Visual recognition of consonants was studied in 31 hearing-impaired adults before and after 14 hours of concentrated, individualized, speechreading training. Confusions were analyzed via a hierarchical clustering technique to derive categories of visual contrast among the consonants. Pretraining and posttraining results were compared to reveal the effects of the training program. Training caused an increase in the number of visemes consistently recognized and an increase in the percentage of within-viseme responses. Analysis of the responses made revealed that most changes in consonant recognition occurred during the first few hours of training.

Measuring serum NT-proBNP concentration in dogs with respiratory signs helps to differentiate between congestive heart failure and primary respiratory tract disease as an underlying cause.

Plasma NT-proANP, BNP, and ET-1, but not cTnI, appear useful for distinguishing between dogs with cardiac and noncardiac causes of dyspnea, with plasma NT-proANP having the highest sensitivity (95.5%) and specificity (84.6%).

Background: It is challenging to differentiate congestive heart failure (CHF) from noncardiac cause of dyspnea. Hypothesis: Circulating concentrations of atrial natriuretic peptide (NT-proANP), B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), endothelin-1 (ET-1), and cardiac troponin-I (cTnI) can be used to help distinguish between cardiac and noncardiac causes of dyspnea in dogs.Animals: Forty-eight client-owned dogs admitted to a veterinary teaching hospital for respiratory distress. Methods: Blood samples from patients were prospectively obtained. The etiology of dyspnea was determined by using physical examination, thoracic radiographs, and echocardiography.Results: CHF was diagnosed in 22 dogs, and dyspnea of noncardiac origin (noHD group) was diagnosed in 26 dogs. Analyses revealed significant difference between groups for NT-proANP (geometric mean, 95% confidence [CI]; no HD: 0.26 nmol/mL, 95% CI 0.17-1.09; CHF: 1.38 nmol/mL, 95% CI 1.09-1.74 nmol/mL; P , .0001), BNP (noHD: 12.18 pg/mL, 95% CI 10.91-16.17 pg/mL; CHF: 34.97 pg/mL, 95% CI 23.51-52.02 pg/mL; P , .0001), and ET-1 (noHD: 0.32 fmol/mL, 95% CI 0.23-0.46 fmol/mL; CHF: 1.26 fmol/mL, 95% CI 0.83-1.91 fmol/mL; P , .0001). Plasma cTnI concentrations were not significantly different between groups (noHD: 0.29 ng/mL, 95% CI 0.12-0.72 ng/mL; CHF: 0.42 ng/mL, 95% CI 0.18-0.97, P 5 .53). Receiver operating curves indicated areas under the curve for NT-proANP, BNP, and ET-1 of 0.946, 0.886, and 0.849, respectively.Conclusions and Clinical Importance: Plasma NT-proANP, BNP, and ET-1, but not cTnI, appear useful for distinguishing between dogs with cardiac and noncardiac causes of dyspnea, with plasma NT-proANP having the highest sensitivity (95.5%) and specificity (84.6%).

The purpose of this research was to determine some of the effects of consonant recognition training on the speech recognition performance of hearing-impaired adults. Two groups of ten subjects each received seven hours of either auditory or visual consonant recognition training, in addition to a standard two-week, group-oriented, inpatient aural rehabilitation program. A third group of fifteen subjects received the standard two-week program, but no supplementary individual consonant recognition training. An audiovisual sentence recognition test, as well as tests of auditory and visual consonant recognition, were administered both before and ibltowing training. Subjects in all three groups significantly increased in their audiovisual sentence recognition performance, but subjects receiving the individual consonant recognition training improved significantly more than subjects receiving only the standard two-week program. A significant increase in consonant recognition performance was observed in the two groups receiving the auditory or visual consonant recognition training. The data are discussed from varying statistical and clinical perspectives.