Background and Objectives
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a disorder that usually occurs in the elderly, leading to dementia in some progressive cases. The purpose of this study is to examine the utility of central auditory processing tests as early diagnostic tools for identifying the elderly with MCI.
Subjects and Methods
This study was conducted on 20 elderly patients with MCI and 20 healthy matched peers. The speech perception ability in a quiet environment and in the presence of background noise and also temporal resolution were assessed by using Speech Perception in Noise (SPIN) and Gap in Noise (GIN) tests, respectively.
Results
The results indicated that the ability to understand speech in a quiet environment did not differ significantly between the two groups. However, SPIN at the three signal-tonoise ratios and the temporal resolution scores were significantly different between the two groups (
p
<0.001).
Conclusions
Individuals with MCI appear to have poorer speech comprehension in noise and a lower temporal resolution than those of the same age, but without cognitive defects. Considering the utility of these tests in identifying cognitive problems, we propose that since the GIN test seems to be less influenced by intervening factors, this test can therefore, be a useful tool for the early screening of elderly people with cognitive problems.
Context and Aim:
Occupational hearing loss (OHL) is caused by exposure to industrial noise. Alterations in the thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and free thyroxine (FT4) levels are related to hearing loss. The purpose of this study is to investigate the TSH and FT4 level alterations in OHL.
Methods and Material:
Among 428 subjects, 144 male workers with normal hearing (NH), noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), and high tone loss (HTL) (N = 48 in each group) were included in this study. All the subjects had normal TSH and FT4 levels.
Results:
The TSH level is higher in the HTL and NIHL groups in comparison to NH, but it is only significant in the HTL group. The FT4 level is significantly lower in the NIHL group; however, the lower FT4 level in the HTL group is not significant when compared to the NH group.
Discussion:
The NIHL group may turn into the HTL group over time. This process could be monitored by alteration in their TSH and FT4 levels.
Conclusions:
Alterations in the TSH and FT4 levels could be considered as a pathophysiology for OHL. More research is required to investigate the electrophysiological, physiological, and histological correlations of TSH and FT4 and different types of hearing loss caused by noise exposure.
Background and Aim: Tinnitus is a common symptom and affects patients differently. The Iowa Tinnitus Primary Function (ITPF) questionnaire evaluates tinnitus in four areas: concentration, emotion, hearing, and sleep. This study aimed to translate and then assess the psychometrics of the ITPF questionnaire.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional and methodological (test construction) study. The questionnaire was translated by the Word Health Organization protocol. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were assessed. The measured validities were the content, face, and discriminative. The reliability was estimated by internal consistency and test-retest stability. We also measured the effects of age and sex on the questionnaire’s score.
Results: The questionnaire was translated based on the protocol. Each item of the questionnaire was understandable for patients and healthy participants. The face and content validities were confirmed by the patients and specialists, respectively. The score of 10.97 was determined as the cutoff point between patients and healthy participants, with a sensitivity of 86.70% and a specificity of 96.10%. The Cronbach α was found to be 0.958, and the intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.975. No significant effect was observed for age (p=0.314) and gender (p=0.866).
Conclusion: The Persian version of the questionnaire showed high validity and reliability. It could be used in research and clinical settings.
Keywords: Tinnitus; tinnitus primary function questionnaire; reliability; validity
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.