Prognostic relevance of anamnestic and diagnostic parameters in low-frequency hearing impairment

2006 ◽  
Vol 120 (8) ◽  
pp. 613-618 ◽  
Author(s):  
W Maier ◽  
J Schipper

Low-frequency hearing impairment (LFHI) is mainly attributed to endolymphatic hydrops and has a great variety of possible outcomes. At present, no conservative therapeutic regimen has proven to be ‘gold-standard’, and information about the prognostic indicators of LFHI is scarce.In a retrospective investigation, we evaluated the records of 90 patients who had been treated with infusions improving blood perfusion. In patients lacking complete remission, dehydration infusion therapy was added. We also undertook audiometric follow up. We calculated the outcomes after infusion therapy, dehydration therapy and after long-time hearing follow up, and we determined the prognostic relevance of several parameters of anamnesis and clinical examination to outcomes, for both therapeutic interventions and long-time hearing.The prognosis of LFHI was significantly correlated to certain anamnestic and clinical parameters; a short duration of the disease, lack of vertigo and female gender implied a better outcome. The pretherapeutic hearing threshold was an important prognostic factor; the outcome was significantly worse in patients with distinct hearing impairment in low or high frequencies, compared with that in patients with little hearing loss. Whereas vertigo was a negative prognostic factor, the results of quantitative vestibular testing were irrelevant to the outcome. The glycerol test failed to predict the effectiveness of dehydration therapy and lacked any value in predicting prognosis.These results allow the clinician to focus the anamnesis and diagnostic examination on prognostically relevant parameters, thus enabling a better estimation of the long-term disease course and improved counselling of patients. Furthermore, these results help to distinguish valuable from irrelevant diagnostic procedures.

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongyang Wang ◽  
Dan Bing ◽  
Jin Li ◽  
Linyi Xie ◽  
Fen Xiong ◽  
...  

To decipher the genotype-phenotype correlation of auditory neuropathy (AN) caused by AIFM1 variations, as well as the phenotype progression of these patients, exploring the potential molecular pathogenic mechanism of AN. A total of 36 families of individuals with AN (50 cases) with AIFM1 variations were recruited and identified by Sanger sequencing or next-generation sequencing; the participants included 30 patients from 16 reported families and 20 new cases. We found that AIFM1-positive cases accounted for 18.6% of late-onset AN cases. Of the 50 AN patients with AIFM1 variants, 45 were male and 5 were female. The hotspot variation of this gene was p.Leu344Phe, accounting for 36.1%. A total of 19 AIFM1 variants were reported in this study, including 7 novel ones. A follow-up study was performed on 30 previously reported AIFM1-positive subjects, 16 follow-up cases (53.3%) were included in this study, and follow-up periods were recorded from 1 to 23 years with average 9.75±9.89 years. There was no hearing threshold increase during the short-term follow-up period (1-10 years), but the low-frequency and high-frequency hearing thresholds showed a significant increase with the prolongation of follow-up time. The speech discrimination score progressed gradually and significantly along with the course of the disease and showed a more serious decline, which was disproportionately worse than the pure tone threshold. In addition to the X-linked recessive inheritance pattern, the X-linked dominant inheritance pattern is also observed in AIFM1-related AN and affects females. In conclusion, we confirmed that AIFM1 is the primary related gene among late-onset AN cases, and the most common recurrent variant is p.Leu344Phe. Except for the X-linked recessive inheritance pattern, the X-linked dominant inheritance pattern is another probability of AIFM1-related AN, with females affected. Phenotypical features of AIFM1-related AN suggested that auditory dyssynchrony progressively worsened over time.


1981 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. M. Zurek ◽  
C. Formby

Thresholds for frequency modulation were measured by an adaptive, two-alternative, forced-choice method with ten listeners: eight who showed varying degrees of sensorineural hearing impairment, and two with normal-hearing sensitivity. Results for test frequencies spaced at octave intervals between 125 and 4000 Hz showed that, relative to normal-hearing listeners, the ability of the hearing-impaired listeners to detect a sinusoidal frequency modulation: (1) is diminished above a certain level of hearing loss; and (2) is more disrupted for low-frequency tones than for high-frequency tones, given the same degree of hearing loss at the test frequency. The first finding is consistent with that of previous studies which show a general deterioration of frequency-discrimination ability associated with moderate, or worse, hearing loss. It is proposed that the second finding may be explained: 1) by differential impairment of the temporal and place mechanisms presumed to, encode pitch at the lower and higher frequencies, respectively; and/or, 2) for certain configurations of hearing loss, by the asymmetrical pattern of cochlear excitation that may lead to the underestimation, from measurements of threshold sensitivity, of hearing impairment for low-frequency tones and consequently to relatively large changes in frequency discrimination for small shifts in hearing threshold.


BMJ Open ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. e023220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satsue Nagahama ◽  
Ikuko Kashino ◽  
Huanhuan Hu ◽  
Akiko Nanri ◽  
Kayo Kurotani ◽  
...  

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to determine whether haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level is associated with the incidence of hearing impairment accounting for smoking status and diabetic condition at baseline.MethodsParticipants were 131 689 men and 71 286 women aged 30–65 years and free of hearing impairment at baseline (2008) who attended Japanese occupational annual health check-ups from 2008 to 2015. We defined low-frequency hearing impairment at a hearing threshold >30 dB at 1 kHz and high frequency at >40 dB at 4 kHz in the better ear in pure-tone audiometric tests. HbA1c was categorised into seven categories. The association between HbA1c and hearing impairment was assessed using the Cox proportional hazards model.ResultsOn 5 years mean follow-up, high HbA1c was associated with high-frequency hearing impairment. In non-smokers, HbA1c≥8.0% was associated with high-frequency hearing impairment, with a multivariable HR (95% CI) compared with HbA1c 5.0%–5.4% of 1.46 (1.10 to 1.94) in men and 2.15 (1.13 to 4.10) in women. There was no significant association between HbA1c and hearing impairment in smokers. A J-shaped association between HbA1c and high-frequency hearing impairment was observed for participants with diabetes at baseline. HbA1c was not associated with low-frequency hearing impairment among any participants.ConclusionsHbA1c ≥8.0% of non-smokers and ≥7.3% of participants with diabetes was associated with high-frequency hearing impairment. These findings indicate that appropriate glycaemic control may prevent diabetic-related hearing impairment.


2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ni Ketut Susilawati ◽  
Wayan Sudana ◽  
Eka Putra Setiawan

Background: Noise pollution or noise is an unwanted sound which is disturbing to human beings.However small or soft the sound, if it is undesirable it is considered as noise. Noise induced hearingloss is a sensorineural hearing loss that is commonly encountered second to presbycusis. Purpose: Toknow the effect of traffic noise exposure on hearing impairment to the employees of the Parking DistrictCompany of the Denpasar city and to improve diagnostic detection on hearing impairment caused bynoise. Method: A cross sectional study was conducted at the Parking District Company office. Thepopulations of this study were the employees of the Parking District Company. Samples of this study were the employees who were exposed to traffic noise and control samples were an employee who was unexposed. Samples were selected by simple random sampling. Results: From 40 parking attendants,27 persons (67.5%) aged above 35 years old. The parking attendants who had been working for ten to fifteen years were 36 persons (90%) and no history using ear protection when working. Seven persons(17.5%) had referred DPOAE upon examination with increase hearing threshold on audiogram result.In this study the parking attendants who had hearing deficit induced by noise were 7 persons (17.5%)and only one person (2.5%) in control group. There was a statistically significant effect of traffic noiseto hearing function deficit (p<0.05). Conclusion: Traffic noise has effect in hearing function deficit onthe parking attendants.ORLI Vol. 40 No. 2 Tahun 2010Key words: NIHL, parking attendant, audiometry, DPOAE.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joohee Lim ◽  
So Jin Yoon ◽  
Jeong Eun Shin ◽  
Jung Ho Han ◽  
Soon Min Lee ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Despite the expansion of antenatal syphilis screening programs, congenital syphilis (CS) remains a concern. Purpose This study aimed to analyze the manifestation and progress of CS, including treatment and follow-up, based on a nationwide study. Methods From the Korean National Health Insurance Service database, a total of 548 infants were examined for CS during their first year of life from 2013 to 2018. Neurosyphilis and complications were investigated using the International Classification of Diseases-10 codes. Results The birth rate of infants from mothers with syphilis was 2.8 per 10,000 live births for 5 years, which is not indicative of a decreasing trend. Overall, 148 infants were proven or highly probable or possible of having CS with treatment for 10 days; 66 infants were possible or less likely of having CS with only 1-day treatment. Jaundice (56 %) was common, followed by hearing impairment (14 %), renal disease (8 %), and mental retardation (8 %). Fourteen cases of neurosyphilis occurred. Infants with complications, including mental retardation, eye involvement, hearing impairment, or renal disease, were significantly associated with neurosyphilis (OR 8.49, P < 0.0001). Of 250 patients who received treatment, 92.8 % were treated with one medication: benzathine penicillin was used in 73 % of patients. Only four patients were re-treated due to treatment failure. In addition to the treponemal test, fluorescent treponemal antibody-absorption was the most utilized tool for diagnosis and follow-up. Conclusions Establishing standardized guidelines for the evaluation of CS, as well as the establishment of treatment regimens and follow up-plans for the disease, at a national level would help improve maternal and neonatal care and facilitate the eradication of CS in Korea.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
J.-F. Ripoll ◽  
T. Farges ◽  
D. M. Malaspina ◽  
G. S. Cunningham ◽  
E. H. Lay ◽  
...  

AbstractLightning superbolts are the most powerful and rare lightning events with intense optical emission, first identified from space. Superbolt events occurred in 2010-2018 could be localized by extracting the high energy tail of the lightning stroke signals measured by the very low frequency ground stations of the World-Wide Lightning Location Network. Here, we report electromagnetic observations of superbolts from space using Van Allen Probes satellite measurements, and ground measurements, and with two events measured both from ground and space. From burst-triggered measurements, we compute electric and magnetic power spectral density for very low frequency waves driven by superbolts, both on Earth and transmitted into space, demonstrating that superbolts transmit 10-1000 times more powerful very low frequency waves into space than typical strokes and revealing that their extreme nature is observed in space. We find several properties of superbolts that notably differ from most lightning flashes; a more symmetric first ground-wave peak due to a longer rise time, larger peak current, weaker decay of electromagnetic power density in space with distance, and a power mostly confined in the very low frequency range. Their signal is absent in space during day times and is received with a long-time delay on the Van Allen Probes. These results have implications for our understanding of lightning and superbolts, for ionosphere-magnetosphere wave transmission, wave propagation in space, and remote sensing of extreme events.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julien Guiot ◽  
Makon-Sébastien Njock ◽  
Béatrice André ◽  
Fanny Gester ◽  
Monique Henket ◽  
...  

AbstractSystemic sclerosis (SSc) is a rare connective tissue disease associated with rapid evolving interstitial lung disease (ILD), driving its mortality. Specific biomarkers associated with the progression of this lung disease are highly needed. We aimed to identify specific biomarkers of SSc-ILD to predict the evolution of the disease. For this, we compared prospectively serum levels of several biomarkers associated with lung fibrosis in SSc patients (n = 102), among which SSc-no ILD (n = 63) and SSc-ILD (n = 39), compared to healthy subjects (HS) (n = 39). We also performed a longitudinal study in a subgroup of 28 patients analyzing biomarkers variations and pulmonary function tests over a period of 2 years. Serum level of IGFBP-2 was significantly increased in SSc patients compared to HS, and negatively correlated with pulmonary function (assessed by carbon monoxide transfer coefficient (KCO)) (r = − 0.29, p < 0.01). Two-year longitudinal analysis in a subgroup of 28 SSc patients determined that IGFBP-2 variation was positively correlated with KCO at 2-year follow-up (r = 0.6, p < 0.001). SSc patients with a lower variation of IGFBP-2 (less than 22%) presented significant deterioration of pulmonary function at 2-year follow-up (p < 0.01). ROC curve analysis enabled us to identify that baseline IGFBP-2 > 105 ng/ml was associated with a poor outcome (KCO < 70% predicted) at 2-year follow-up (AUC = 0.75, p < 0.05). We showed for the first time that serum levels of IGFBP-2 might be a prognostic factor of the development of SSc-ILD.


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