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Instructional Level
Credit(s): PDHs: 3.0, ASHA CEUs*: 0.3
Summary: These three articles describe current issues and advances related to hearing diagnostics, treatment, and prevention. The first article is a detailed description of the impact that COVID-19 face masks and social distancing regulations have had on speech recognition and how face masks affect the acoustic signal and increase cognitive effort in listeners with hearing loss. Suggestions for mitigating these deleterious impacts on communication are provided. The second article is a research study examining the correlation between self-perceived hearing difficulty, determined using a questionnaire (Adult Auditory Performance Scale), and speech-in-noise performance (Listening in Spatialized Noise–Sentences Test) in listeners with normal pure-tone thresholds. Results highlight the relationship between self-perceived hearing abilities and binaural speech-in-noise performance supporting the inclusion of speech-in-noise testing even in those with normal pure-tone thresholds. The third article is a review of current genetic, stem cell, and pharmacotherapy research for treatment and prevention of hearing loss. Animal models are discussed, as well as steps to translate this research into clinical practice.
Credit(s): PDHs: 1.0, ASHA CEUs*: 0.1
Summary: As a step toward developing an electrophysiologic method for validating the speech feature discrimination benefits of amplification, the article in this SIG 6 activity evaluates the effect of stimulus level and amplification on the acoustic change complex in adults with sensorineural hearing loss.
Credit(s): PDHs: 0.5, ASHA CEUs*: 0.05
Summary: The article in this SIG 6 activity focuses on the audiologic variations seen among patients undergoing the same type of ototoxic drug treatment (cisplatin). Results show a large amount of audiologic outcome variability among the two patients examined, despite similar demographic factors, drug treatments, and types of cancer. Factors relating to ototoxic susceptibility are discussed, and the importance of otoxicity monitoring programs for early detection of audiologic change is highlighted.
Credit(s): PDHs: 1.0, ASHA CEUs*: 0.1
Summary: These SIG 2 articles focus on clinical assessment and practices for individuals with aphasia. Topics covered included challenges associated with diagnosing primary progressive aphasia (PPA) and the impact of adaptive yoga programs for persons with aphasia. First, Aimee Dietz, E. Susan Duncan, Lauren Bislick, Sarah Stegman, Jenna Collins, Chitrali Mamlekar, Rachel Gleason, and Michael J. McCarthy provide an overview of the potential impact adapted yoga programs can have for people with stroke-induced aphasia. Second, Adithya Chandregowda raises awareness about the challenges associated with encountering primary progressive aphasia (PPA) patients in the acute hospital setting.
Credit(s): PDHs: 4.5, ASHA CEUs*: 0.45
Summary: These SIG 2 Perspectives articles focus on counseling skills for working with persons with aphasia, “counseling+” activities for patients with mild cognitive impairment and dementia, and resilience in neurorehabilitation. Topics include counseling skills; counseling roles of SLPs; care partner training; and resilience in persons with acquired brain injury, aphasia, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Credit(s): PDHs: 2.5, ASHA CEUs*: 0.25
Summary: In this SIG 2 activity, participants explore innovative articles regarding a range of topics in the assessment and treatment of motor speech disorders. The first article describes a case of anarthria in which the speech-language pathologist thoroughly described the patient’s motor speech presentation, thereby contributing to his overall neurologic diagnosis. The second article examines the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a promising method of eliciting behavior change through brain stimulation, on the speech of individuals with Parkinson’s disease. The third article explores the speech and language profiles of children with apraxia of speech as their primary diagnosis, as compared to children with other concomitant diagnoses.
Credit(s): PDHs: 4.5, ASHA CEUs*: 0.45
Summary: This SIG 2 activity, participants explore aspects of service delivery and advocacy for people with aphasia that are innovative and/or unique. The first article describes the creation of community aphasia groups and includes guidance for creating aphasia-friendly materials for a variety of purposes. The second article describes the challenges of people with aphasia in navigating the justice system and discusses strategies to support their success within that unique environment. The third article describes the nature of verbal short-term memory impairment in people with aphasia, methods of assessment, and potential directions for treatment.
Credit(s): PDHs: 1.0, ASHA CEUs*: 0.1
Summary: Ototoxic medications and chemical agents in the workplace can put individuals' hearing and vestibular health at risk for permanent injury. Proactive ototoxicity management (OtoM) strategies aim to minimize exposure, avoid onset of symptoms, provide ongoing monitoring, and manage auditory and vestibular changes as the clinical needs of the patient evolve. During a 2021 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Special Interest Groups Open House, members of the International Ototoxicity Management Group discussed how best to integrate OtoM into routine clinical practice, what tools to use, and what special considerations need to be understood to best support patients and their families. Here, we have summarized their viewpoints to encourage widespread adoption of improved OtoM services for at-risk individuals. The field of audiology needs to move to a place where we better understand the full extent of ototoxicity and can agree on expanding minimum guidelines that can be implemented more universally to mitigate, detect, and manage the damage from ototoxic exposures. Only recently has our field seen a therapeutic drug that can protect against ototoxicity; however, the population served is restricted only to children receiving treatment for nonmetastatic carcinoma. This is hopefully just the beginning of future therapeutic interventions to come, but, in the meantime, ototoxicity resulting from other medications in different patient populations and chemical agents persists.