Rehab Centers: The Effects of Behavioral Speech Therapy on Speech Sound Production With Adults With Cochlear Implants.
The Effects of Behavioral Speech Therapy on Speech Sound Production with Adults with Cochlear Implants.
Filed under: Rehab Centers
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2012 Dec 28;
Pomaville FM, Kladopoulos CN
PURPOSE: This study examined the treatment efficacy of a behavioral speech therapy protocol for adult cochlear implant recipients. METHOD: A multiple baseline across behaviors and participants design was used to examine the effectiveness of a therapy program based on behavioral principles and methods to improve the production of target speech sounds in three adults with cochlear implants. Probe items were included in a baseline protocol to assess generalization of target speech sounds to untrained exemplars. Pretest and posttest scores from the Arizona Articulation Proficiency Scale, Third Revision (Arizona 3) and measurement of speech errors during spontaneous speech were compared, providing additional measures of target behavior generalization. RESULTS: The results of this study provided preliminary evidence supporting the overall effectiveness and efficiency of a behavioral speech therapy program in increasing percent correct speech sound production in adult cochlear implant recipients. The generalization of newly trained speech skills to untrained words and to spontaneous speech was demonstrated. CONCLUSION: These preliminary findings support the application of behavioral speech therapy techniques for training speech sound production in adults with cochlear implants. Implications for future research and the development of aural rehabilitation programs for adult cochlear implant recipients are discussed.
HubMed – rehab
Association of serum C-reactive protein and erythrocyte sedimentation rate with muscle strength in patients with knee osteoarthritis.
Filed under: Rehab Centers
Rheumatology (Oxford). 2012 Dec 28;
Sanchez-Ramirez DC, van der Leeden M, van der Esch M, Gerritsen M, Roorda LD, Verschueren S, van Dieën J, Dekker J, Lems WF
Objective. To examine the association of serum CRP and ESR with muscle strength in patients with knee OA.Methods. Cross-sectional data from 285 patients with knee OA from the Amsterdam Osteoarthritis (AMS-OA) cohort were analysed. CRP (mg/l) and ESR (mm/l) were measured in serum from patients’ blood samples and the values were dichotomized for the analyses. Strength of quadriceps and hamstring muscles was assessed using an isokinetic dynamometer. Univariable and multivariable linear regression analyses were used to assess the association of CRP and ESR with muscle strength, adjusting for relevant confounders.Results. Elevated levels of serum CRP (? = -0.10; P = 0.04) and ESR (? = -0.12; P = 0.02) were associated with lower muscle strength after adjustment for age, sex, comorbidities and NSAID use. The associations were no longer significant when BMI was incorporated in the adjusted model.Conclusion. Inflammation might influence muscle strength in patients with knee OA. Moreover, the link between inflammation and obesity might explain the effect that BMI has in the associations between inflammatory markers (i.e. CRP and ESR) and muscle strength.
HubMed – rehab
The protective effect of conditioning on noise-induced hearing loss is frequency-dependent.
Filed under: Rehab Centers
Acta Med Iran. 2012 Oct; 50(10): 664-9
Pourbakht A, Imani A
We compared the extent of temporary threshold shift (TTS) and hair cell loss following high level 4 kHz noise exposure with those preconditioned with moderate level 1 and 4 kHz octave band noise. Fifteen Male albino guinea pigs (300- 350 g in weight) were randomly allocated into three groups: those exposed to 4 kHz octave band noise at 102 dB SPL (group 1, n=5); those conditioned with 1 kHz octave band noise at 85 dB SPL, 6 hours per day for 5 days, then exposed to noise (group 2, n=5); those conditioned with 4 kHz octave band noise at 85 dB SPL, then exposed to noise (group 3, n=5). An hour and one week after noise exposure, threshold shifts were evaluated by auditory-evoked brainstem response (ABR) and then animals were euthanized for histological evaluation. We found that TTS and cochlear damage caused by noise exposure were significantly reduced by 1 kHz and 4 kHz conditioning (P<0.001). We also showed that 4 kHz protocol attenuates noise- induced TTS but no significant TTS reduction occurred by 1 kHz conditioning. Both protocol protected noise-induced cochlear damage. We concluded that lower tone conditioning could not protect against higher tone temporary noise-induced hearing loss, thus conditioning is a local acting and frequency-dependent phenomenon. HubMed – rehab
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