Stimulus is the essence of any audiovestibular investigation and ocular vestibular-evoked myogenic potential (oVEMP) would be no different. Several investigations have examined the effect of frequency of stimulus on oVEMP parameters with prime reports concentrated around amplitude and to a lesser extent threshold. Effects of stimulus frequency on latency-related parameters have been sparingly explored with equivocal results. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of air-conducted frequency-specific short tone-bursts on latency, amplitude, and threshold-related parameters of various peaks of oVEMP. A normative study was conducted to obtain oVEMP responses from 50 healthy individuals in the age range of 18 - 30 years. Tone-bursts at octave and midoctave frequencies from 250 to 2000 Hz were used to acquire responses from the inferior oblique muscle using contralateral electrode placement. oVEMPs were present in 100% of the individuals at or below the frequency of 1000 Hz. The largest amplitudes and the lowest threshold corresponded to 500 Hz tone-burst, whereas 250 Hz produced largest absolute latencies as well as interpeak latency intervals (P < 0.05). Frequency had no effect on interaural latency difference as well as interaural amplitude ratio. Owing to largest amplitudes and best thresholds, 500 Hz appears better stimuli for clinical recording of oVEMPs. This is true irrespective of the peak complex being assessed is n1p1 or p1n2.

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With the advancement in science and technology, the information and communication technology (ICT) mode has been put to best use in the health-care sectors. Unlike health, communication disorders pose special challenges to service delivery. The Discipline of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology is an integrated health-care profession which is only about half-a-century old in India. The disproportion in the ratio of qualified service providers to service receivers is highly prevalent. In view of this, “Telepractice” (The term telepractice is used in this article to mean tele-rehabilitation for persons with communication disorders since the service comprises of multifaceted objectives such as rehabilitation in the Discipline of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology) as a means of “reaching the unreached” fits well when the service delivery is provided across geographic, time, social, and cultural barriers using ICT mode. Telepractice is generally provided from a remote site using store-and-forward as well as real-time technology using ICT platforms. The platform for telepractice in India is well set, with a considerable number of people being “digitally literate.” Yet, there are several concerns such as development of professional skills for telepractice; development and validation of digital resources; empirical studies on face-to-face, virtual, or hybrid service delivery; revision of code of ethics for telepractice; and mechanism to protect client's privacy on e-platforms that need to be addressed if telepractice has to be launched on a large scale in India. Insights gained from the work carried out at the Telecenter for Persons with Communication Disorders highlight on the advantages of telepractice from client/caregiver's perspective besides reflections on the prospects and challenges of telepractice in India.

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Introduction: Heavy metal vocalists tend to overuse or differently use their vocal systems for singing, and this could have a negative impact on their voice quality. However, there is limited research concerning the objective measures of vocal changes caused due to vocal fatigue in Indian heavy metal vocalists. Thus, the objectives of the study were to document the differences in the cepstral and spectral parameters of voice before and after vocal fatigue in Indian heavy metal vocalists and to investigate the correlation between the phonatory habits and the cepstral and spectral parameters in postfatigue voice of Indian heavy metal vocalists. Methods: Phonation samples were collected before the vocal performance (pretest) and after the vocal performance (posttest) from 16 vocalists belonging to Indian heavy metal genre. The phonation samples were analyzed, and the spectral and cepstral parameters were extracted in both the conditions. Results: Out of spectral parameters, only H1-H2 was significantly different between the pre- and postfatigue voices. Both the cepstral parameters were noted to be significantly lower after vocal fatigue. Moderate and strong correlations were observed between the phonatory habits and the objective parameters of postfatigue voice in heavy metal vocalists. Conclusion: The cepstral measures of voice were more effective in identifying the vocal fatigue-related voice changes in heavy metal vocalists.

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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to survey and describe dysphagia practice patterns among speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in India, where no standardized practice pattern guidelines currently exist. Although the overarching goals of dysphagia rehabilitation are largely similar, population needs, clinical practice patterns, availability of resources, and dysphagia research varies around the world. Professional bodies related to swallowing disorders in countries such as the USA, the UK, Australia, and Canada have implemented preferred national practice guidelines for dysphagia clinicians, to ensure consistency in clinical practices, high standards of care, and to improve the patient outcomes. In India, consensus-driven SLP services for dysphagia management are yet to be fully established. Detailed knowledge of current practices is necessary to inform future training and infrastructure needs, to which end this pilot survey was conducted. Methods: A web-based questionnaire was created using Qualtrics. Twenty-five questions related to dysphagia assessment and treatment practices were included. Five dysphagia experts rated the questionnaire for content validity. Blast E-mail solicitations were requested, and forty-eight participants responded to the survey anonymously. Results: The results demonstrated considerable variability in practice patterns for swallowing assessment and dysphagia treatment among SLPs in India, with barriers related to funding, access to instrumental assessments, and limited clinical education and training. The findings from this survey highlight ongoing challenges to professional education and growth in dysphagia practices in India. Conclusions: The variability in responses indicates a need to establish the national guidelines that will enable Indian SLPs to move toward standards of practice, largely compatible with more established dysphagia services, and practices in some other countries. This will likely help improve clinical competence, in addition to patient outcomes and quality of care.

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Introduction: Majority of the audiology clinics are not equipped to assess the localization ability due to the problem in availability of instrument, infrastructure and or cost involvement. Thus, questions from standardized tools sensitive to Indian scenario were selected to assess the localization ability. The objectives of the study were to a) develop Kannada localization questionnaire b) validate the developed questionnaire using degree of error (DOE) and c) investigate the relationship between localization ability from questionnaire and DOE from localization task. Materials and Method: Two experiments were carried out in this study. In Experiment -1 questionnaire was developed by translation, reverse translation and rated for goodness of questionnaire. The developed questionnaire was administered on 103 participants of different age groups from 11-70 years. In Experiment -2 using localization task an aggregated degree of error was measured for the target test stimuli (truck and automobile horns) in the presence of traffic noise at 65 dB SPL and 75 dB SPL. Results: On factor analysis a factorability of correlation suggested 14 of the 17 questions correlated well above 0.3. The questionnaire developed has Cronbach's alpha of 0.78 for 10 items and 0.53 for 4 items. In addition a significant reduction in localization ability on questionnaire and increased error on localization task were observed with advanced in age. Further a moderate negative correlation was noticed between localization ability scores and degree of error. Conclusions: The developed questionnaire can be effectively used in a clinic where there is an unavailability of localization experiment test setup.

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Context: Sentences are rich in redundancy, and therefore, their identification is often facilitated by the context. The use of phrases introduces limited contextual cues into the process of identification and facilitates the evocation of words. Thus, there is a need to develop phrase recognition test to assess identification abilities. Aims: To develop and validate phrase recognition test in Kannada language for assessing speech recognition in noise. Settings and Design: Normative research design was utilized. Subjects and Methods: A total of 70 phrases in Kannada language were constructed and 67 of them were selected based on familiarity rating. Ten participants each in two groups were involved for the list equivalency and validation. Statistical Analysis Used: Repeated measure of analysis of variance was utilized for the lists equivalency and standardization. Results: Sixty-seven phrases were shortlisted from 70 phrases through familiarity rating. These phrases were embedded in different 5 signal to noise ratios (SNRs) (−9 dB SNR to −1 dB SNR in steps of 2 dB). Analysis of results showed 50% recognition score at ~−5 dB SNR. In addition, the phrases that were too easy and too difficult were eliminated. From the remaining phrases, five lists of 10 phrases each were constructed and compared for their equal intelligibility in noise. The results revealed no significant differences across the phrase lists. Conclusions: The homogenous five lists of the Kannada phrase recognition test will be useful to assess identification ability of the listeners and hearing aid benefit.

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Introduction: Source localization depends on processing of monaural and binaural spatial cues. Although difficulties arising due to the deficits in the processing spatial cues are well documented in the literature, remediation programs aimed at resolving spatial deficits are scanty. The present study is a preliminary research aimed at exploring the changes in the spatial performance of normal-hearing listeners using localization training in a horizontal plane. Methods: Twelve normal-hearing listeners aged 18–25 years participated in the study. The study was conducted in three phases including pretraining, training, and posttraining phase. At the pre- and post-training phase, three tests of spatial skills, namely, test of localization in free-field, test of lateralization ability under headphones (i.e., virtual auditory space (VAS) identification test), and tests for binaural processing ability (i.e., interaural level difference [ILD] and interaural time difference [ITD]), were administered. The training phase consisted of structured localization regimen spanning eight sessions spread over 2 weeks. Results: Paired t-test revealed that root mean square error, ITD threshold, and VAS scores in the post-training phase were significantly better than pretraining condition, indicative of the benefit derived from training. ILD did not alter significantly in posttraining phase owing to the ceiling effect in pretraining phase. Conclusion: The localization training protocol used in the present study on a preliminary basis proves to be effective in normal-hearing listeners and its implications can be extended to other clinical populations as well.

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Introduction: The study aimed to translate two questionnaires on hearing handicap to South Indian language - Kannada. The questionnaires translated were Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults (HHIA) and Hearing Handicap Inventory for Elderly (HHIE). Materials and Methods: The procedure of translation included forward translation and back translation done by the experts. The translated questionnaires were administered on 40 individuals with hearing impairment ranging from mild to severe degree. The participants were divided into two groups. In the Group I, there were 20 adults and in the Group II, there were 20 elderly participants. The relation between hearing threshold, Speech Identification Scores (SISs), and handicap scores were found in both the groups. Further, to check internal consistency of the questionnaire Chronbach alpha was obtained. Results: In Group II, there was a significant positive correlation between hearing thresholds and handicap score and a significant negative correlation between SISs and handicap score. However, such a correlation was not observed in Group I. The Chronbach alpha value was found to be 0.90 for HHIA and 0.967 for HHIE showing good reliability and internal consistency. Conclusion: The results implied that the degree of hearing impairment and speech perception abilities determines the degree of handicap in elderly. However, in adults, due to high-listening needs and emotional reaction to hearing impairment there was no such trend. Chronbach alpha value inferred that the questionnaire can be used to classify hearing impaired population based on the degree of their handicap.

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Introduction: Typically, individuals with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) show the presence of otoacoustic emissions and elevated/absent auditory brainstem responses. It has been reported that individuals with ANSD, in spite of absent or abnormal ABRs, show auditory cortical potentials. P300 is an endogenous cortical-evoked potential and reflects the changes in the cortical activity when the attention is paid toward the sound. This can effectively quantify the complex cortical sensory-cognitive processing underlying active auditory perception. Therefore, the present study was taken up to investigate the cortical representation of active auditory discrimination skills in individuals with ANSD using P300 response. Methods: Twenty-five individuals with ANSD and 25 individuals with normal hearing sensitivity were the participants. The individuals with ANSD had audiometric thresholds ranging from normal hearing to moderate hearing loss. P300 was recorded using/ba/-/da/stimulus contrast in the oddball paradigm. The latency and the amplitude of P300 response were marked and analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA. Sensitivity and reaction time in identifying the oddball were also measured. Results: The result showed poor sensitivity and longer reaction time in individuals with ANSD compared to individuals with normal hearing. P300 responses were prolonged in latency and reduced in amplitude in individuals with ANSD. Both the latency and amplitude of P300 response were related to perceptual measures. Conclusion: P300 response was present in individuals with ANSD but with prolonged latency and reduced amplitude.

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Purpose: To study auditory temporal processing performance in 30 children with stuttering (CWS) and compare it with 30 age -matched controls. Materials and Methods: Auditory temporal processing was compared in two groups of children: With and without stuttering; in the age -range of 9 -14 years using Gap Detection Test (GDT) and Duration Pattern Test (DPT). Ear differences in the gap detection thresholds and duration pattern scores were also studied in both the groups. GDT was carried out using the GDT CD developed by Shivprakash and Manjula (2003) and DPT was carried out using the DPT CD developed by Gauri and Manjula (2003). Results: No significant difference was seen in the gap detection thresholds and DPT scores between the right ear and left ear scores in typical children and between the scores of the two ears in CWS. The performance of CWS group was significantly poorer as compared to that of typical children in both GDT and DPT. These auditory temporal processing deficits may interfere with the auditory feedback loop that is crucial to fluent speech production. Fluency inducing conditions like slow reading, DAF, or frequency -altered feedback reduce the dependence on auditory feedback thus inducing fluent speech. The results of the present study show that deficient auditory temporal processing in CWS may add to the demands placed on the feedback mechanism thereby increasing stuttering. Conclusions: As a group, CWS show evidence of compromise in their auditory temporal processing abilities. Tests of temporal processing should be included in assessment of IWS as a pre-therapy assessment tool along with assessment of stuttering.

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Introduction: The purpose of this study was to assess the readability of hearing-related Internet information in Hindi language. Methods: Native Hindi speakers identified five Hindi keywords relating to hearing problems that were used to search for hearing-related web pages. These key terms were entered one by one into Google Bharat, the Hindi version of Google India. The uniform resource locators were recorded for the first ten web pages resulting from that search. Each web page was assessed according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The reading grade level (RGL) for the resulting 25 web pages were analyzed using Readability Hindi 1 (RH1) and Readability Hindi 2 (RH2) formulas. The paragraphs with lowest and highest RGL were identified and used for a cloze test. Ten participants were recruited after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria. They were instructed to complete the cloze test. Results: The mean RGL of hearing-related web pages published in Hindi was not significantly different from the recommended value. The mean RGL calculated by RH1 was significantly higher than the mean RGL calculated by RH2; however, there was a significant and positive correlation between the RGL values calculated by RH1 and RH2. No significant differences in cloze scores were found between the paragraph with the highest RGL and the paragraph with the lowest RGL. Conclusions: The RGL calculated by the formulas was within the recommended value, which indicates the hearing-related material available on the Internet in Hindi is easy to read. However, the results of readability ease calculated by the cloze test suggested that the paragraphs with maximum RGL and minimum RGL were not significantly different from each other.

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Introduction: The purpose of this study was to complete a sociolinguistic adaptation and validation of the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised (WAB-R) (Kertesz and Raven, 2007), an English aphasia assessment into the Bangla language. Two hundred and fifty million people speak Bangla/Bengali in eastern parts of India and Bangladesh. Methods: This study had two steps: first, three professional translators performed the translation and back-translation processes on the WAB-R. Second, to validate the adaptation, 27 neurologically normal individuals and 36 patients with a history of cerebrovascular accident participated in this study. Results: Three types of adaptation processes, i.e., introduction of new words or phrases, direct translation, and direct translation replacing concepts were involved. As per different adaptation processes, Record form part 1 (derives aphasia quotient [AQ]) achieved 25% of sociocultural and linguistic changes whereas Record form part 2 (derives cortical quotient and language quotient) achieved 57% of sociocultural and linguistic changes. The items of Bedside record form (shorter version of the test) were taken from Record form part 1 and part 2. Normal controls completed the test with scores of 100% on most of the sub-tests while the patients' performance was significantly lower. Eighty percentage of the patients had aphasia, based on their test scores, and investigators could categorize the patients by aphasia type based on the AQ and bedside aphasia score. There is a high correlation between the subtest scores of Record form part 1 and Bedside record form. Conclusion: Some changes were needed to adapt the WAB-R for Bangla speakers. Preliminary validation study demonstrated that the Bangla WAB-R could differentiate the normal population from the patients with aphasia by their language performance. Investigators will attempt to standardize the test in the next phase of the study.

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Objectives: The present study aimed to construct a bedside assessment protocol and grading scale to assess and grade orophayngeal dysphagia in a heterogeneous sample of the patients. This study also aimed to determine the utility of the constructed assessment and grading scale in terms of reliability and validity. Materials and Methods: The Nair hospital bedside swallowing assessment (NHBSA) and Nair hospital swallowing ability scale (NHSAS) were constructed after reviewing pertinent literature. Fifty individuals with oropharyngeal dysphagia were assessed and graded using the constructed assessment and grading scale. Of the total sample, 10 individuals were subjected to a modified barium swallow (MBS) evaluation. Results: The NHBSA and NHSAS show high reliability and high face and content validity. Comparison with MBS revealed that the NHBSA appears to be promising in accurately identifying dysphagia and aspiration. Also, the NHBSA and MBS diagnosed the same phases of swallowing to be affected in eight out of ten patients. 'Wet-gurgly voice quality,' 'cough after/during swallow,' and 'weak/absent volitional cough' were the clinical indicators that appeared to correctly identify presence of aspiration risk. The NHSAS shows sensitivity to change in swallow function and oral intake overtime. Conclusion: The NHBSA appears to be a simple, quick, reliable and valid clinical assessment that can be used to assess the oropharyngeal dysphagia at the individual's bedside with minimal risk for discomfort or aspiration. Also, the NHSAS appears to be useful tool for clinically grading individuals with dysphagia into categories based on swallowing ability, and enables making recommendations.

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Introduction: We aimed to compose a Turkish version of Amsterdam Inventory for Auditory Disability and Handicap (T-AIADH) and investigate validity and reliability of T-AIADH. Methods: A total of 240 individuals were included in the study. They were divided into two groups. Individuals with hearing disability constituted the study group (n = 120), and 120 normal-hearing individuals constituted the control group. Results: The reliability analysis of 30 items in all study population yielded a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.98. All Cronbach's alpha coefficients obtained in 5 domains of T-AIADH were above 0.90. For 5-domain scores, intraclass correlation coefficients demonstrated very good test–retest reliability. There were statistically significant differences between the study and control groups in terms of the mean scores of each of the 30 items in the questionnaire (P < 0.01). The mean scores of each of the five domains of T-AIADH were statistically significantly different between the study and control groups (P < 0.01). Criterion analysis showed positive correlations between the domain scores and the average of hearing thresholds (0.5 kHz, 1 kHz, 2 kHz, and 4 kHz) in the study group (P < 0.01). Conclusion: The T-AIADH has a high internal consistency and test–retest reliability. T-AIADH can differentiate the individuals with hearing loss from the individuals with normal hearing. T-AIADH is composed of easily understandable questions, and it may be used to analyze hearing disability for screening purposes or as an adjunctive test to audiological tests in Turkish-speaking patients.

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Introduction: Studies have shown morphological changes in the vestibule leading to alter the physiological changes during menstruation. And during the cycle, the level of hormones differs during different phases of the cycle. Hence, it is important to study the hormonal influences in the otolith-ocular pathways of females as the ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (oVEMP) results might be interpreted wrongly if the different phase of the menstrual cycle affects the oVEMP results. The aim of the present study was to measure the changes in latency and amplitude of oVEMP test during three phases of the mensuration cycle. Materials and Methods: Twenty healthy females volunteers participated for the study and their otolith-ocular system was evaluated using oVEMP in three phases of the same cycle, i.e., menstruation phase (day 1–4), ovulation phase (day 12–17), and luteal phase (day 22–28). Results: oVEMP was present for all the participants in all the three phase of the menstrual cycle. For the obtained nonnormal data, nonparametric Freidman's Chi-square test was administered. The results showed no significant difference in latency or amplitude parameters of oVEMP across three recordings in participants, indicating that there was no significant effect of hormonal changes on oVEMPs recordings in females. Conclusions: It can be concluded that while assessing the vestibular system through an electrophysiological test like oVEMP, will not render differences in females based on their phases of menstruation cycles.

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Introduction: Speech recognition performance has been observed to vary with the age of the listener. Children having difficulty in understanding speech in noisy situations is found to have an adverse effect on learning. The primary aim of the study was to determine the difference in word and phoneme scores in the presence of noise in three age groups of children studying in primary school. The secondary aim was to check whether there was a gender difference within an age group. Materials and Methods: Three groups of typically developing children (≥7 to <8; ≥8 to <9; and ≥9 to <10 years), who were exposed to Kannada from early childhood, were evaluated to determine their speech perception abilities in the presence of noise. Results: Within each age group, no significant difference was observed between gender for word and phoneme scores in all four lists. The word and phoneme scores were similar across the lists within an age group but differed across age groups for all lists. The older children outperformed the younger children. Conclusion: The study indicated that with increase in age, word and phoneme recognition scores improve. However, within an age group, children obtained similar word and phoneme scores across the four lists, indicating the equivalence of the lists in the presence of noise. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in word and phoneme scores between the males and females for all lists within each age group.

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Introduction: Studies suggest that children with learning disability (LD) have poor phonological representation. Furthermore, in individuals with LD, it has been reported that in spite of having normal intelligence, they have poor speech perception in quiet and in the presence of noise. As per the literature, there was no published report which highlights pattern perception in quiet and in the presence of different types of noise in children with LD. Thus, the present study aimed to assess pattern perception in quiet and in the presence of noise in typically developing children and in children with LD. Methods: A total of forty children including twenty typically developing children and twenty children with LD in the age range of 5–10 years were included in the study. Word identification scores were calculated in quiet and in the presence of different types of noise at 0 dB signal-to-noise ratio. The words used as stimuli contained a different number of syllables (monosyllable, bisyllables, and trisyllables). Results: Children with LD had poor performance in quiet, in the presence of speech babble, and speech noise compared to typically developing children. The response was best in quiet condition followed by in presence of noise (speech babble and speech noise). Compared across noise conditions, the responses obtained in the presence of speech noise did not differ significantly compared to response obtained in the presence of speech babble. Compared across syllables, trisyllables yielded the best result followed by bisyllables and the least perceived was monosyllables. Conclusion: The present study highlights the poor phonological processing of speech in children with LD and also represents the effect of noise on the speech perception. This study also highlights the poor pattern perception seen in children with LD.

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Introduction: Majority of the studies in bilingual persons who stutter have reported that stuttering frequency is greater in nondominant or less proficient language. However, there is limited research concerning the efficacy of speech therapy in bilingual adults who stutter (BAWS). The current study aimed at investigating whether there is a generalization of fluency to a nontreated language in BAWS. Materials and Methods: Five BAWS participated in the study. The efficacy of prolonged-speech therapy was evaluated using a modified single-subject ABA withdrawal design. In all the five participants, nonprogrammed prolonged-speech therapy was provided in their first language, and fluency was monitored in both the first and second languages. Mean and standard deviation were derived for a percentage of syllables stuttered. Relative mean differences and effect sizes (Cohen's d) were derived for each participant and language. Results: All the five participants showed a significant reduction in %SS in the withdrawal condition when compared to the pretreatment baseline condition. Most importantly, there was a significant generalization of achieved fluency to untreated language in all the five participants. However, the amount of treatment generalization to nontreated language varied across participants. Conclusions: The present results highlight that there was a significant cross-linguistic generalization of achieved fluency to the nontreated language in all the five bilingual individuals using the nonprogrammed prolonged-speech therapy.

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Introduction: To determine the exposed noise levels and perceptual noisiness scores of various professionals who are prone to develop occupational hearing loss. Further, the relationship between perceptual noisiness scores and measured noise levels was assessed in the study. Methods: Initially, the exposed noise levels of different professions were evaluated (traffic police, bus drivers, auto-rickshaw drivers, vendors, and office workers). The “Noise at Work Questionnaire” was used to assess the noise perception scores under five different domains. Results: SPSS (version 21) was used to analyze the data. Levene test showed homogeneity of variance maintained for noise exposure levels across professionals, following which MANOVA was used. Shapiro–Wilk test for perceptual noisiness scores showed nonnormal distribution, following which Kruskal–Wallis test and Mann–Whitney U-test were performed for group-wise and pairwise comparisons, respectively. Further, Spearman's correlation for noise exposure and noisiness scores was done. The results pertaining to exposed noise levels revealed that the bus drivers (80.42 dB A) were exposed to high noise levels, whereas the office workers (52.4 dB A) had the least. In terms of perceptual noisiness scores, the results revealed a significantly better difference between the groups in the following aspects: benefits (χ² [4] = 18.679), barriers (χ² [4] = 10.828), self-efficacy (χ² [4] = 21.318), attitude (χ² [4] = 16.233), susceptibility (χ² [4] = 25.006). Furthermore, there was a negative correlation between the noise exposure levels and the perceptual noisiness scores. Conclusions: In spite of the high noise levels being measured, the bus drivers had the least noisiness scores among the groups, indicating negative attitudes in terms of perceptions which pose as a barrier to preventive measures. The alarming observation made was that 100% of individuals in the study had the least knowledge on the use of Ear protective Devices (EPDs).

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Introduction: Population-based surveys into the cause of deafness have consistently shown that a high percentage (50%) of childhood deafness can be attributed to genetic causes. The flip side to genetic testing in population surveys is the operational difficulties associated with carrying it out. The present study was therefore planned with the aim of establishing ancestry through pedigree of a village with high prevalence of hearing-impaired. Materials and Methods: A two-stage study design was used to conduct this study. The first stage involved a house-to-house survey to identify hearing-impaired whereas the second stage involved clinical examination for hearing impairment. Results: Of a total of 2522 individuals studied, 80 were identified as hearing-impaired yielding a crude prevalence of 3.17%. The pedigree analysis of the whole village revealed a common ancestry. Discussion: In the late 20^th century, deaf-mutism became a subject of debate and social isolation for Dadhkai villagers. A highlight of Dadhkai has been that its surroundings are not deaf-friendly as is expected. Consequently, as intermarriage flourished, the village community increasingly started resembling each other. This could have led to increase in autosomal recessive inheritance of deafness. Similar studies such as evaluation of six patients from two generations from a large sibship of Turkish ethnicity with double consanguinity in the family support the evidence. Conclusion: Flourishing of intermarriage and thereby consanguinity may be the reason behind high number of hearing impaired in this village. Therefore population based genetic counseling may be the key to prevent the same in future.

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Introduction: Calcium ions are important for efficient release of neurotransmitters during the transduction process in cochlea. It also plays a pivotal role in recycling of potassium ions. A deficiency in optimal functioning of calcium, which is seen in osteopenia and osteoporosis, could therefore hinder the recycling of K+ ions and cause dysfunction in the neurotransmitter release and thereby sensorineural hearing loss. The deficiency in the bone mineral density (BMD) can also result in microfractures in the middle ear bones and thereby affect its transmission properties. However, few studies have investigated the audiological findings in osteoporosis and none in osteopenia. Therefore, the present study aimed at assessing the effect of lowered BMD on the outcomes of the audiological tests. Method: The study incorporated 11 participants with osteoporosis, 12 with osteopenia, and 12 having normal BMD. All the participants underwent detailed structured case history, pure-tone audiometry, speech audiometry, immittance evaluation, and distortion-product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE). Results: There was a trend toward increase in pure-tone average and speech recognition threshold (SRT) and reduction in speech identification scores in the two clinical groups than the controls; however, this was significant only for SRT (P < 0.05). The osteoporosis group revealed significantly higher proportions of ears with absent acoustic reflexes and DPOAEs than control group and osteopenia group. Conclusion: The findings point to the detrimental impact of reduction in BMD on the entire auditory periphery. Therefore, the audiological evaluation should consist of tests capable of evaluating the auditory system functioning at different levels when evaluating persons with osteopenia or osteoporosis.

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Introduction: Hyperbilirubinemia in newborns has been hypothesized to cause damage to inner ear, thus leading to sensorineural hearing loss. Phototherapy is treatment protocol in most of the hospitals for newborns with high bilirubin levels. The present study aimed to determine the effects of phototherapy on outer hair cell (OHC) function of cochlea. Methods: Twenty-two neonates with hyperbilirubinemia undergoing phototherapy and 22 neonates without any high-risk registers were included in the study. Distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) was administered before and after phototherapy. Auditory brainstem response (ABR) evaluation was done during the postphototherapy recording. Results: Results showed that DP amplitude and signal-to-noise ratio improved significantly after phototherapy. ABR evaluation revealed; 19 neonates had significantly prolonged wave V latency compared to normal, whereas no peaks were identified among three neonates. Most of the infantile hyperbilirubinemia are found to be harmless until and unless treatment is not initiated at the earliest, but still it is found that short-term increase in bilirubin level can induce temporary changes in OAEs and ABR measures. ABR needs to be repeated over a period of time for these three neonates to rule out auditory dyssynchrony (AD). Conclusion: The results indicate that phototherapy has temporary effects on OHC function and can improve as the bilirubin levels reduce. Follow-up testing over a period of time helps in discriminating the sensory pathology and AD.

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Introduction: Attitude assessment is essential to solve the multidimensional puzzle of stuttering. The Stutterers' Self-Ratings of Reactions to Speech Situations (SSRSS) serves this purpose. In spite of its clinical applicability, limited literature is available on its development and validation. Further, while many limitations stemming from stuttering would be culture specific, the SSRSS is still being used in its original form in India. The present study aimed at modifying the SSRSS to be culturally appropriate and obtaining preliminary normative data on the Indian population. Methods: The study was carried out in three phases where the SSRSS was edited through two versions. In Phase I, 16 persons with stuttering (PWS) and 16 age- and gender-matched typical speakers responded to the original version. In Phase II, qualitative data on potential changes in the SSRSS were obtained from participants of Phase I and from two independent focus groups of three PWS and three speech language pathologists, and changes were made to the SSRSS. In Phase III, 15 typical speakers filled in the final version. Results: Quantitatively, significant differences between scores of typical speakers and PWS reaffirmed the robustness of the SSRSS, while analysis of qualitative data brought out several pertinent modifications. Mean scores obtained from the original and final versions were not significantly different, establishing the utility of the final version. Conclusion: The importance of periodic revision of the existing instruments was emphasized. Clinical implications yielded by the qualitative analysis were underlined. Adding to the data pool using the Indian version was suggested as a future direction.

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Introduction: Adults with stuttering (AWS) exhibit longer reading rates and poor nonword recognition. This is attributed to deficits in phonological working memory abilities specific to language disturbances. In the present investigation, working memory abilities of AWS was investigated using n-back test which is not sensitive to subtle language deficits. Methods: Participants included nine AWS in the age range of 18–26 years, and nine age, gender, and language-matched adults who do not stutter. The participants performed auditory 1- and 2-back tasks, where they pressed a button whenever the same syllable was heard as the one and two syllables before, respectively. The reaction time, accuracy, false alarm rate, and d prime (difference in z-scores of hit rate and false alarm rate) were calculated for an individual participant in each n-back condition. Results: Results revealed significant difference between two groups only during 2-back task. Analysis showed that AWS had more false alarms, which might have resulted because of the anxiety in responding, due to increased attentional demands, which is in turn reflected as working memory deficits during the difficult task. Conclusion: The present results provide preliminary evidence for auditory working memory deficits in persons who stutter.

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Introduction: Speech-language pathologists and audiologists work toward the prevention, assessment, or rehabilitation of persons with communication disorders. They work in a wide variety of service settings, with each setting being entirely different from the other in terms of the financial benefits, hours of work, nature of work, and work-life balance. With the extensive opportunities available, the field is growing and establishing itself in India. Measuring job satisfaction and understanding the factors that influence it makes known all facets of the profession in the Indian scenario. Method: The current study examined the various factors that affect work and income satisfaction among speech-language-hearing professionals who completed their professional education between 1967 and 2012 at an institute in India. A questionnaire-based survey method was used, and responses from 112 randomly selected participants from different work settings were analyzed. Results: A significant correlation between income and work satisfaction scores given by the participants was found. Conclusions: The study points out that income alone does not affect the professionals' work satisfaction. The latter is a resultant of other internal and external factors that lead to the professional feeling unappreciated for his/her job.

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