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There is a dearth of locally relevant data in South Africa regarding the communication development of children infected with HIV/AIDS within the local context. The objective was to describe the characteristics of a group of children infected with HIV/AIDS being managed at a regional hospital in Gauteng, South Africa.

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Objectives: The hypothesis that a natural auditory psychophysical discontinuity contributes to a perceptual category boundary between voiced and voiceless English stop consonants was examined. Design: The relationships between voice onset time (VOT) phonetic boundary and gap-detection thresholds for conditions in which the sounds delimiting the gap were acoustically identical or different were examined in 18 native young adult English speakers. It was specifically hypothesized that between-channel gap-detection thresholds, in contrast to within-channel gap thresholds, would be better predictors of categorical VOT values for listeners. The stimuli used in the between-channel gap-detection task were designed such that dissimilar leading and trailing markers of the gap approximated a stop burst and a following vowel, both in terms of temporal and spectral relationships, while being devoid of phonetic identity. The stimuli used to examine the VOT measure were synthesized bilabial stop syllables in a continuum ranging from /ba/ to /pa/. Results: Statistically significant larger gap thresholds were found for the between-channel conditions than for the within-channel condition (p < 0.05). The center frequency of the trailing marker affected the between-channel gap thresholds with the thresholds improving as the center frequency increased (p < 0.05). Statistically significant positive correlations and predictive linear relations were found between VOT phonetic boundaries and between-channel gap thresholds (p < 0.05) but not within-channel gap thresholds (p > 0.05). Conclusions: A relationship between the phonetic boundary of voiced–voiceless speech sounds and the auditory temporal resolution task of detecting gaps placed within dissimilar markers, regardless of the center frequency of the trailing marker noise burst, was demonstrated. Detection of gaps between different nonspeech acoustic markers and categorical perception of VOT seems to share the same underlying perceptual timing mechanisms in native English speakers.

This review of scientific literature was performed in Brazillan and North American studies about the prevalence and assessment procedures of Infant Hearing Loss. Fourteen Brazilian articles and 12 American publications of prevalence between 2000 and 2012 were reviewed. The prvalence of infant hearing loss in Brazilian papers was between 0.2% and 10.2% and American papers from 0.22% to 3.61%. As or the procedures used for diagnosis there was a high similarity in the choice of methods.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a systemic disease that affects a number of sensory systems and is a major public health concern. A common, but under-recognized complication of DM is hearing difficulty. However, research on DM-related auditory deficits is relatively sparse. Recent data shows over a two-fold higher prevalence of hearing impairment in diabetic patients compared to non-diabetic individuals, further solidifying this strong association between diabetes and hearing loss. However, the nature of these hearing difficulties has not been clearly elucidated. In the present study, the auditory processing abilities of a group of adults (N = 9; mean age = 53.3) with type 2 DM was compared to an age matched control group (N = 9; mean age= 47.6). In addition, visual processing abilities of the participants were examined to determine if the hearing difficulties associated with DM were a function of a more global sensory deficit. The selection criteria for the DM group included age, duration of diabetes (> 5 years), and recent measures of diabetic control (hemoglobin A1C and blood sugar). Further, all participants in the test and control groups had a comprehensive hearing evaluation and had hearing (measured with pure tones 250-4000 Hz) within normal limits bilaterally. The following test measures were recorded. The Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument (MNSI) was administered to screen each subject for peripheral neuropathy symptoms. The Speech, Spatial & Qualities (SSQ12) questionnaire was administered to attain a measure of each individuals subjective hearing complaints. Subtle deficits in the peripheral auditory system were examined using (a) Extended high frequency audiometry, that assessed ultra high frequencies from 9000-16000 Hz bilaterally, (b) The Threshold Equalizing Noise (TEN) test, to assess for potential dead regions within the cochlea, and (c) Distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE) were collected bilaterally to assess frequency specific cochlear outer hair cell function. Higher-order auditory processing was examined with the Quick Speech in Noise Test (QuickSIN), the Listening in Spatial Noise test-Sentences (LiSN-S) and the Random gap detection, to measure temporal processing abilities. Further, the Text Reception Threshold Test (TRT) was employed to examine visual processing abilities. The results revealed that individuals with DM had significantly (a) Elevated high frequency (> 4 kHz) pure tone thresholds; (b) Increased self-reported hearing difficulties based on SSQ12 scores (c) Poorer spatial listening in noise skills based on LiSN results, (d) Lower DPOAE amplitudes for higher frequencies, and (e) Poorer temporal processing skills based on the average gap detection thresholds, when compared to the age-matched controls. These findings not only support the strong association between diabetes and hearing loss, they suggest that that even individuals with controlled diabetes potentially suffer with subclinical auditory processing deficits that may affect their quality of life. These findings have implications in the management of DM in the future. Further research is needed in order to determine clinically feasible means of evaluating DM subjects.

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