A number of studies have been made to examine several aspects of voice production in individuals with different types of hearing impairments. Most of the studies were made to explore the impact that hearing aids have for people with severe or congenital hearing impairment. So far it has been confirmed that there are changes regarding voice production in these individuals. A group that has not been investigated regarding voice production to a larger extent are hearing aid users with an acquired hearing impairment. In the present study the voice production of seven individuals, four men and three women, with a moderate acquired hearing impairment is examined.

The purpose of this paper was to discuss stigma and stigmatisation in relation to social policy and social work. By discussing welfare systems in social policy I wanted to see if there could be any connection between social policy and stigma. I used case studies of Hearing impaired adults to give examples of how the stigma processes work. By connecting the stigma and the social policy theories with the case studies I wanted to see how the social policy could affect the stigma processes or vice versa.In the paper the concept of stigma has been described and discussed, foremost using the theories of Erving Goffman. I have also discussed the welfare system and the connection between residual systems and stigma.

Assessment of hearing aids can be done by inventories. The result of the inventories can show the patients need and how the hearing aids works in the patients daily life. The result of the inventories can be influenced by the difference in languages and the cultures. The inventory IOI-HA should not be sensitive to those factors.The aim of this study was to compare and analyse material, method and to report and analyse the result from a pilot study made at Sahlgrenska University.The result showed that IOI-HA is a natural inventory which is able to be used internationally. The four studies in England, USA, the Netherlands, and Germany showed that the psychometric properties are similar across languages and cultures.

A stay in the neonatal intensive care unit of greater than 5 days is one of the identified risks ofa sensorineural hearing loss. Preterm infants usually have at least one risk factor for hearingimpairment. The period from 25 weeks' gestation to 5 to 6 months of age is most critical tothe development of the auditory system. We think it is important to investigate hearingimpariment among infants born preterm, degree and type of hearing loss, risk factorsassociated with hearing loss and how the auditory system may be affected by preterm birth.ObjectiveA critical review of the current literature including studies of preterm infants born betweengestonal age 25-37. Our aim is to identify the most common type and degree of hearing lossamong infants born preterm and if there is an association between hearing loss and pretermbirth.MethodA literature search of Scopus and Pubmed resulted in 16 articles from 2000-2015ResultsMost of the infants in this study had a severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss.

This study investigated whether in-situ audiometry, delivered via hearing aids, is a better option as a basis forprescribing hearing aid amplification, compared to conventional audiometry. By examining the real ear insertgain (REIG) in 29 ears (18 subjects), that had been fitted with a hearing aid programmed using both conventionalaudiometry and in-situ audiometry, the study looked at whether in-situ audiometry based prescription is closer tothe NAL NL1's fitting target than audiogram based prescription. The hearing aid Siemens Pure 7mi with speakerunit M was used on all participants. The results showed how in-situ audiometry based gain at certain frequenciesis more consistent with the target curve, especially at 1000, 1500, 2000 and 4000 Hz. It was not establishedwhether the findings of the study were statistically significant.

Success in treatment with platinum-based chemotherapy against different types of cancer tumors is limited by side-effects such as hearing loss which can have a large impact on the individual`s quality of life. It is of great importance to continue with studies that address this complex of problems.Objective: The aim of this literature review is to investigate the impact of platinum-based chemotherapy on hearing in children and adolescents treated for different types of cancer.Method: A descriptive review of literature was made based on sources from 15 different studies on the impact of platinum-based chemotherapy on hearing in the target group.Results: The survey of the studies shows that platinum-based chemotherapy causes incidence of hearing loss by differing degree in the target group. Dosage of a platinum-based substance appeared to be the most significant factor. Treatment with both cisplatin and carboplatin was more ototoxic than treatment with only one of these. Greater risk for hearing loss was to a higher degree observed in younger children.

Andelen  äldre  i Sverige  ökar. Hos normalhörande  äldre människor  sker  det  en  förändring  i taluppfattningen som är en del av det naturliga åldrandet. Syftet med denna studie är att belysa det  biologiska  åldrandets  påverkan  på  den  åldrande  individens  taluppfattningsförmåga.  En systematisk  litteraturstudie  har  använts  som  metod.  Resultatet  från  övervägande  delen  av använda  artiklar  i  denna  studie  visar  att  normalhörande  äldre  har  sämre  taluppfattning  än normalhörande  yngre.  Den  försämrade  taluppfattningen  är  enligt  artiklarna  ett  resultat  av förändringar i det centrala hörselsystemet. Artiklarna pekar på att dessa förändringar beror på förändrad  lateralisering,  förlångsammad  kodning  av  talsignalen, minskad  nervaktivitet  eller förtvinade nerver i hörselkortex..

This Master thesis is about elderly visually impaired and their use of libraries. It poses the question how visually impaired elderly looks upon their local library. Their thoughts and opinions are mainly from two sides. One is what they think about the service that they get. The other is what they think about the information concerning this service.

This study investigated whether in-situ audiometry, delivered via hearing aids, is a better option as a basis forprescribing hearing aid amplification, compared to conventional audiometry. By examining the real ear insertgain (REIG) in 29 ears (18 subjects), that had been fitted with a hearing aid programmed using both conventionalaudiometry and in-situ audiometry, the study looked at whether in-situ audiometry based prescription is closer tothe NAL NL1's fitting target than audiogram based prescription. The hearing aid Siemens Pure 7mi with speakerunit M was used on all participants. The results showed how in-situ audiometry based gain at certain frequenciesis more consistent with the target curve, especially at 1000, 1500, 2000 and 4000 Hz. It was not establishedwhether the findings of the study were statistically significant.

Background: Diabetes mellitus is one of today's major public health problems, affecting up to 347 million people worldwide. Several studies have shown a correlation between hearing loss and diabetes mellitus. However, it is still unclear whether this correlation differs between type 1-diabetes and type 2-diabetes.Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate whether there is any difference in prevalence of hearing loss in type 1-diabetics versus type 2-diabetics.Method: A meta-analysis was performed based on ten studies that were identified through the database PubMed and through manual searching of references. Odds ratios for the risk of developing hearing loss were calculated in each study. Pooled odds ratios were calculated using a random effects model.Results: Pooled odds ratios indicates that both type 1-diabetics and type 2-diabetics are more likely to develope hearing loss compared to non-diabetic controls.

Hörselskadades riksförbund hävdar att en stor del av hörselskadade barn och ungdomar misslyckas i skolan idag. Det är vanligt förekommande att hörselskadade elever ska integreras i hörande klass. Trots detta finns det speciella hörselklasser för hörselskadade elever.Syftet med studien är att undersöka två hörselskadade elevers erfarenheter av att vara integrerade i hörande klass samt deras erfarenheter av skolsituationen i hörselklass. Fokus ligger på sociala- och lärandeaspekter. Studiens mål är att få fram positiva samt negativa konsekvenser för den hörselskadade eleven av att gå i de två skolformerna, så som de själva uttrycker det.Studien använder sig av livsberättelser som är en del av en narrativ metod.

The earmould acoustics affect the amplification that the hearing aid is programmed to give to its user. It is therefore important that the choices made for the earmould are correctly done. One choice is regarding the shape of the soundbore that affects the frequency response of the hearing aid above a certain cut-off frequency. The purpose of this project was to measure the frequency response when altering the shape of the soundbore in the earmould. Additionally, the aim was to examine how the frequency response is affected when the shape of the soundbore is not set or is not possible to set in the software when programming the hearing aid.

Different abilities are of importance to pragmatics, there among hearing. Hearing impairment can affect language development and also pragmatic ability. The aim of the present paper was to study the pragmatic ability in terms of request for clarification in children with Hearing Impairment (HI) in conversation with children with no known hearing impairment, henceforth normally hearing (NH). The present study also describes requests for clarification sequentially in detail, and also highlights points where there may be observable differences between children with and without hearing impairment. Eight conversational pairs consisting of one child with HI and one NH child were studied.

The capacity to process and to remember information is a basic condition for language ability and for coming reading ability. Reading ability is strongly connected to phonological awareness, receptive vocabulary knowledge and working memory capacity. In what way hearing impairment in children affects development of cognitive skills and later on reading ability is an area that has attracted minor attention for research.The aim with this study was to investigate changes in cognitive skills and reading ability in children with mild or moderate hearing impairment after one year of progress and furthermore if any connections between any increases of the abilities were to be found. Comparisons were made with results from age adequate normal hearing children. Moreover prosodic ability on word-level was tested this year.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the results obtained from scientific articles concerning research into group rehabilitation for people over 65 years with hearing problems. The interest arose then group rehabilitation was unusual in the audiologists work, even though previous research showed these positive effects. With a group rehabilitation, the participants can easier accept theire hearing loss and hearing aid, compaired with an individual rehabilitation. The method used was a literature study. PubMed and PsycINFO databases were used in the search for literature.