News media representations of women who kill their newly born children.

This paper presents a first quantitative analysis of language in media reports of neonaticide and a comparative examination of language use within the reports. One thousand twenty-seven Austrian print media reports from 2004 to 2014 were retrieved; after exclusion, 331 were analysed using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software. After a preliminary analysis, a comparative analysis was carried out between reports on the Graz case and all other cases. The preliminary analysis revealed that a majority of media reports were related to one repeat neonaticide case (Graz) despite not being clinically different from other cases identified for the same period. The comparative linguistic analysis shows some statistically significant differences relating to the domains of emotional words (less words of anxiety, sadness) and family and in the category of insight and certainty (more words). The unexpected media attention on the Graz case and the ensuing verdict, which was in contradiction with the Austrian infanticide act, might have been influenced by the way language was used by journalists and the media. The authors suggest guidelines on sensitive media reporting are required.

[Hearing impairment : successful communication as the main source of positive experiences]. / Schwerhörigkeit : Gelungene Kommunikation als Hauptquelle positiver Erfahrungen.

BACKGROUND: In recent years some studies could show that besides the negative effects of stressful encounters resulting from disorders and handicaps, positive experiences can also be made. The aim of this study was to determine which strategies can help persons with hearing impairments to gain positive experiences. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A questionnaire in the German language consisting of the Trier Personality Inventory and a German translation of a questionnaire designed to measure the positive experiences in life with acquired hearing impairment was distributed to persons with acquired hearing impairment, who were recruited from hearing aid audiologists and ear nose and throat physicians. RESULTS: Persons with hearing impairments showed no differences to the general population with respect to their personality profile. Positive experiences are significantly more common by successful communication behavior than by other strategies. CONSEQUENCES: Successful communication helps persons with hearing impairments to gain positive experiences.

[Suicidology: suicide notes and their themes]. / Suizidologie: Abschiedsbriefe und ihre Themen.

BACKGROUND: The study of suicide notes has a long tradition. It is important to integrate this study into psychological autopsy and to make contact with the bereaved. For the first time, we present an Austrian-German study and its themes. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A consecutive series of suicides, investigated at the Department for Forensic Medicine in Vienna from Mai 2002 until April 2005, was examined for the presence of suicide notes. Suicide notes and demographic variables were integrated in an Access databank. RESULTS: A total of 29% of the those committing suicide left notes, however, the bereaved of only about a quarter allowed these to be studied. The major part was hand written, addressed to the general public or family, and shorter than 150 words. Frequent themes were specific instructions, emotions, themes regarding the environment such as the family, occupation and leisure time, and themes regarding stations of life and illness.

[Suicide notes and their importance to suicide research. The representativeness of suicide note writers]. / Abschiedsbriefe und ihre Bedeutung innerhalb der Suizidologie. Zur Repräsentativität der Abschiedsbriefhinterlasser.

BACKGROUND: Suicide notes provide direct information from suicide victims and often are written shortly before the suicide act. An important question is whether those who write such notes are representative for suicide victims who do not. METHODS: A consecutive series of suicides investigated at the Department of Forensic Medicine in Vienna from April 2002 to March 2003 was examined for the existence of suicide notes. Note writers were compared with non-note writers according to the variables age, sex, family status, occupational status, psychiatric care, suicide motive, and method. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Suicide victims who leave suicide notes do not differ statistically significantly from non-note-leavers in sex, age, family status, psychiatric care, motive, or method. This means they are representative for all suicide victims concerning important demographic factors.

[Concerning specific language impairment: intelligibility in expressive language]. / Zur kindlichen Sprachentwicklungsstörung: Verständlichkeit bei der Expressiven Sprachstörung.

BACKGROUND: Even in the age of two years toddlers with Expressive Language Impairment (SLI-E) differ regarding their phonetic inventories compared with an age-matched group developing normally. METHOD AND PATIENTS: PCC-R scores of 19 children with expressive language disorder, aged between four and six years, are compared with age and sex matched controls with normal language acquisition. RESULTS: There are significant differences between PCC-R scores, children with expressive language disorder show lower scores than children with normal language acquisition. Age, sex and nonverbal intelligence do not influence performance measured with PCC-R. Analysis regarding early, middle and late consonants shows, that expressive language disordered children show bigger problems in aquiring late than early and middle consonants.

[Writing competence of deaf adults]. / Zur Schriftsprachkompetenz erwachsener Gehörloser.

Although all over the world deaf people face the same problems acquiring spoken and written language, detailed empirical studies are missing. The aim of this study was a grammatical analysis o faxes written by deaf adults. 236 faxes were selected from two Australian institutions. Analysis dealt with lexicon, morphology and syntax. Results show that there are three competence group, which differ in a statistically significant way. Group 1 consists of deaf subjects whi have fairly complete knowledge of written German; members of group 2 know the more basic rules and show less syntactic complexity in their texts while members of group 3 use holophrases, lack differentiation of word categories and show problems with serialisation.

[Language development disorders in childhood: nonverbal intelligence and language comprehension]. / Zur kindlichen Sprachentwicklungsstörung: Nonverbale Intelligenz und Sprachverständnis.

33 children with Specific Language Impairment (F 80, ICD 10) were randomly selected and their results regarding nonverbal intelligence, passive vocabulary and sentence comprehension were compared with data of 33 control children matched by age and sex. Although cognitive performance is average in both groups, significant differences regarding nonverbal intelligence are found. Whereas nonverbal intelligence is predictable from sentence comprehension to a high degree in den SLI-group, it is not predictable in the control group.

[Verbal and nonverbal intelligence in children with language development disorders]. / Verbale und nonverbale Intelligenz bei sprachentwickungsgestörten Kindern.

Difficulties in language acquisition seem to be serious, if there are additional problems like intellectual and/or emotional/social impairment, which are often reported [10]. These additional problems and the definition of specific language impairment as a developmental disorder, restricted to language acquisition seem to be contradictory [17]. Aim of that study is to look for specific language impaired children with similar cognitive abilities and though to investigate, if there are children without additional cognitive problems considering the definition of specific language impairment. 93 children, between 4;0 and 6;6 years old, were diagnostized as specific language impaired (ICD-10) and were assessed by the "Hannover Wechsler Intelligenztest für das Vorschulalter (HAWIVA)" [6] (german version of WPPSI). Cluster analysis showed, that 1/3 of the specific language impaired children presented no additional cognitive problems and 2/3 of them showed cognitive problems regarding nonverbal and verbal intelligence indeed. These additional cognitive problems indicate that there may be a more basic cognitive defect underlying specific language impairment [15]--at least for a group of specific language impaired children. Furthermore the nonverbal and verbal intellectual difficulties emphasize to general developmental support of specific language impaired children for optimal improvement in language acquisition.

[A new reading chart for simultaneous determination of reading vision and reading speed]. / Eine neue Lesetafel zur gleichzeitigen Bestimmung von Lesevisus und Lesegeschwindigkeit.

BACKGROUND: Reading acuity as well as reading speed are good predictors of everyday visual function. As visual acuity tests are poor predictors of the real-world function, performance-based tests, e.g., reading speed measurements, can be used for the determination of visual function. Thus, a German reading chart was developed in order to evaluate reading acuity as well as reading speed. METHODS: Print size is defined as the height of a lower case x and progresses logarithmically from one phrase to another (factor: 1.25). Reading acuity is determined in LogRAD (Reading Acuity Determination). 32 short German phrases were created, comparable concerning grammatical difficulty as well as in number (n = 14), length and position of words. The reading speed parameters measured with a stop-watch in 160 persons (aged: Phi = 21a +/- 3.8a) were calculated in words per minute (w/min). Out of the 32 phrases the 24 most similar ones were selected statistically and used for the reading charts (Radner Reading Charts). With these reading charts a reading acuity score (LogRAD-score) can be calculated considering reading errors in words of different length. Reading speed can be determined at the same time. Reading acuity (LogRAD-Score) was measured in 32 normal eyes of 16 students and compared to the angular visual acuity (LogMAR). RESULTS: The mean reading speed of the test persons was 211.8 +/- 34.1 w/min. 24 phrases fulfilled the test item criteria for the reading chart: mean +/- 0.25 x SD. The reliability analyses yielded an overall Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.98! The mean visual acuity measured in 32 eyes was -0.115 +/- 0.097 LogMAR and the mean reading acuity score was +0.026 +/- 0.091 LogRAD. The mean difference was +0.104 +/- 0.066 and the correlation between LogMAR and LogRAD was good (r = 0.59). CONCLUSIONS: With these reading charts it is for the first time possible to simultaneously determine reading acuity as well as reading speed in German. The high reliability of the 24 phrases and the high correlation between LogMAR and LogRAD leads us to expect a good reproducibility of the reading acuity evaluations. For the "Radner Reading Charts" we have shown that print size is the main reason for changes of reading speed.

[ICD-10 diagnosis of specific speech and language development disorders]. / Zur ICD-10-Diagnostik von umschriebenen Entwicklungsstörungen des Sprechens und der Sprache.

Diagnostics of developmental speech- and language disorders is based primarily on the criteria severity of involvement and pattern. Regarding phonological disorders single word articulation tests are widely used because of efficiency considerations. However they are insufficient for ICD-10 diagnostics, because severity of involvement and pattern are influenced from the fact that children are spontaneously talking or giving single word responses. "Percentage of Consonants Correct (PCC)" and "Percentage of Consonants Correct for early, middle and late consonants" are described as an articulation competence metric, whereas "Natural Process Analysis" is proposed to describe the pattern of the disorder. Three case studies are used to outline the methods. Data show that "Percentage of Consonants Correct" is a good metric to index severity of involvement and "Natural Process Analysis" is a prerequisite to describe the pattern of the disorder.

The Vienna Cochlear Implant in patients with obliteration of the cochlea.

Twelve deaf patients with obliterated or ossified cochleas received the extracochlear version of the Vienna Cochlear Implant. Four patients, 1 of them a child, developed open speech comprehension. Obliteration of the cochlea could not always be predicted by conventional tomography of the temporal bone. Short duration of deafness, wide dynamic range, and good ability of time resolution (small temporal difference limen [TDL]) are predictors for good postoperative results. Obliteration or ossification of the cochlea per se is no contraindication to cochlear implantation.

[Management of cochlear implants in children--methods and results]. / Cochlearimplantatversorgung bei Kindern--Methoden und Ergebnisse.

Selection criteria, basic principles of auditory training, development of an auditory test battery for children and results of 15 children between 4 and 14 years are presented and discussed. To summarize, results range from acoustic attention to tones and sounds and recognition of environmental sounds to the use of supra-segmental and segmental features of speech. Some children are able to recognize words and phrases from a closed list. One of the children has postlingual deafness and has had also a very short duration of deafness before implantation. This child shows better results than the pre and perilingually deaf children. Because of the fact that the patient group is small and there are also many intervening variables like age, duration of deafness and use of two different test instruments, it is difficult to find a relationship between the results and all other variables. The auditory test battery for children, which consists of seven subtests, measuring acoustic orientation and auditory speech perception on different linguistic levels, is much more suitable for the evaluation of auditory performance for this age group than the auditory test battery for adults (Eisenwort and Burian 1988).

[Evaluating speech perception of children with the cochlear implant: approaches to a new test procedure]. / Zur Evaluierung der Sprachperzeption bei Kindern mit Cochlearimplantat: Ansätze zu einem neuen Testverfahren.

The Auditory Test Battery for children, a test instrument for the German language, which measures acoustic orientation and speech perception on different linguistic levels, is described. Speech perception data for each subject, gathered from 8 implanted children, are presented.

[The cochlear implant and its psychosocial effects in 36 patients]. / Das Cochlearimplantat und seine psychosozialen Auswirkungen bei 36 Patienten.

In a study on 36 cochlear implant patients questionnaires answered pre- and postsurgically were analyzed. One year after implantation patients demonstrated significant changes on some of the test items. Although results show that the patients accept their device, some of their wishes and hopes remain unsatisfied.

Statistical procedure for the preoperative prediction of the result of cochlear implantation.

Predicting the result of a cochlear implant preoperatively continues to be the best way to prevent an unfavourable outcome. Data from 28 cases (subdivided into two groups by their results) formed the basis for discriminant analysis using different parameters. Allocation to the two groups was found to be satisfactory. Since a jack-knifed design was used, allocation was done on the basis of data material from cases not included in this programme's analysis. Data correlation was described by an equation from which the result can be predicted with adequate accuracy using language competence, duration of deafness on the operated side, speech discrimination and threshold of acoustical sensations on promontory electrostimulation. The equation is applicable to all patients, irrespective of whether their deafness is prelingual or postlingual. Since the patient material was enlarged by 19 additional cases, we were able to confirm that the formula enables a prognosis of sufficient quality.

[Experiences with the Vienna auditory prosthesis]. / Erfahrungen und Ergebnisse mit der Wiener Hörprothese.

Open set speech comprehension can be achieved by intra- and extracochlear stimulation using an analog broadband signal. There is a tendency that intracochlear provided patients achieve better scores for open set speech comprehension than extracochlear implanted patients. Four prelingually deaf children acquired awareness of tones and sounds and some of them are able to use suprasegmental cues. After reimplantation, speech comprehension scores remain stable. For three patients scores even improve. Controls of the pure-tone audiograms demonstrate that extracochlear implants do not destroy residual hearing.

[Rehabilitation of cochlear implant patients]. / Rehabilitation von Cochlear-Implantat-Patienten.

Pre- and post-surgical treatment of cochlear implant patients is discussed. Before surgery training of lipreading ability, auditory training with conventional hearing aids and counselling should be offered. After surgery the main focus lies on auditory training with the cochlear implant; communication training in a group and counselling should be offered too.

[Predictability of the result following cochlear implantation]. / Zur Vorhersagbarkeit des Ergebnisses nach Cochlearimplantation.

The results of cochlear implantation of 28 patients were compared with theoretical prognosis based on a mathematical formula, consisting of: speech competence, duration of deafness in the ear to be operated on, speech comprehension for numbers and the threshold for electrical stimulation using a promontorial electrode. Since the evaluation of this formula, 19 further cases have been operated on, confirming the usefulness of this prognostic scheme.

[Cochlear implant--current questions]. / Cochlear implantat--aktuelle Fragen.

Basing on the results obtained with 63 patients stimulated via the extracochlear or intracochlear version of the Vienna Cochlea Implant the following topics are discussed: Extracochlear versus intracochlear stimulation. Cochlea Implants in small children. Preoperative signs regarding the final result. Ideas for evaluation of results. Extracochlear or intracochlear stimulation enables speech understanding in about one-half of the postlingual deaf patients but the extent of speech recognition is greater when intracochlearly stimulated. Long-term follow-up as well as our experience with patients who had to be reimplanted demonstrate that the implantation manoevre does not create clinically relevant signs of damage. After the experiences with cochlear implants in adults their use in small children was encouraged, the more so since electric stimulation of prelingual deaf adults does not mediate speech recognition. There seems to be a chance to achieve speech comprehension if electric stimulation starts very early. The age limit in our group is the end of the third year. Final results cannot be presented but it is very clear that acoustic orientation and verbalisation are created and enhanced by electric stimulation. With regard to the preoperative prognosis, three parameters (threshold, dynamic range and TDL) are valid, of which TDL seems to be of major importance. The evaluation of the results should follow the hierarchical organisation of the language and must consider the three main levels of speech organisation.