Papers by Farzaneh Zamiri Abdollahi
Background: Our hearing ability in space is critical for hearing speech in noisy environment and ... more Background: Our hearing ability in space is critical for hearing speech in noisy environment and localization. The Spatial Hearing Questionnaire (SHQ) has been devised to focus only on spatial haring tasks (e.g., lateralization, distance detection and binaural detection). The aim of the present study was to determine the reliability and validity of the Persian translation of the SHQ (Spatial Hearing Questionnaire). Methods: Translation and back-translation, reliability, content and construct validity were investigated. Eighty patients with sensory neural hearing loss (SNHL) (52.50% female and 47.5 % male) with the mean±SD age of 49.02±13.60 years completed SHQ, and they were categorized into mild, moderate, moderate to severe and severe groups based on their hearing threshold. Inclusion criteria in this study were the MMSE questionnaire score of higher than 21, good general health, no history of psychiatric disorders, dizziness or vertigo, dementia or alcohol abuse. Results: The reliability was assessed by Cronbach's alpha and found to be 0.99. Item-total correlation was between r= 0.84 and 0.92. There was a significant difference between the mean score of P-SHQ in the four groups. Based on the factor analysis, two factors were extracted from the questions in P-SHQ: sound localization; and music and speech understanding in noise and quiet. These factors could explain 82.1% and 9.3% of the total variance, respectively. Conclusion: The present study proved the reliability and validity of the Persian version of SHQ (P-SHQ). This provides a suitable tool for spatial hearing assessment in clinical/research environments.
Background and Aim: Time compressed speech test is one of the most useful monaural tests for eval... more Background and Aim: Time compressed speech test is one of the most useful monaural tests for evaluation of central auditory processing disorder. For developing the time compressed sentences test, the compression rate of the sentences must be set so that the average speech comprehension score is about 90% in normal individuals and can challenge central auditory processing system sufficiently so subjects with auditory processing disorders could be identified. Therefore, the aim of the present study was finding the appropriate compression rate for developing compressed sentences test in Persian. Method: Initially, two 10-sentence lists were prepared based on the experts' opinion and were compressed by the amount of 60, 65, 70, 75 and 80% using Praat software. Compressed sentences were tested on twelve 18-25 year-old normal individuals and the speech comprehension score in different compression rates was compared and the compression rate in which the average score was approximately 90% was
Background and Aim: Dizziness is one the most common complaints of patients in the emergency room... more Background and Aim: Dizziness is one the most common complaints of patients in the emergency rooms. It has various etiologies and can lead to falling and other life-threatening injuries, especially in the elderly. Dizziness affects the quality of life and results in negative emotional reactions. This research studied the etiology of dizziness in a three-year study. Methods: This study was conducted on 650 patients with the complaint of dizziness, whose specialists suspected them of having possible vestibular involvement, referred to a tertiary audiology clinic from 2015 to 2018. Videonys-tagmography, electrocochleography and cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials were administered. Other medical tests including neu-rologic examinations, blood analysis, and brain imaging were performed based on patients' complaints. Results: This was a descriptive study of dizziness prevalence with different etiologies. Patie-nts' age range was 18-85 years with mean (SD) age: 42.34 (13.12), including 377 (58%) females and 273 (42%) males. Patients' chief complaints included vertigo in 64.8%, dizziness in 20.2%
Background and Aim: Spatial hearing is one of the most important functions of binaural hearing pr... more Background and Aim: Spatial hearing is one of the most important functions of binaural hearing processing that is based on detection of fine interaural time and interaural intensity difference. Spatial hearing is beyond auditory locali-zation and lateralization. It helps auditory scene analysis and target stream segregation from other simultaneous sound sources. This function is important in speech perception in presence of competing messages. The aim of the present paper was reviewing spatial hearing, plasticity of binaural hearing in auditory system and spatial hearing disorder in children with central auditory processing disorder ((C)APD). Recent Findings: Recent studies show that spatial hearing disorder is one of the important problems in relatively high proportion of children with (C)APD. It is proposed that spatial processing disorder can cause speech perception difficulty in noise which is the main complaint of children with (C)APD. Spatial hearing rehabilitation through sound localization and lateraliza-tion training can be effective in improvement of speech perception in noise. Conclusion: In children suspected to (C)APD, spatial hearing evaluation is vital. Spatial hearing can be evaluated by using sound localization
Spatial hearing is one of the most important and vital processing in the auditory system. It make... more Spatial hearing is one of the most important and vital processing in the auditory system. It makes a base for higher level functions in the auditory system. In this paper some of these functions will be reviewed.
Introduction: Otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) are sounds that originate in cochlea and are measured ... more Introduction: Otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) are sounds that originate in cochlea and are measured in external auditory canal and provide a simple, efficient and non-invasive objective indicator of healthy cochlear function. Olivo cochlear bundle (OCB) or auditory efferent system is a neural feedback pathway which originated from brain stem and terminated in the inner ear and can be evaluated non-invasively by applying a contralateral acoustic stimulus and simultaneously measuring reduction of OAEs amplitude. In this study gender differences in TEOAE amplitude and suppression of TEOAE were investigated. Method and Materials: This study was performed at Akhavan rehabilitation centre belonging to the University of Social welfare and rehabilitation sciences, Tehran, Iran in 2011. 60 young adults (30 female and 30 male) between 21 and 27 years old (mean= 24 years old, SD=1.661) with normal hearing criteria were selected. Right ear of all cases were tested to neutralize side effect if there is any. Results: According to Independent T-test, TEOAE amplitude was significantly greater in females with mean value of 24.98 dB (p-value <0.001) and TEOAE suppression was significantly greater in males with mean value of 2.07 dB (p-value <0.001). Conclusion: This study shows that there is a significant gender difference in adult's TEOAE (cochlear mechanisms) and TEOAE suppression (auditory efferent system). The exact reason for these results is not clear. According to this study different norms for males and females might be necessary.
Background and Aim: Contralateral suppression of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) ... more Background and Aim: Contralateral suppression of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) test evaluates the efferent auditory system. In this test, acoustic reflex is an important confounding variable. In recent years, application of this test is growing especially in children suspect to central auditory processing disorder. Therefore, the magnitude of influence of this confounding variable on the suppression of TEOAEs should be made clear. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of acoustic reflex on contralateral suppression of TEOAEs. Methods: This research was performed on 39 normal-hearing adults of both sexes and of 18-26 years of age. Tests were used for the determination of interaural attenuation (IA), acoustic reflex, TEOAEs and contralateral suppression of TEOAEs. Results: TEOAEs amplitudes and their contralateral suppression were significantly higher in females and males respectively (p = 0.01). The amount of TEOAEs suppression before reflex activity ranged between 2000 to 3000 Hz. Activation of acoustic reflex significantly increased the magnitude of suppression in all frequency bands (p=0.001) and maximum suppression occurred in 500 to 1000 Hz. Conclusion: For achieving accuracy of clinical findings, clinicians should always use suppressant levels lower than the acoustic reflex threshold. It is recommended that different norms for males and females be used in contralateral suppression of TEOAEs.
Background: The occurrence of migraine and vertigo is common in the general population. Migraine ... more Background: The occurrence of migraine and vertigo is common in the general population. Migraine vertigo is challenging and has several common symptoms with inner ear pathologies like Endolymphatic Hydropse. This paper presents a review of recent findings about symptoms, test results, pathophysiology and differential diagnosis. Methods: The present study is a review of 35 papers in the field of vestibular migraine. They were selected by searching the keywords vertigo, dizziness, migraine, treatment and rehabilitation in Pubmed, ScienceDirect, Scopus and Google Scholar search engines. Only human studies were included. Results: Recent findings have proposed several common pathophysiologies between vestibular system and migraine including spreading depression in the basilar artery, vasospasm in the internal auditory artery, involvement of the connection with locus coeruleus, dorsal raphe nucleus, disorder of multisensory integration and channelopathy. Conclusion: For the differential diagnosis of vestibular migraine, it appears that comprehensive case history as well as clinical testing and patient follow-up, are the best combination. In addition, it has been proven that vestibular rehabilitation is beneficial to patients with vestibular migraine.
Objectives: Infant-Toddler Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (IT-MAIS) is a useful tool for t... more Objectives: Infant-Toddler Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (IT-MAIS) is a useful tool for the quantitative evaluation of auditory behaviors in different situations. The present study aimed to develop the Persian version of IT-MAIS. Methods: There was 4 main steps in the translation and validation of the scale, as follows: forward translation, synthesis, backward translation, and expert committee discussion. Then, the final Persian version of the scale was analyzed in terms of reliability and validity. The scale was studied on the parents of 17 hearing impaired and 17 normal hearing children. Results: There was a significant difference in the mean score of scale between hearing impaired and normal hearing children (P≤0.001). The internal consistency of the items was satisfactory. The Cronbach's alpha for the overall score was 0.93.
Background: Our research focuses on different dimensions of families of Turkmen population of Ira... more Background: Our research focuses on different dimensions of families of Turkmen population of Iran with two or more than two affected members. A complete clinical ear test was conducted on them. It was aimed to find families with the highest chance of hereditary hearing impairment among siblings and also existence of consanguinity among their parents.
Introduction: In 1996, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) introduced the need fo... more Introduction: In 1996, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) introduced the need for an appropriate screening tool for Auditory Processing Disorder (APD). Questionnaires are one of the tools to screen APD, of which the most frequent one is the Fisher auditory checklist. The current study aimed at translating and determining the validity and reliability of the Persian version of the Fisher checklist. Materials and Methods: The current checklist developing study was conducted on 25 children (12 males and 13 females) aged 8 to 12 years (Mean±SD=9.4±1. 3) with APD as the case group, and 25 normal children (14 males and 11 females) aged 8 to 12 years (Mean±SD=9.5±1.4) as the control group. The translation process was performed according to international guidelines. Indicators of formal validity, test-retest reliability, and internal consistency of the questionnaire were assessed. Then, to check the effectiveness of the questionnaire to identify children with APD and normal children, the checklist was examined along with paired Dichotic Digit Test (DDT) and Word in Noise Tests (WNT). Results: The average score of the Persian version of the Fisher checklist was 46.6±16.7 in the case group and 94.7±12.5 in the control group. The Cronbach's alpha for the Fisher checklist at the test stage was 0.827 and in the retest stage, the Cronbach's alpha in the patient group was 0.845 and in the control group was 0.709. The Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) values in the case and control groups were 0.708 and 0.744, respectively. Conclusion: According to the results of DDT and WNT, the Persian version of the Fisher checklist had face validity (face value: 3.4) and intrinsic reliability of APD detection.
Background and Aim: Temporal processing is affected in people exposed to occupational noise. The ... more Background and Aim: Temporal processing is affected in people exposed to occupational noise. The primary goal of this study was to evaluate the temporal processing of people exposed to occupational noise of more than 85 dB A but have not experienced clinically significant changes at hearing thresholds at conventional frequencies. Methods: A comparison between groups were designed using individuals exposed to occupational noise (n = 15 as the case group) and non-exposed individuals (n = 16 as the control group). Two groups were age-matched (p < 0.05). The extended high-frequency audiometric thresholds and temporal processing system were evaluated through a duration pattern sequence test. Finally, the correlation between the extended high-frequency hearing thresholds and the duration pattern test scores was investigated. Results: The case group had significantly higher hearing thresholds than the control group at 14, 15, and 16 kHz (p < 0.05). Although in other frequencies, the mean hearing thresholds in the case group was higher than the control group, the difference was not significant. Also, the case
Background and Aim: Dichotic listening disorders occur secondary to interhemispheric transfer dys... more Background and Aim: Dichotic listening disorders occur secondary to interhemispheric transfer dysfunction. Central processing tests such as staggered spondaic words (SSW) and dich-otic digits test (DDT) are recommended for the evaluation of dichotic listening in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). The present study aimed to evaluate dichotic listening in subjects with MS by SSW and DDT. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 45 patients with MS, including 20 males (mean ± SD age: 35.95 ± 5.73 y) and 25 females (mean ± SD age: 37.40 ± 6.1 y) and their data were collected by the Persian version of SSW (P-SSW) and DDT. The results compared to 45 normal subjects age-and gender-matched as the control group. Results: In patients with MS, P-SSW quantitative and qualitative errors (except for Sm2 and reversals), errors were significantly more than the control group (p ≤ 0.001). Right and left ear scores in DDT for the patients with MS were significantly lower, and right ear advantage was significantly higher than that in the control group (p ≤ 0.001). The results also showed a significant correlation between the test of P-SSW and DDT in the left ear.
Objectives: All subjects suspected of Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) were previously... more Objectives: All subjects suspected of Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) were previously tested by free recall dichotic digits test (DDT). The study objective was normalization and reliability evaluation of two-pair DDT in 750 native Persian subjects aged 8 to 12 years. Materials: A total of 750 subjects were divided into five age groups varying between 8 years and 12 years and 11 months old. Each age group had 150 subjects. DDT was tested in free recall condition. For evaluating DDT test-retest reliability, 300 participants (60 subjects in each age group) were tested again after one month. Results: Right and left ear mean score increased from 71.68(±2.19) and 58.51(±1.71) in the 8-year-old group to 90.26(±1.96) and 88.38(±1.36) in 12-year-old group, respectively. The mean Right Ear Advantage (REA) decreased from 13.16(±2.58) in the 8-year-old group to 1.88(±2.49) in the 12-year-old group. A high stability was observed between test-retest results (P<0.0001). Discussion: Persian version of two-pair dichotic digits exhibited proper reliability for evaluating 8 to 12-year-old subjects, and the study results can be used for evaluating the dichotic hearing function in subjects of the same age group.
Background: Subjects with (central) auditory processing disorder (C)APD may manifest a range of c... more Background: Subjects with (central) auditory processing disorder (C)APD may manifest a range of complaints including difficulty in speech perception in noise, following directions, and discrimination of similar speech sounds. Other disorders may also have the same behavioral manifestations. The Case: Here we present an 8-year-old boy who was misdiagnosed and mismanaged as a child with learning disability. His speech, language and cognition problems at initial evaluation included semantic problem, a short length of speech, phonological sound disorder, and attention disorder. He showed abnormality in the dichotic digits test with free recall approach and monaural selective auditory attention test. Based on his performance and test results, he was suffering from (C)APD especially in dicho-tic listening and speech perception in competition. It was suggested that binaural hearing training with differential interaural intensity, informal localization training including loca-lization clock, and auditory training in noise be added to his classic auditory training program.
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Background and Objectives: Hyperbillirubinemia in infants have been associated with neuronal dama... more Background and Objectives: Hyperbillirubinemia in infants have been associated with neuronal damage including in the auditory system. Some researchers have suggested that the bilirubin-induced auditory neuronal damages may be temporary and reversible. This study was aimed at investigating the auditory neuropathy and reversibility of auditory abnormalities in hyperbillirubinemic infants. Subjects and Methods: The study participants included 41 full term hyperbilirubinemic infants (mean age 39.24 days) with normal birth weight (3,200-3,700 grams) that admitted in hospital for hyperbillirubinemia and 39 normal infants (mean age 35.54 days) without any hyperbillirubinemia or other hearing loss risk factors for ruling out maturational changes. All infants in hyperbilirubinemic group had serum bilirubin level more than 20 milligram per deciliter and undergone one blood exchange transfusion. Hearing evaluation for each infant was conducted twice: the first one after hyperbilirubinemia treatment and before leaving hospital and the second one three months after the first hearing evaluation. Hearing evaluations included transient evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) screening and auditory brainstem response (ABR) threshold tracing. Results: The TEOAE and ABR results of control group and TEOAE results of the hyperbilirubinemic group did not change significantly from the first to the second evaluation. However, the ABR results of the hyperbilirubinemic group improved significantly from the first to the second assessment (p=0.025). Conclusions: The results suggest that the bilirubin induced auditory neuronal damage can be reversible over time so we suggest that infants with hyperbilirubinemia who fail the first hearing tests should be reevaluated after 3 months of treatment.
Background and Aim: Since the first report of recording the binaural interaction component (BIC) ... more Background and Aim: Since the first report of recording the binaural interaction component (BIC) in 1970, many studies have been conducted on BIC but none of them make its way to clinical application yet. The present paper aims at reviewing the characteristics and potential applications of BIC in audiology.
Objectives: Auditory Brain Stem Response (ABR) is a result of eight nerve and brain stem nuclei s... more Objectives: Auditory Brain Stem Response (ABR) is a result of eight nerve and brain stem nuclei stimulation. Several factors may affect the latencies, inter-peak latencies and amplitudes in ABR especially sex and age. In this study, the effects of age and sex on ABR were studied. Method: This study was performed on 120 cases (60 males and 60 females) at a Rehabilitation Center in Tehran, Iran. Cases were divided into three age groups: 18-30, 31-50 and 51-70 years old. Each age group consists of 20 males and 20 females. Age and sex influences on absolute latency of wave I and V, and IPL of I-V were examined. Results: Independent t test showed that females have significantly shorter latency of wave I, V, and IPL I-V latency (P-value <0.001) than males. Two way ANOVA showed that latency of wave I, V and IPL I-V in the 51-70 year old group was significantly higher than the 18-30 and 31-50 year old groups (P-value<0.001). Conclusions: According to the results of the present study and similar studies, in clinical practice, different norms for older adults and both genders should be established .
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Papers by Farzaneh Zamiri Abdollahi