Sunday, October 18, 2009

Professional Journal Articles

Presbycusis:

Gates, G., Mills, J. (2005). Presbycusis. The Lancet, 366, 1111-1120.

This article gives a basic overview and description of presbycusis. It assesses what would happen if proper treatment isn't sought out for the patient. For example, depression or possibly even dementia. If the hearing loss is extremely severe, then the patient could be eligible for cochlear implants. The negative effects can be reversed once proper treatment has been administered by an Audiologist. I liked this article, because it provides a good, descriptive definition of presbycusis.


Does Snoring Contribute to Presbycusis:

Hoffstein, V., Haight, J., Cole, P., Zamel, N. (1999). Does Snoring Contribute to Presbycusis. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 159, 1351-1354.

This article assessed whether or not there is a direct correlation between snoring and presbycusis. There were 219 patients that were measured based on a snoring index, average nocturnal sound intensity, and maximum nocturnal sound intensity. Researchers found that snoring is not associated with hearing loss and doesn't cause presbycusis. I thought this was an interesting study that was conducted because it analyzed a less common aspect of presbycusis.

Professional Website Links

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders:

http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/presbycusis.asp

The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders website gives a depiction of what presbycusis is and how it progresses. It describes those who are affected in the population and also references the prevalence. The NIDCD website also indicates that symptoms include difficulty hearing higher pitched sounds, difficulty holding conversations, especially with background noise, and tinnitus or ringing in the ears. Typical treatments advised are hearing aids as well as assistive listening devices. This website was very helpful while doing my research. It contains a large amount of educational information and is also very easy to understand.


American Hearing Research Foundation:

http://www.american-hearing.org/frisinapresby.html

The American Hearing website focused on the biomedical aspects of presbycusis. It assesses whether or not presbycusis is an inherited trait or simply inevitable. Also research was done to see if there's a direct link between presbycusis hearing loss and diabetes. Other research was done to see if hormones affected age related hearing loss. The American Hearing website was also very helpful, because it provided information about other aspects of presbycusis. I liked this website because it references studies and research that have been conducted in relation to presbycusis.


University of Virginia Health Systems:

http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/uvahealth/adult_ent/presby.cfm

This website gave a basic description of the causes, symptoms, and treatment of presbycusis. Some of the treatments suggested were preventive measures such as avoiding loud noises, and wearing ear plugs. The University of Virginia Health Systems website also stated that treatment procedures are based on age, health, tolerance, etc. I liked the way in which this website outlined all the information and didn't incorporate unrelated information about presbycusis. However, there could have been more descriptive details about the specific causes of presbycusis.