Hearing Flashcards
(28 cards)
Explain the difference between air conduction and bone conduction in hearing.
Air conduction: sound travels through ear canal, eardrum, ossicles, cochlea. Bone conduction: bypasses outer/middle ear, vibrations go via bones to cochlea.
What is conductive hearing loss and what causes it?
Occurs in outer/middle ear. Causes include microtia, atresia, cerumen impaction, otitis externa/media, tympanic membrane perforation.
Describe sensorineural hearing loss and list some causes.
Involves the inner ear or nerve. Causes: presbycusis, noise exposure, infections, Meniere’s, genetic syndromes.
What are otoacoustic emissions (OAEs)?
Sounds from healthy cochlea’s outer hair cells. Used to test cochlear function; absence may indicate hearing loss.
What are the core components of a digital hearing aid?
Microphone, amplifier, microprocessor, receiver. Converts sound to electrical signal, processes it, and amplifies back into sound.
What is mixed hearing loss?
A combination of conductive and sensorineural hearing loss.
What is central hearing loss?
Hearing loss where the brain has difficulty interpreting sound, despite normal audiograms.
Describe Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder (ANSD).
Issues with transmitting sound from cochlea to brain due to hair cell, synapse, or nerve damage.
What does tympanometry assess?
Compliance of the middle ear system in response to pressure changes; evaluates middle ear function.
What is the acoustic reflex?
Lowest intensity needed to trigger the middle ear muscle contraction in response to sound.
What are behavioural audiological measures?
Pure tone audiometry, BOA, VRA, Conditioned Play Audiometry. Assess detection, discrimination, identification, and comprehension.
What is the 6 Ling Sound Test?
A test using six sounds covering 250Hz–4000Hz to check hearing across the speech frequency range.
What is speech detection threshold (SDT)?
The lowest level at which speech is detectable, not necessarily intelligible.
What is speech recognition threshold (SRT)?
The intensity level at which a person can identify 50% of speech stimuli correctly.
What are suprathreshold speech recognition tasks?
Tests to assess speech understanding at conversational levels under different conditions (quiet, noise, open/closed response).
What is the main purpose of compression in hearing aids?
To place more of the speech signal within the dynamic range of the listener.
What advanced features can digital hearing aids offer?
Noise reduction, directional microphones, feedback cancellation, datalogging, ear-to-ear communication.
How does a cochlear implant work?
Bypasses damaged hair cells and stimulates the auditory nerve directly with electrical impulses.
What is the clinical pathway for cochlear implantation?
Candidacy evaluation → Surgery → Switch on → Programming (mapping).
What is aural rehabilitation?
A person-centred approach to managing hearing loss to improve communication, participation, and quality of life.
What are facilitative communication strategies?
Strategies targeting talker, message, environment, and listener to support clearer communication.
What are repair strategies in communication?
Repeating, rephrasing, simplifying, or elaborating messages when breakdowns occur.
What is the auditory-oral approach?
Uses residual hearing and visual cues to teach spoken language, emphasising lipreading and speech-reading.
What is the auditory-verbal approach?
Promotes spoken language development through listening alone, avoiding visual cues.
