Voice for All - 2014

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/10377

Papers presented at the country’s first-ever international Conference on Speech Language Therapy, Audiology and Disability organized by the Department of Disability Studies in 2014

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Prevalence of External and Middle Ear Pathologies among Students with Hearing Impairment in School Settings
(Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, 2014) Perera, N.C.S.; Chandrasekara, J.M.A.U.; Jayasena, B.N.
Hearing impairment is a major health problem in children. The incidence of external and middle ear diseases is greater for children with severe to profound hearing impairment. This study was aimed at determining the prevalence of external and middle ear pathologies among students with hearing impairment in school settings. A descriptive cross sectional study was carried out in two selected schools for children with hearing impairment (6-9, 10-13 and 14-16 years). A total of 195 participants were selected using two stage stratified sampling method. Otoscopy and Tympanometry were performed. Intact tympanic membranes were found in 316 ears (81 %), which was high in the age group of 14 -16 years. 74 (19 %) reported non occluded ear cerumen, occluded ear cerumen, tympanic membrane perforation, bulging tympanic membrane, external ear infection, foreign bodies and discharge. Most common pathology was non occluded ear cerumen in 49 (12.6 %), and high in 10 -13 age group. Only 383 ears were examined by Tympanometry due to occluded ear cerumen, presence of foreign bodies and external ear infection in 7 ears. Type “A” tympanograms were found in 282 ears (74%) and those were normal middle ears. Remaining 101 ears (26%) were pathological middle ears. Type “As” (47 ears; 12%) and type “Ad” (23 ears; 12%) were the most frequent pathological tympanograms, which was high in the 14 -16 group. There is a noticeable prevalence of external and middle ear pathologies among students with hearing impairment. The study findings highlight importance of regular ear examinations and promoting hearing hygiene in children with hearing impairment.
Subjective Measures of Hearing Aid Outcome in Hearing Impaired School Children
(Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, 2014) Rupasinghe, W.B.S.R.; Chandrasekara, J.M.A.U.; Jayasena, B.N.
It is imperative to ensure that hearing aids provide maximum benefit to the wearer, especially in case of children with prelingual hearing impairment. The current study aimed at exploring the status of hearing aid use among children in two schools for the hearing impaired in and around Colombo, and to measure whether the students are benefitted from their hearing aids. 104 hearing aid users in school setting for the hearing impaired in the age range of 6-16 years were tested during the study. Otoscopic examination, Pure tone Audiometry, Aided audiogram, Speech Identification Score (SIS) and Ling’s six sounds test were performed. Subjective measures of hearing aid outcome were measured using the aided performance for SIS and Ling’s six sounds test. The relative benefit was measured using the difference between the aided and unaided scores of respective tests. Only 17.31% (n=18) participants from the whole study population receive at least ≥50% benefit from the hearing aids and only 41.34% (n= 43) participants had demonstrated at least ≥50% aided performance score at SIS. Aided performances were better for those with Pure Tone Average (PTA) <90dBHL compared to participants with PTA ≥90dBHL, indicating that there is an association between the degree of hearing loss in the ear with amplification and the aided performance. Results suggest that the benefit provided by the hearing aids used by students with hearing impairment in Sri Lankan school setting is not satisfactory as the speech identification and sounds detection and identification ability with those hearing aids were very poor even at quiet condition and will be more affected in real life listening conditions with challenging signal-to-noise ratios. Potential factors that may have contributed to the results were identified as unaidable hearing loss, inconsistent use, inadequate aural rehabilitation, improper fitting and programming of hearing aids and less compliance for hearing aid use due to use of sign language.