BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Although mass transit systems are convenient and efficient for urban people, little attention has been paid to the potential hearing hazard from their noise. The purpose of the current study was to measure and analyze levels of subway interior noise at peak commuter times and to provide information about commuters' daily dose of noise exposure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To measure the subway interior noise, nine subway lines inside Seoul (i.e., lines 1-9) and six lines surrounding the capital city area (i.e., Central, Bundang, Sinbundang, Incheon, Gyeongui, and Gyeongchun) were chosen. The noise was measured and recorded by a sound level meter for two-hour periods in the morning and evening. RESULTS: 1) In the LZeq analysis, the average noise level of all 15 lines was 72.78 dB; the maximum and minimum noise levels were 78.34 and 62.46 dB, respectively. The average noise level of the nine lines inside Seoul was 73.45 dB, which was 1.68-dB louder than that of the six lines surrounding the capital city area. 2) Based on the LZeq analysis of 33 measured frequencies, 12.5 Hz was the highest frequency and 20,000 Hz was the lowest. 3) There was no remarkable difference in the level of subway interior noise between morning and evening peak commuter times. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that the level of subway interior noise was not loud enough for commuters to incur noise-induced hearing loss. Regardless, environmental noise control efforts in the subway system might be needed for commuters who take a subway every day.
Hearing ; Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced ; Incheon ; Noise* ; Railroads* ; Seoul

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Although new technology of assistive listening device leads many hard of hearing children to be mainstreamed in public school programs, many clinicians and teachers still wonder whether the children are able to understand all instruction, access educational materials, and have social skills in the school. The purpose of this study is to develop a school adaptation program (SAP) for the hearing-impaired children who attend public elementary school. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The theoretical framework of the SAP was a system model including microsystem, mesosystem, and macrosystem merged with Keller's ARCS theory. RESULTS: The SAP consisted of 10 sessions based on five categories (i.e., school life, activity in the class, relationship with friends, relationship with teacher, and school environments). For preliminary validity testing, the developed SAP was reviewed by sixteen elementary school teachers, using the evaluation questionnaire. The results of evaluation showed high average 3.60 (+/-0.52) points out of 4 while proving a reliable and valid school-based program. CONCLUSIONS: The SAP indicated that it may serve as a practical and substantive program for hearing-impaired children in the public school in order to help them achieve better academic support and social integrations.
Child ; Friends ; Hearing ; Hearing Loss* ; Humans ; Surveys and Questionnaires

It is acknowledged that implantable bone conduction hearing aids such as a bone anchored hearing aid provide benefit and satisfaction to patients with unilateral hearing loss in terms of sound localization and speech perception under noise circumstances. This review paper introduces current models of the implantable bone conduction hearing aids, their candidacy, brief surgical procedures, and general audiological examinations. A table summary was used for nine published research papers which have very similar results by three points, i.e., no change in ability of sound localization, better performance of Hearing-In-Noise Test, and improved satisfaction of sound quality using questionnaires after the implantation. Unfortunately, systematic fitting strategy for users of the implantable bone conduction hearing aids has not been either studied or developed yet. Futhermore, there is no scientific based approach of reason why the implantation has no benefit in sound localization but still provides better performance for speech perception in noise. In conclusion, specific and effective fitting strategy of the current implantable bone conduction hearing aids should be developed and also support effect of the implantation with sensitivity and specificity for both clinicians and patients while accompanying their advanced technology.

Aural rehabilitation is defined as a comprehensive service which includes hearing aid fitting, hearing aid orientation, auditory training, and informational/educational counseling for people with hearing loss in order to reduce deficits of auditory function, difficulty in communication, and limited social activity, and ultimately to enhance their quality of life. Although it is well known that auditory training among a large scope of the aural rehabilitation is critical to improve residual hearing of hearing-impaired adults and/or older adults, there are some limitations to conduct it in the clinic in terms of time consuming and individual difference. In this review paper, we introduce two of the most popular web-based auditory training programs, namely Listening and Communication Enhancement And customized learning: Exercises for Aural Rehabilitation. The paper analyzes their purpose, contents, effect (or benefit) of auditory training, and clinical application, while arguing their pros and cons. In conclusion, we discuss a necessary of developing auditory training platforms for the hearing-impaired adults and older adults, and then of forging systematic web-based auditory training tools with a low-cost and high efficiency because aging population is rapidly increasing in Korea.
Adult ; Aging ; Correction of Hearing Impairment* ; Counseling ; Education* ; Exercise* ; Hearing ; Hearing Aids ; Hearing Loss ; Humans ; Individuality ; Korea ; Learning* ; Quality of Life

It is acknowledged that implantable bone conduction hearing aids such as a bone anchored hearing aid provide benefit and satisfaction to patients with unilateral hearing loss in terms of sound localization and speech perception under noise circumstances. This review paper introduces current models of the implantable bone conduction hearing aids, their candidacy, brief surgical procedures, and general audiological examinations. A table summary was used for nine published research papers which have very similar results by three points, i.e., no change in ability of sound localization, better performance of Hearing-In-Noise Test, and improved satisfaction of sound quality using questionnaires after the implantation. Unfortunately, systematic fitting strategy for users of the implantable bone conduction hearing aids has not been either studied or developed yet. Futhermore, there is no scientific based approach of reason why the implantation has no benefit in sound localization but still provides better performance for speech perception in noise. In conclusion, specific and effective fitting strategy of the current implantable bone conduction hearing aids should be developed and also support effect of the implantation with sensitivity and specificity for both clinicians and patients while accompanying their advanced technology.
Bone Conduction ; Hearing Aids ; Hearing Loss, Unilateral ; Humans ; Noise ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Sound Localization ; Speech Perception ; Suture Anchors

This brief communication introduced a systematic way to find a professional audiology clinic developed for patients and professionals by the American Academy of Audiology, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and Healthy Hearing. Patients can access each organization's website to find professionals and/or clinics based on criteria such as location, hours, special areas, types of service, reviews and rating by previous patients, and kinds of insurance accepted. Such a system may protect the patients from information overload, guarantee accurate information, and help them find themselves professional audiologists who can assist them. We expect professional organizations to adopt this system as soon as possible and link hearing-impaired patients with professional audiologists in Korea.
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association ; Audiology* ; Hearing ; Hearing Aids ; Humans ; Insurance ; Korea ; Societies

OBJECTIVES: Breast cancer has a high rate of recurrence, resulting in the need for aggressive treatment and close follow-up. However, previously established classification guidelines, based on expert panels or regression models, are controversial. Prediction models based on machine learning show excellent performance, but they are not widely used because they cannot explain their decisions and cannot be presented on paper in the way that knowledge is customarily represented in the clinical world. The principal objective of this study was to develop a nomogram based on a naïve Bayesian model for the prediction of breast cancer recurrence within 5 years after breast cancer surgery. METHODS: The nomogram can provide a visual explanation of the predicted probabilities on a sheet of paper. We used a data set from a Korean tertiary teaching hospital of 679 patients who had undergone breast cancer surgery between 1994 and 2002. Seven prognostic factors were selected as independent variables for the model. RESULTS: The accuracy was 80%, and the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC) of the model was 0.81. CONCLUSIONS: The nomogram can be easily used in daily practice to aid physicians and patients in making appropriate treatment decisions after breast cancer surgery.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Classification ; Data Mining ; Dataset ; Decision Support Techniques ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hospitals, Teaching ; Humans ; Machine Learning ; Nomograms* ; Recurrence* ; ROC Curve ; Support Vector Machine ; Survival Analysis

Background and Objectives: Recently, researchers have been interested in auditory brainstem response (ABR) under noisy condition for better diagnosis of the hidden hearing loss. However, there is no normative data conducted from a simple noise condition for the clinical setting yet. The purpose of the present study was to compare the data of ABR under quiet condition with those under noisy conditions and to confirm the feasibility of these data in the clinic.Subjects and Method A total of 104 young listeners with normal hearing (53 female and 51 male) participated. After completing the hearing screening tests, they were given the ABR measure with 75 dB nHL click stimulus under quiet condition, and with a level of 85 dB nHL white noise via a speaker. Absolute latencies and amplitudes of the waves were statistically compared against test condition and gender. Results: There was a significant difference of the latency and amplitude between the quiet and noisy conditions. Under the noise, the absolute latencies of the waves I-V were delayed, and their amplitudes were smaller compared to the quiet condition. Such patterns were revealed in both female and male subjects. However, the females had shorter latencies and larger amplitudes than the male participants regardless of noise. Conclusion We confirmed stable ABR data using simple white noise setting. In the following study, patients with various pathologies should be applied for the ABR under noisy condition and have their data standardized according to sensitivity and specificity.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a school adaptation program (SAP) for school-age children with emotional and behavioral problems who attended public elementary schools. METHODS: SAP, developed by the authors, addresses school adaptation and academic efficacy and consists of 10 sessions based on five categories (i.e., school life, classroom activity, relationship with friends, relationship with teacher, and school environment). Sixteen children with emotional and behavior problems answered questionnaires before and after participation in the program. RESULTS: The results showed that there was a significant difference between pre and post-test on school adaptation (t=-2.78, p=.015) and academic efficacy (t=-4.62, p<.001) after the 10 sessions of SAP. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that SAP can could serve as a practical program for school nurses and teachers. Further studies based on SAP in various school settings are recommended.
Child* ; Friends ; Humans ; Program Development ; Program Evaluation ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Listening effort is defined as a listener's mental exertion required to understand a speaker's auditory message, especially when distracting conditions are present. This review paper analyzed several subjective scaling tools used to measure the listening effort in order to suggest the best tool for use with hearing-impaired listeners who have to expend much effort even in everyday life. We first explained the importance of measuring listening effort and discussed various kinds of measurements. We then analyzed and categorized 15 recently published articles (i.e., from 2014 to 2016) into three topics: performance and listening effort, listening effort and fatigue, and clinical implication of listening effort. We compared the articles in terms of pros and cons and also identified 10 tools for use in the subjective scaling. Although none of these tools were unified or standardized easily, we concluded that 7-point scale would be the most reasonable as a less time-consuming measurement for compartmentalizing the degree of listening effort. If used with objective tools for measuring the listening effort, the subjective scaling could be a powerful tool for clinical use.
Fatigue