intrasubject standard deviations were comparable in most cases to those clinically obtained using hearing aids with custom ear moulds.
Acoustic Stimulation↗
The relationship between attitudinal and behavioral change in pediatric residents in a psychiatric liaison teaching program: a pilot study.
Two behavioral measures--chart audits and requests for psychiatric consultations--and two attitudinal measures--case conference comments and a case management questionnaire--were used to assess changes in pediatric residents' approaches to psychosocial issues over the course of liaison training. Both attitudinal measures showed changes in the residents' approaches, including an increased attention to patients' and families' feelings and an expanded awareness of the options available in dealing with psychosocial problems. These changes in attitude, however, did not result in increases in the amount of psychosocial data recorded in the charts or increases in resident-initiated consultation requests. The authors use their observations on the wards and in case conferences and interviews with pediatric residents to explain why chart contents and psychiatric consultation practices are resistant to change. Their findings indicate a gap between attitudinal and behavioral change that requires further research on how pediatric residents identify psychosocial problems, and how liaison training is integrated with the needs and expectations of nonpsychiatric physicians.
Attitude of Health Personnel↗
Acoustic analysis of speech through a hearing aid: consonant-vowel ratio effects with two-channel compression amplification.
In this study, the consonant-vowel ratio (CVR) changes associated with varying the compression ratio and crossover frequency of two-channel syllabic compression amplification were examined. Consonant-vowel syllables were recorded at 60 and 75 dB SPL input levels to the hearing aid under 13 different amplification conditions: 12 compression conditions and a condition that used linear amplification in both channels. Syllables consisted of voiceless stops, fricatives, and affricates combined with the vowels /a/, /i/, and /u/. Acoustic analysis of the processed syllables indicated that the CVR was generally increased with compression, compared to linear amplification, and that the effects were greatest for amplification with compression in the high-frequency channel. In addition, higher CVRs were obtained when the crossover frequency was raised. Compression in the low-frequency channel had the least effect on CVR. As previous research has indicated that CVR may serve as a cue to the perception of some consonant sounds by people with hearing impairment, the results suggest the need for caution with the application of high-frequency channel compression until the perceptual effects are fully investigated.
Hearing Aids↗