Individual Differences in Auditory Training Benefits for Hearing Aid Users.

The present study aimed to examine whether individual differences in baseline speech perception could serve as predictors for the effectiveness and generalization of auditory training (AT) to non-trained tasks. Twelve adults, aged 60-75 years with bilateral hearing loss, completed a two-month, home-based, computerized AT program, involving sessions four times per week. Training tasks included the identification of vowel frontal, height, manner of articulation, point of articulation, voicing, and open-set consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words. Non-trained speech perception tests were conducted one month before AT, prior to training, after one and two months of training, and during a two-month follow-up. The results showed that one month of AT improved performance in most trained tasks, with generalization observed in the CVC words test and HeBio sentences with speech-shaped noise (SSN). No evidence of spontaneous learning or added benefit from an extra month of training was found. Most importantly, baseline speech perception predicted improvements in both training and post-training generalization tasks. This emphasizes the significance of adopting an individualized approach when determining the potential effectiveness of AT, applicable in both clinical and research contexts.

Assessment of Nutritional Status and Health Perception among Male Inmates in Israeli Prisons.

The nutritional and health perceptions of inmates are crucial to their overall well-being. However, limited research has been conducted on this topic. This study aimed to assess the nutritional and health perception state of male inmates in eleven prisons in Israel. A cross-sectional study was conducted between February and September 2019 with 176 voluntary participants. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data on socio-demographic characteristics, healthy habits, subjective health status, and prison situation variables. The study found that the prevalence of overweight (40%) and obesity (18.1%) among 18-34-year-old inmates was significantly higher than in the reference Israeli population. Short detention periods (up to one year) predicted less weight gain, while older age predicted poorer health status. Better emotional status significantly predicted better subjective health status among male inmates. There is a need for nutrition interventions to improve the health of inmates. The significant weight gain during incarceration and the associated lower health index and stress highlights the importance of increasing knowledge and promoting a healthier lifestyle in incarceration as early as possible and continuing over time.

[THE ADMINISTRATIVE TEAMS CONTRIBUTION TO PATIENT SAFETY IN AN ISRAELI PRIVATE HOSPITAL NETWORK].

AIMS: Assessing the attitudes and perception of risk management among medical secretaries and their effect on patients' safety in actual patient care, in a semi-private medical network and in a public hospital, to evaluate changes in these attitudes over time. BACKGROUND: A hospital is a complex, complicated and a high-risk environment in which, along with other procedures, administrative processes, which are usually performed by the medical secretarial staff, may also have an impact on clinical activities and are prone to errors as well as other hospital activities. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted. The survey was based on questionnaires completed once a year (during the period 2015-2018) by medical secretaries from seven different medical centers. Over these three years, different instructional and guidance interventions dealing with patients' safety were performed. Changes in attitudes and perceptions towards risk management and patients' safety were collected by comparison of answers at the beginning (2015) and the end (2018) of the study period. A group of medical secretaries of a new public hospital served as a control group. They completed the initial questionnaire and were not exposed to any instructional interventions. Follow-up time was 33 months. RESULTS: A total of 225 participants were recruited at the beginning of the study and 277 were in the study group at the end and 40 were in the control group. A significant and positive correlation was found between the perception and attitude towards patients' safety of the medical secretaries in the study group. Safety perception of the research group was significantly higher in comparison to the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Instructional interventions do have an impact and increase the level of safety perception of the medical secretaries regarding patients' safety. DISCUSSION: Ongoing safety interventions have led to an increased level of safety perception among medical secretaries. The results demonstrated the importance and benefit of the interventions in raising the safety level of hospital care.

The Speech Efficiency Score (SES): A time-domain measure of speech fluency.

PURPOSE: This study is a preliminary attempt to evaluate a new speech fluency measure, the Speech Efficiency Score (SES), in comparison with subjective stuttering severity rating scales and stuttered syllable counts (%SS). METHODS: 277 listeners (92 naïve, 39 speech-language pathology (SLP) students, 124 practicing SLPs, and 22 SLPs who specialize in stuttering) evaluated short recordings of speech on an 11-point scale. Recordings were obtained from 56 adults, of whom 20 were people who stutter, 16 were people who stutter who were using fluency-shaping techniques, and 20 were speakers who do not stutter. In addition, %SS and the SES measure were obtained for each recording. RESULTS: The four listener groups rated stuttering severity similarly, with no statistically significant between-group differences. Listeners' responses on the stuttering severity rating scales and the SES yielded significant differences between all three speaker groups. The %SS measure yielded a significant difference only between the stuttering group and the other two groups but not between the fluency-shaping and the control groups. A very strong positive correlation was found between the SES and the subjective stuttering-severity rating scales (r = 0.92). The correlation between %SS and the perceptual evaluation, as well as the correlation between %SS and the SES, were lower, though they still reached significance. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that speech efficiency scores, which are based on a time-domain analysis, closely match subjective stuttering severity ratings and could ultimately provide a more objective way to measure speech fluency.