Mismatched response predicts behavioral speech discrimination outcomes in infants with hearing loss and normal hearing

Children with hearing loss (HL) remain at risk for poorer language abilities than normal hearing (NH) children despite targeted interventions; reasons for these differences remain unclear. In NH children, research suggests speech discrimination is related to language outcomes, yet we know little about it in children with HL under the age of 2 years. We utilized a vowel contrast, /a-i/, and a consonant-vowel contrast, /ba-da/, to examine speech discrimination in 47 NH infants and 40 infants with HL. At Mean age =3 months, EEG recorded from 11 scalp electrodes was used to compute the time-frequency mismatched response (TF-MMR_SE) to the contrasts; at Mean age =9 months, behavioral discrimination was assessed using a head turn task. A machine learning (ML) classifier was used to predict behavioral discrimination when given an arbitrary TF-MMR_SE as input, achieving accuracies of 73% for exact classification and 92% for classification within a distance of one class. Linear fits revealed a robust relationship regardless of hearing status or speech contrast. TF-MMR_SE responses in the delta (1–3.5 Hz), theta (3.5–8 Hz), and alpha (8–12 Hz) bands explained the most variance in behavioral task performance. Our findings demonstrate the feasibility of using TF-MMR_SE to predict later behavioral speech discrimination.     

Deaf or hard of hearing inmates in prison

Despite laws in the United States enacted to protect individuals with disabilities in prison, there is ample case law to demonstrate that the intent of these laws has not been achieved. Using the existing US legal and social science literatures and experiences, this article considers: the problems hearing-impaired offenders face in prison that are not encountered by non-deaf or hard of hearing inmates; the services and accommodations prisons provide for deaf or hard of hearing inmates so that they can function at least as well as non-deaf or hard of hearing inmates; and the types of scientific research that should be conducted to understand the possible types of deaf or hard of hearing experiences in prisons, the consequences of these experiences, and the best way to address pathological sequela of being deaf or hard of hearing in prison. We argue that the creation of rules to protect this population is of no value unless these laws are implemented as intended. Without monitoring the law in action and studying why the intent of the law may be thwarted, an atmosphere in which deaf or hard of hearing offenders are neglected and even abused will likely occur.     

Opioid hearing takes up buprenorphine deregulation and more

The opioid hearing by the House Energy and Commerce Committee March 3 gave everyone a chance to ask questions and answer them, but lawmakers got the lion's share of the limelight as they promoted their respective bills. And the grandstanding wasn't limited to bills on the table: Politicians have never been shy about expressing their opinions on the best way to approach addiction. Still, it was a productive hearing, thanks in large part to the skillful management by Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D‐California), chair of the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.     

CARE Act backed by medical experts at House hearing

At a hearing by the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform last week, medical experts backed the Comprehensive Addiction Resources Emergency (CARE) Act (H.R. 2569). The legislation, introduced by Committee Chair Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D‐Maryland) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D‐Massachusetts), is modeled on the bipartisan Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act passed three decades ago to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic.     

Deafness and hearing loss - a global health problem

Throughout history deafness and hearing loss have been widely misunderstood. Issues concerning the education of deaf children, appropriate means of communication and remediation of deafness have consistently been a source of heated debate between the professionals working with the deaf and the deaf people themselves. The purpose of this paper is an attempt to illustrate these issues and to impart to the reader the realization that a diagnosis of "deaf" means so much more than the inability to hear and understand speech and other sounds. It is a way of life that cannot be ignored (Jacobs, A Deaf Adult Speaks Out, Harvard University Press, Washington, DC, 1994).     

Writing the self: Exploring the stigma of hearing impairment

Neoclassical economic and sociological views of discrimination are compared. We summarize economic models of taste, statistical, error, and monopolistic discrimination. Economists argue that competitive market forces should lead to the demise of discrimination in the long run. After explaining these arguments, we present sociological arguments about institutional and social‐psychological mechanisms that promote the persistence of discrimination. A typology of social‐psychological feedback effects from discrimination is presented. We conclude that it is important to recognize forces promoting both the erosion and persistence of discrimination and that this requires a perspective drawing upon both sociology and economics.     

The hearing impaired psychotherapist: Implications for process and practice

This paper will address the problems faced by the hearing impaired psychotherapist with a particular emphasis on the alliance in psychotherapy. The author will address the unique problems facing the hearing impaired therapist in clinical practice as well as the strategies which can be utilized to manage the treatment process.     

对城市规划行政许可听证问题的思考

一、对城市规划行政许可听证制度的认识 (一)有关概念 城市规划行政许可听证,是行政许可法规定的一项法律制度,是为了维护当事人合法权益、保障社会公平正义,由城市规划行政主管部门依法组织或当事人提出申请,充分听取有关部门和公众意见的一种法定程序,也是公众参与城市规划的方式之一.     

Equivalence class formation in non-hearing impaired children and hearing impaired children

The relationship between verbal behavior and stimulus equivalence was examined using three sets of children differing in chronological age and verbal ability: (1) non-hearing impaired three and four year olds who had verbal skills generally consistent with their chronological ages; (2) partially hearing (severe to profoundly deaf) children who were rated with verbal ages of above 2 years; and (3) partially hearing children (also severely to profoundly deaf) who were rated with verbal ages of below 2 years. All children were taught a series of four conditional discriminations using unfamiliar stimuli. The children were then tested to determine whether classes of equivalent stimuli had formed. Although all the children were able to learn the conditional discriminations equally well and all the verbally-able children (normal and partially hearing) formed equivalence classes, only one of the verbally-impaired children reliably demonstrated stimulus equivalence formation. These results are consistent with the suggestion that stimulus equivalence and human verbal behavior are closely related.