The terminology used to describe functional hearing loss (FHL) and some explanations of the phenomenon are discussed briefly. Previous studies of FHL in children are reviewed. Characteristics of 30 children seen for psychological assessment following diagnosis of FHL are described. There were twice as many girls as boys in the sample. A large proportion of the children had experienced middle ear problems. The mean IQ for the sample was below average, but the range of intellectual ability was wide. Nine children showed serious educational retardation. The children were assigned to one of three psychological problem groups depending on whether they had minor, school-based, or deeper, psychological problems. Those with deeper psychological problems tended to show greater hearing losses on pure tone audiometry. FHL seemed to be related to attentional factors in those with only minor or school-based problems but not for those with deeper psychological problems. These findings are discussed with reference to the need for psychological assessment of children with FHL.
The adult cochlear implant programme in Manchester was established in 1988 and the evaluation of the cochlear implant service involved the first 58 implants users (mean age = 51.65 years, range 19–75 years). Questionnaires were sent to implant users and their partners to evaluate the service with regard to provision of information, clinical care during in-patient assessments, waiting times, operation for cochlear implant and postoperative rehabilitation. The results show that the majority of patients (78 per cent) felt that the implant gave them as much or more benefit than expected. Areas identified for improvements include provision of more written information about cochlear implants; reduction in waiting times for first appointments; more information about the surgical risks and more instruction about home auditory training exercises for family and friends.As a consequence of the audit results the clinical practice and service provision for cochlear implantation in Manchester has been modified.
Aims: The aim of this paper is to investigate the role of intention and habit in predicting adults’ drinking behaviour within the home setting. Measures: A convenience sample of 414 Australians aged between 35 and 60 were recruited through targeted Facebook advertising. Eligibility criteria for study participation included reporting consuming alcohol at least once a week at home. Participants completed self-report measures of alcohol consumption, habit strength regarding home drinking behaviour, and intentions to consume alcohol. Differences in home drinking controlling for age and gender, by level of habit, and intention were examined using ANCOVA. Results: Increases in intention were associated with an increase in home drinking. However, with habit and intention entered in the same model, only habit was a significant predictor of the amount of alcohol consumed in the home. For Australians, habit is a stronger predictor of alcohol consumption than intention. Conclusions: Given that a large proportion of people are doing the majority of their drinking when at home, home-based interventions which target the habitual nature of home consumption may help to reduce consumption and related harm.
Previous studies have found that subjects simulating hearing losses can provide information which is useful to audiological clinicians when patients produce exaggerated hearing levels with no apparent organic aetiology. Two groups of normally-hearing subjects were used, designated unsophisticated or sophisticated in audiometric testing. Each subject was instructed to feign any amount of hearing loss in both ears prior to carrying out pure tone and speech audiometry using monosyllabic speech material. A number of variables was studied to identify factors influencing success or failure in simulating hearing loss and to investigate strategies used by the subjects. Analysis of the audiometric results revealed no typical degree of hearing loss for tones or speech. The majority of the subjects simulated sensori-neural pure tone losses with flat audiometric configuration. Approach mode, ascending or descending, had no significant effect on simulated tonal threshold. Four strategies for simulating a loss were identified. A fair degree of test/retest reliability in hearing loss for speech and tones was observed. Large discrepancies in hearing loss for speech and tones were recorded with the hearing loss for tones typically in excess of that for speech. Responses during speech audiometry showed a high occurrence of 'no response' errors. No significant differences were recorded between the sophisticated and unsophisticated groups, except in the pattern of response during speech audiometry, when the sophisticated subjects gave significantly fewer correct responses and 'no response' errors.
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