Psychological Aspects of Tinnitus: A Comparison With Hearing Loss and Ear,Nose and Throat Disorders

Abstract

It is well established that tinnitus is sometimes associated with marked psychological distress, including anxiety and depression. As yet, however, it is unclear whether the problems are specific to tinnitus or may occur in other hearing disorders too. A total of 95 patients with tinnitus were compared with 73 people with hearing loss but no tinnitus, and with a further 80 people attending an out-patient clinic for a variety of other ear, nose and throat (ENT) problems. The principal measures were the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. The tinnitus patients were significantly more anxious, depressed, and neurotic than the hearing loss group, but were equivalent to the ENT group; and, like the hearing loss group, they were significantly less extraverted than the ENT controls. There were no differences between tinnitus patients with severe hearing loss, mild hearing loss, and no hearing loss. Results from Hallam's Short Tinnitus Questionnaire revealed that tinnitus patients without hearing loss reported significantly fewer difficulties with auditory perception than either of the other tinnitus groups, and significantly fewer irrational beliefs than the group with severe hearing loss. It is concluded that patients with tinnitus were more distressed than people with hearing loss, but that their distress was shared by patients with a variety of other ENT problems. People who reported the greatest problems with their tinnitus were generally those who also had severe hearing loss.     

鼓室注射类固醇激素治疗难治性突发性感音神经性聋方法的比较与分析

目前对于难治性突发性感音神经性聋治疗的临床研究主要为鼓室内局部激素的使用。本文通过检索国内报道的相关文献,采用比较治疗学的原理对其疗效及安全性进行比较和分析,旨在寻求一种较为有效、安全的鼓室给药方法,为临床治疗决策提供有效的证据,以提高难治性突聋的治疗效果。     

听障学生汉语唇读面部加工方式的差异：来自眼动的证据

为探讨高低唇读理解能力听障学生唇读面部加工方式的差异,研究采用视频—图片匹配范式并结合眼动技术,考察高低唇读能力组语前-语中-语后和整体面部加工方式。结果发现,虽然两组都表现出社会协调模式,但高唇读能力组社会协调分数更高,且眼部维持时间更长。表明高唇读能力者整体加工和眼部、口形并行加工能力强,支持凝视假说和社会协调模式;低唇读能力者整体加工效率低,更依赖口形,未能通过补偿策略获得良好的补偿效果。     

汉语聋生与健听生口语叙事和书面叙事发展特征的比较研究

以小学3-5年级的汉语聋生为被试,考察其口语叙事与书面叙事的发展特征,并与健听生比较,揭示聋生叙事发展特征的特异性。结果发现：（1）无论口语叙事还是书面叙事,聋生和健听生在宏观结构上表现相当,但聋生在微观结构上表现较差。（2）在宏观结构和平均句长上,无论健听生还是聋生,书面叙事得分均显著好于口语叙事;（3）在词汇密度上,健听生在口语叙事和书面叙事上的表现相当,但聋生的词汇密度在口语叙事下表现较差。（4）在词汇丰富性和词汇密度指标上,聋生和健听生存在年级间发展特征的差异。研究结果对聋生的叙事教学有重要启示。     

听力障碍者听阈及主观响度变异调查

用amplaid455型电子纯音听力计对100名听力障碍者及100名正常人进行纯音听阈测试并进行听阈水平级的ABLB测试。结果,听力障碍者临床所测听阈值与实际听阈值不一致,共误差程度与正常人相比差异显著（P＜0．05),且听力障碍者听阈水平的双耳主观响度变异非常显著（P＜0．01）。此现象的发现提示,在对有听力障碍的被试进行ABLB及纯音检测时应注意随机变化的感觉因素的作用。     

Teachers’ Experience, Attitudes, Feelings and Behavioural Intentions towards Children with Special Educational Needs

This project examined teachers’ attitudes to children with special educational needs. Understanding the implicit and explicit attitudes of teachers is an important precursor to improving teaching practices for children with special needs. Participants (N=77) were pre-service teachers and experienced teachers during in-service training courses. Results showed that behavioural intentions related to explicit rather than implicit attitudes, and that feelings of guilt and anxiety were associated with intentions for negative actions. Profiles of attitudes were substantially similar in terms of personal and teaching experiences. However, attitudes were less positive about children with low social skills and more positive about children with low cognitive skills. Findings have direct application to training teachers of children with special educational needs.     

Mental health and mediumship: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

There is a lack of research examining the mental health of practicing mediums, yet the nature of mediumship work inherently presents a number of challenges to the mental health of practitioners. In this study, we aimed to gain an understanding of how mediums experience their mental health in relation to their mediumistic practice and how they recognise and respond to psychological difficulties experienced by their clients. Fourteen mediums from the North West of England took part in one-to-one interviews, which were transcribed and subject to interpretative phenomenological analysis. Four themes were identified: from past traumas to mediumistic identity; spirit makes sense, mental illness is chaos; being resilient but vulnerable; and ethical mediumistic practice. The research highlights the value of not dismissing or attempting to change appraisals of valued aspects of mediums’ anomalous experiences. However, the findings do indicate that support for exposure to clients’ difficulties might be helpful.