RESUMEN
This study was done to identify the effect that environmental noises have on consonant perception of individuals with normal hearing sensitivity. The objectives were to find out the effect of white noise and environmental noises on consonant identification and to find the effect of noises on consonant features. Adult with normal hearing in both ears whose mother tongue was Odia were included. Initially the participants underwent pure tone audiometry, speech audiometry, immittance audiometry to confirm their normal hearing, good speech identification scores and normal middle ear function. For consonant identification test, the presentation level was 40 dB sensation level with reference to speech recognition threshold for all subjects. Consonant identification test was carried out in white noise and real environmental noises (traffic noise, classroom noise, park noise, restaurant noise) at 0 dB signal to noise ratio (SNR) and at + 5 dB (SNR). The results showed that at + 5 dB SNR condition all subjects were able to get 80% and above consonant identification (CI) scores irrespective of type of noise used for stimulus while at 0 dB SNR, the mean scores ranged from 75.5% (restaurant noise) to 84% (traffic noise). At + 5 dB SNR only in restaurant noise the CI scores were low as compared to those in white noise. At 0 dB SNR, the scores were low for both the test conditions of park noise and that of restaurant noise. Different types of noisy environments can affect consonant perception which can affect speech intelligibility.
RESUMEN
This study was done to measure the outcomes of hearing aid (HA) and cochlear implantation (CI) in case of congenital non syndromic severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) by using aided audiometry (AA), categories of auditory perception (CAP) score and speech intelligibility rating (SIR) scale. The objectives were to find out the effective management options available for bilateral severe to profound SNHL, to study the impact of age of CI on language development and to study the outcome of HA and CI. Patients with congenital severe to profound SNHL were included in the study. Initially the case history of the participants was taken then they underwent audiological tests to confirm hearing loss. To assess the outcomes of HA and CI, they were initially fitted with high gain digital behind the ear HA, then underwent auditory verbal therapy for twelve months, after that AA, CAP and SIR test done to measure the outcomes of HA and similar hierarchy followed for CI. The results showed that with HA, the benefit is very limited whereas with CI the benefit is significant. The average SIR score of HA and CI are 1 and 3.16 and average CAP score are 0.83 and 7.8 respectively. The study shows that the CI is one of the most effective management options available for severe to profound SNHL and found that early intervention followed by early detection of hearing loss helps in achieving better speech and language skills.
