Gruber Seminar Series
Hosted by Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences,
Lamar University
Seminar 3: March 30th 2015, 10-12am, Room 171 SPHS Building
Guest Speaker
Naresh Durisala (AuD)
Audiology Clinic, Department of Otolaryngology, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore.
Naresh Durisala currently holds the senior audiologist position at Department of Otolaryngology, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore. He is practising as an Audiologist for the past 5 years and completed his Doctor of Audiology (AuD) from University of Florida in 2013. His current scope of practise includes providing diagnostic and rehabilitation services to patients with hearing and balance problems. He has an active interest in research that is clinically applicable to improve patient outcome. Recently he volunteered to train primary health care workers in Cambodia about basics in Audiology.
Presentation Details
Talk 1: Factors affecting attitudes towards loss of hearing in individuals with unilateral hearing loss
Often, audiologists can find it challenging to rehabilitate individuals with unilateral hearing loss as the subjective perception of hearing handicap can vary from person to person. In such instances, understanding their psychosocial attitudes towards hearing loss can assist clinician in choosing an appropriate rehabilitation option, that is, whether to recommend an amplification device or provide counselling.
Aim: This study used “Attitudes towards loss of Hearing” (ALHQ) questionnaire to determine the psychosocial attitudes towards hearing in individuals with unilateral hearing loss and to compare if the scores obtained in our participants are comparable to the established normative data. Also, to study if variables such as age, gender, tinnitus, cause, degree and duration of hearing loss has any effect on their attitudes. Methodology: A total of 29 individuals (11 males and 18 females) with hearing thresholds within 30 dB HL in the better ear and moderate to profound hearing loss in the poorer ear participated in the study. ALHQ questionnaire was administered using paper and pen format to examine the social and emotional aspects of hearing loss. ALHQ is a 22 item list with five subscales: Denial of hearing loss, negative associations, negative coping, manual dexterity & vision and hearing related esteem. Individuals were required to respond from “strongly disagree=a to strongly agree=e” against each question on five point rating scale. A score of 1 was given for “a” response, 2 for “b” response and so forth. Questions with negative factors were reverse scored. For interpretation, a high score on any subscale is associated with negative attitude and low score is associated with positive attitude. Therefore, for a successful outcome, low scores are preferred to high scores. Results: Mean, median and standard deviation for each participant was calculated. The mean and standard deviation obtained for each subscale are compared with the established normative data and their results are discussed qualitatively. Independent t-test was used to check for any significant difference between the present and the normative data. As the outcome scores were measured on an ordinal scale, Kruskal-Wallis H test was used to determine the effects of gender, tinnitus, and cause of hearing loss on each of the five subscales. Spearman rank order correlation coefficient test was used to check for any association between age (20-40, 41-60 and > 60 years), duration, degree of hearing loss and the outcome variable. Post hoc analysis with Bonferroni correction was used to account for any multiple comparisons. Independent t-test did not reveal any significant differences in attitudes between the established normative data and unilateral hearing loss participants. Kruskal-Wallis test showed statistically significant difference between individuals with and without tinnitus on denial of hearing loss (p=0.006) and between causes of hearing loss on denial of hearing loss (p=0.02). Post hoc analysis with Bonferroni correction revealed significant difference between participants with Meniere’s disease and unknown cause (p = 0.03). In other words, individuals with tinnitus or Meniere’s disease accepted their hearing loss more readily compared to individuals without tinnitus or other causes. For the association test, Spearman rank order correlation coefficient revealed significant positive relationship between duration of hearing loss and negative coping strategies (r =0.45, p = 0.01). Post hoc analysis with Bonferroni correction revealed significant difference between participants with 0 to 2 years and greater than 10 years of hearing loss (p = 0.03). Slight, but insignificant difference was noted between the participants with 0 to 2 years and 3 to 10 years duration of hearing loss (p = 0.05). This study demonstrated that participants with hearing loss for 0 to 2 years showed lower scores on negative coping strategies, followed by participants with 2.1 years to 10 years and more than 10 years. That is, participants with shorter duration of hearing loss had less negative coping mechanisms compared to participants with longer duration of hearing loss. These may include such as avoiding social interactions, pretending to hear or staying quiet during conversations. Conclusion: Identification of these factors that influence individuals attitudes towards their hearing can assist the clinician in planning appropriate rehabilitation.
Talk 2: Audiology in Singapore
This presentation discusses about the current status of audiology in Singapore, prevalence of hearing loss in Singapore and their attitudes towards hearing aids. Also, it presents about some of the unpublished data on hearing aid usage amongst Singapore elderly.