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Introduction Loudness perception is considered important for the perception of emotions, relative distance and stress patterns. However, certain digital hearing devices worn by those with hearing impairment may affect their loudness perception. This could happen in devices that have compression circuits to make loud sounds soft and soft sounds loud. These devices could hamper children from gaining knowledge about loudness of acoustical signals. Objective To compare relative loudness judgment of children using listening devices with age-matched typically developing children. Methods The relative loudness judgment of sounds created by day-to-day objects were evaluated on 60 children (20 normal-hearing, 20 hearing aid users, & 20 cochlear implant users), utilizing a standard group comparison design. Using a two-alternate forced-choice technique, the children were required to select picturized sound sources that were louder. Results The majority of the participants obtained good scores and poorer scores were mainly obtained by children using cochlear implants. The cochlear implant users obtained significantly lower scores than the normal-hearing participants. However, the scores were not significantly different between the normal-hearing children and the hearing aid users as well as between the two groups with hearing impairment. Conclusion Thus, despite loudness being altered by listening devices, children using non-linear hearing aids or cochlear implants are able to develop relative loudness judgment for acoustic stimuli. However, loudness growth for electrical stimuli needs to be studied.

The loudness of signals is altered in listening devices used by individuals with hearing loss, where soft sounds are made loud and loud sounds made soft. It is speculated that loudness growth would be affected in those using such listening devices. The study aimed to compare the effect of order of intensity presentation on loudness growth in typically developing children and children using monaural cochlear implants. Loudness growth of 3 warble-tones and 3 vowels were examined in 20 typically developing children and 17 children using cochlear implants. The intensity of the stimuli was varied randomly and sequentially. The children rated the loudness of the stimuli on a six-point rating-scale. Only 10 of the 17 children using cochlear implants gave valid loudness growth responses. These 10 children demonstrated no significant difference between the random and the sequential presentation for most of the stimuli. In general, the typically developing children exhibited a significant difference for the extremes in the loudness-growth scale (very soft and very loud). Loudness growth was similar across the methods and participant groups. Thus, a large number of children using cochlear implants are unable to give reliable loudness-growth responses. Those who have a loudness growth perform similar to the typically developing children.

Introduction: Hearing impairment is caused by damage in the inner ear (can be even birth defect), ear infection, ruptured eardrum and so on. It can be prevented using early detection thus, helps in avoiding severe psychosocial, educational, and linguistic repercussions. Infants, who are not diagnosed of hearing impairment before six months of age, will have delays in speech and language development. Aim: To determine the prevalence of hearing impairment in highrisk neonates and to establish the fact that, these neonates have higher prevalence of hearing impairment as compared to normal population. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Paediatrics at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, Ajmer, Rajasthan, India. The duration of the study was six months, from December 2012 to May 2013. A total of 500 babies including 297 normal and 203 high-risk babies were enrolled into the study. All the neonates were screened using Behavioural Observation Audiometry (BOA) and Distortion Product Oto-acoustic Emission (DPOAE) preferably within three days of life. Those, who failed under this test, underwent for Brain stem Evoked Response Audiometry (BERA). Data was collected in the Microsoft Excel and analysis done by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0. Results: The mean age of the newborns on admission, was 3.86±4.25 days and the mean weight was 2560±510 g. Out of 500 newborns screened, 58 babies had abnormal results with the first screening test. When these 58 babies subjected to BERA, eight babies showed Hearing Loss (HL). Sepsis, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) stay >5 days and use of aminoglycosides >7 days were the important risk factors associated with hearing impairment. Prevalence of hearing impairment in the present study was came out to be 16/1000. This finding was statistically significant with p-value<0.05. Conclusion: There was high prevalence of hearing impairment in high-risk newborns, majority of which were bilateral. The authors recommend multistage screening in all newborns at birth or within month’s time at all level of healthcare facility. Newborns with sepsis, NICU stay >5 days and use of aminoglycosides >7 days should have mandatory audiologic evaluation at discharge.