The purpose of this study was to analyse the relationship between different degree of HL and results of screening surveys of the central auditory processing ability of middle- and high-school students in South Korea. Therefore, having normal pure tone average does not mean that speech perception is normal. However, APD was found in children with normal pure tone average or mild high-frequency hearing loss 12, 19. In patients with more severe HL, poor discrimination of suprathreshold stimuli plays an important role in addition to the loss of audibility. However, several studies have shown that in patients with cochlear HL of up to approximately 45–50 dB, speech perception is mainly influenced by audibility 17, 18. Several test batteries are available to diagnose APDs in patients with normal hearing 15, 16. Therefore, it must be diagnosed as early as possible. Most of these children have other complications such as speech/language or attention impairments and various learning disorders 12.Īlthough the central hearing difficulty seems to be a single problem, it may be a cause of language disorder, reading disorder, learning disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and other problems 13, 14. Children diagnosed with APD have listening difficulties, and many of those who present at audiology or other paediatric clinics have ‘normal’ audiograms. In addition, a 2017 New Zealand study of youth offenders aged 14–17 years reported that 27% suffered from APD and 64% showed language impairment compared to 18% and 10% of adolescents with normal hearing, respectively 11.
Moreover, it is often challenging for children to understand speech under various listening conditions, such as a noisy or a reverberant environment 8.Īuditory processing disorders (APDs) are defined as speech perception deficits that exist despite normal peripheral hearing 9, and approximately 2–5% of school-aged children are reported to be affected by hearing problems 10.
However, unlike adults who have normal language fluency, children in the process of learning a language lack the capacity to “fill in the blanks” for inaudible sounds. Such language-based mechanisms include semantic and lexical expectations about words presented in context to facilitate speech perception in a noisy environment 4, 6, 7. To overcome this difficulty and facilitate speech perception, one strategically adopts some auditory and language-based compensatory mechanisms 5. Because of masking effects from background noise or a hearing problem, the acoustic speech signal is easily degraded, making it difficult to understand. Understanding external auditory speech normally and naturally requires at least two stages: auditory processing of the signal and language-based processing of that information 4. reported that approximately 17% of Korean adolescents exhibited at least slight HL 3. reported unilateral and bilateral HFHLs > 20 dB in 5.0% and 1.9%, respectively, of 1,658 adolescents aged 13–18 years in South Korea 2 and Rhee et al. Two nationwide studies have been conducted on adolescents in South Korea: Hong et al. In addition, chronic noise exposure from using mobile devices may increase high-frequency hearing loss (HFHL) 1. A study from the USA reported that the prevalence of HL among US adolescents increased from 14.9% in 1988–1994 to 19.5% in 2005–2006.
With the increasing use of personal listening devices, the prevalence of hearing loss (HL) among the current generation of adolescents has been predictably higher than that among the past generations of adolescents. This study suggested that hearing loss, especially bilateral high-frequency hearing loss, may affect central auditory processing. We observed positive correlations among the APD questionnaire results and mean hearing levels. We analysed data from the Scale of Auditory Behaviors, Fisher’s Auditory Problems Checklist, and KNISE-Auditory Behavioral Checklist and compared these with the results of hearing tests. The prevalence of speech-frequency hearing loss (SFHL) and high-frequency hearing loss (HFHL) in the poorer ear was 11.6% and 10.3%, respectively, among Korean adolescents. The survey was sponsored by the Korean Society of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and the Korean Otology Society. From June 1 to December 31, 2016, Korean adolescents (n = 2,791) in the first years of middle- and high school underwent audiometric testing and otologic examination and completed questionnaires on APD. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of HL in students attending general middle- and high schools and compare the findings with the APD survey results. Auditory processing disorder (APD) is one of the main factors affecting academic achievement at school.
Increasing use of personal listening devices has been accompanied by increase in the prevalence of hearing loss (HL) among youth in Korea, as in other countries.
0 kommentar(er)
