Journal Reviews
Lack of early vocabulary growth in bilateral cochlear implant children
Studies indicate that children with unilateral implantation may have delayed vocabulary development for long periods of time even after implantation. This Finnish study attempted to find out whether bilateral cochlear implantation was associated with earlier vocabulary development. The authors analysed...
How to talk about hearing aid costs?
Money is always a controversial topic if discussed in reference to healthcare. This study raises the interesting topic of difficulties when it comes to discussing the costs of hearing aids with customers. Sixty-two audiological appointments were recorded and discussions concerning...
British English speech test for occupational hearing assessment
It is very important to properly assess occupational fitness for several occupations such as police officer, military personnel or fire fighter. The aim of this study was to develop a British English speech in noise (SiN) test as a tool...
Self-report of hearing aids handling difficulties
The authors have raised an interesting subject concerning the ability of customers to self-assess their hearing aid handling skills. Previous studies showed that 96% of customers when asked if they are able to manage their hearing aids answered ‘yes’. However,...
Importance of face-to-face communication in clinical practice
Breakdowns in communication with patients who have difficulty in understanding, speaking or hearing may occur during a consultation. The authors of this paper studied the hearing-related breakdowns in communication especially amongst older adults with hearing impairment (HI) using conversational analysis...
Use of technological aids and interpretation services
Hearing loss attracts large interest among researchers all over the world due to its prevalence and negative psychological side-effects. Usually hearing loss is managed with hearing aids. However, there are several additional technologies that can be of great help for...
Concussion and vestibular processing deficits
It is well known that patients with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), also referred to as concussion, display longstanding vestibular symptoms but often clinical signs and objective vestibular function test abnormalities are lacking. The aim of the study was to...
Novel wax solvent
This paper describes an open label, prospective study undertaken by the authors to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of a novel topical wax solvent. This new product has a dual action using a bicarbonate system to disrupt the esters and...
Single sided deafness and cochlear implants
Cochlear implants (CI) can restore hearing in the profoundly deaf ear. Risk/ benefit and cost considerations dictate strict criteria that must be met for patients to be eligible. People with single-sided deafness are not eligible to receive a cochlear implant...
Does endoscopic tympanoplasty give better results than a conventional approach?
This is a retrospective review looking at two groups of patients who had undergone middle ear surgery for chronic otitis media (perforation, retraction pocket/cholesteatoma) either open or endoscopic. Four hundred and five patients underwent open ear surgery and 501 endoscopic,...
Tinnitus and leisure noise
Tinnitus attracts large interest among researchers all over the world due to its negative psychological side-effects. Researchers from the National Acoustic Laboratory (NAL) tested life-time noise exposure and its influence on the tinnitus experience in 1435 young Australians from various...
From clinical to academic – intervention research in SLT
There are many different research methods and designs that can be used to test the effectiveness of speech and language interventions. This article aims to describe those methods relevant to speech and language therapists working with a range of clients....
