Comparative assessment of the effectiveness of hearing assessment protocols in identifying SNHL in elderly and senile people

Introduction. The article discusses methods of screening for hearing impairments in patients of the older age group in the frame-work of primary health care.Aim of the study. Conduct a comparative analysis of the effectiveness of different hearing assessment protocols in primary health care.Materials and methods. Сlinical and demographic data were collected in 585 elderly and senile patients (mean age 76.43 ± 9.83), tonal threshold audiometry was performed in the frequency range from 250 Hz to 12000 Hz, hearing was studied using the web application “Automated primary hearing assessment” (patent No. 2019664671) and analyzed the self-assessment of hearing with the HHIE questionnaire.Results. Most of the patients were elderly people (57.44%) with a high percentage of concomitant diseases (up to 89.23%). When interviewing a geriatrician about a complaint of hearing loss, a sensitivity of 91.5% and a specificity of 82.2% for detecting mild hearing loss, a sensitivity of 95.5% and a specificity of 71.8% for screening for moderate to severe hearing loss were obtained. When assessing the total score of the HHIE questionnaire (>17 points) and moderate hearing loss, the sensitivity was 84.7% and the specificity was 88.7%. The sensitivity index of the web application «Automated primary hearing assessment» for detecting moderate hearing impairment was 90.6% for the left ear and 88.5% for the right ear, and specificity – 88.5% for the left ear and 97.5% for the right ear.Discussion. Raising awareness of hearing problems through the introduction of feasible methods of assessing hearing function should lead to an increase in the number of older adults receiving adequate hearing rehabilitation.Conclusions. The authors conclude that it is important to take preliminary account of data on the sensitivity and specificity of assessment protocols for detecting hearing impairments of varying severity at the stage of examination of an older patient by a geriatrician and an otorhinolaryngologist.

Activity and voice of people with sensory dysfunctions on social media. Report on netnographic research

Social media are becoming an essential communication tool for people with disabilities and can become a good resource of knowledge for social workers. As a critical area of contemporary visual culture, social media can enhance the empowerment and social inclusion of people with visual and hearing impairments. The aim of the presented online research conducted between March and July 2021 was to answer the main research question: what self-expression content people with sensory disorders present on social media. Additionally, specific research questions were posed: how the content address topics relates to social inclusion; what benefits can social workers gain from observing social media accounts run by people with visual and hearing impairments? To analyse the presence of people with visual and hearing impairment on social media, I used three qualitative research methods: desk research, netnography, and case study. The analysis of the collected material allowed me to distinguish nine main thematic categories of content published by people with sensory dysfunctions on social media: everyday life, medical information, modern technologies, forms of support, taboos, humour, social activity, relationships, leisure. The categories were generated through coding and categorization in an emic perspective. The analysis also indicated that much of the content discussed relates to the idea of social inclusion for people with sensory dysfunctions. The article also shows a series of benefits of observing social media for social workers in their professional practice.

Internal disorder pattern as a predictor of adaptation of disabled adults

The article is devoted to the problem of adaptation of disabled adults. The influence of personal characteristics on adaptation and the problems of including people in the Societas are usually studied. This publication examines the influence of the internal disorder pattern on adaptation. The internal disorder pattern is a complex of sensations, knowledge, experiences, motivational changes associated with the violation. The results of an empirical study involving 75 disabled adults are presented. The methods of conversation, survey and statistical processing were used. It was found that the severity of the components of the internal disorder pattern differs in groups of adults with different variants of dysontogeny. The greatest number of correlations was found between the adaptation parameters and the physical component of the internal disorder pattern. The physical component is a predictor of the overall level of adaptability, internality and emotional comfort. This is important for people with severe speech and hearing disorders. The cognitive component is a predictor of internal control in a group of people with hearing impairments. There was no influence of the components of the internal disorder pattern on adaptation in groups of people with visual impairment and mobility disabilities. It is suggested that this influence is mediated through personal characteristics and self-attitude.

Mass Media as a Tool for Social Inclusion of People with Disabilities: Thematically Universal and Specialized Editions (on the Example of Deaf-Press)

The study examined the role of national press in the process of social inclusion and integration of deaf community. We found that in the light of the problems of social inclusion, it is necessary to address the characteristics of certain groups of people with disabilities, in particular, specific needs of people with hearing impairments. Different life practices of people with hearing disabilities make it important to study this particular segment of population and various communication strategies that facilitate the process of their social integration. Russian academic community does not consider people with hearing disabilities as a separate cultural and sociolinguistic group but as a part of a bigger group of people with different kinds of disabilities. The present study described the differences between the concepts of “socialization”, “adaptation”, “integration" and "inclusion", and also highlighted the importance of studying the process of inclusion. Additionally, the authors described the features of the deaf community and approaches to study this particular segment of population. The article presents statistical, documented and theoretical sources to be used as the basis for empirical research. In order to get the most complete picture of the role of the press in matters of social inclusion, the authors considered both socio-political press and specialized press directly targeting deaf community. Identifying drawbacks of current media coverage the authors explored and showed different ways to improve it. A content analysis of socio-political and specialized publications was implemented, which made it possible to form a basis for the formation of recommendations for domestic media.

Tapioca flour as a heat insulator for learning media for students with hearing impairments

The objective of this study was to determine the use of tapioca flour as a heat insulator for learning media for students with hearing impairments. Experiments were done method by testing tapioca flour placed on the wall that heat radiated by bulb lamp with various intensities (i.e. 8, 10, and 12 W). The results showed that tapioca flour is a good heat insulator. This is confirmed by the test results using thermocouple tools showing a decrease in temperature of the insulator testing toolbox. The tapioca flour caused the heat from the lamp inside the box to be restrained from spreading out completely. The concept of heat radiation and the change of heat adsorbed by tapioca flour was explained, which can be further developed for learning media for students with hearing impairment. The results of this study are expected to facilitate teachers in providing understanding to students in understanding the occurrence of heat insulators, especially for students with hearing impairments.

Speech to Indian Sign Language Translator

Indian Sign Language is one of the most important and widely used forms of communication for people with speaking and hearing impairments. Many people or communities have attempted to create systems that read the sign language symbols and convert the same to text, but text or audio to sign language is still infrequent. This project mainly focuses on developing a translating system consisting of many modules that take English audio and convert the input to English text, which is further parsed to structure grammar representation on which grammar rules of Indian Sign Language are applied. Stop words are removed from the reordered sentence. Since the Indian Sign Language does not support conjugation in words, stemming and lemmatization will transform the provided word into its root or original word. Then all the individual words are checked in a dictionary holding videos of each word. If the system does not find words in the dictionary, then the most suitable synonym replaces them. The system proposed by us is inventive as the current systems are bound to direct conversion of words into Indian Sign Language on-the-other-hand our system aims to convert the sentences in Indian Sign Language grammar and effectively display it to the user.

The Training Program Effectiveness to Improve English Pronunciation for Students with Hearing Impairments in the Elementary Level

This study aimed to determine the effect of a training program to improve English pronunciation for hard-of-hearing students. To achieve the aim of the study, the researchers used the quasi-experimental approach, and the study sample consisted of (30) students with hearing impairments from primary schools in the city of Irbid. The experimental group studied based on the training program and consisted of (15) students, and (15) students of the control group studied in the traditional way. A set of instruments has been prepared, which consists of an image-naming test and preparing a training program based on the curriculum for students to see their effectiveness in raising the level of pronunciation for students with hearing impairments in the English language. The results showed that there were statistically significant differences between the control and experimental groups in favour of the experimental group. The study recommended holding training courses (sound training) targeting parents of hearing-impaired students in order to develop the receptive and expressive language of their children.

Features of the formation and development of orienteering sportsmen with hearing impairments in Ukraine

У статті досліджено проблему становлення спортивного орієнтування слабочуючих та глухих спортсменів в Україні. Визначено ключові моменти в розвитку цього виду спорту. Вперше систематизовано дані щодо результативності вітчизняних дефлімпійців-орієнтувальників на міжнародній арені. Відображення результатів дослідження в таблицях дозволило краще сприймати інформацію. Отримані у процесі дослідження дані продемонстрували позитивну динаміку у зростанні результативності виступів вітчизняних спортсменів-дефлімпійців на міжнародній арені.