%0 Journal Article
%T Laryngeal Aerodynamics in Children with Hearing Impairment versus Age and Height Matched Normal Hearing Peers
%A Barshapriya Das
%A Indranil Chatterjee
%A Suman Kumar
%J ISRN Otolaryngology
%D 2013
%R 10.1155/2013/394604
%X Lack of proper auditory feedback in hearing-impaired subjects results in functional voice disorder. It is directly related to discoordination of intrinsic and extrinsic laryngeal muscles and disturbed contraction and relaxation of antagonistic muscles. A total of twenty children in the age range of 5¨C10 years were considered for the study. They were divided into two groups: normal hearing children and hearing aid user children. Results showed a significant difference in the vital capacity, maximum sustained phonation, and fast adduction abduction rate having equal variance for normal and hearing aid user children, respectively, but no significant difference was found in the peak flow value with being statistically significant. A reduced vital capacity in hearing aid user children suggests a limited use of the lung volume for speech production. It may be inferred from the study that the hearing aid user children have poor vocal proficiency which is reflected in their voice. The use of voicing component in hearing impaired subjects is seen due to improper auditory feedback. It was found that there was a significant difference in the vital capacity, maximum sustained phonation (MSP), and fast adduction abduction rate and no significant difference in the peak flow. 1. Introduction Lack of proper auditory feedback in hearing-impaired subjects results in functional voice disorder. It is directly related to discoordination of intrinsic and extrinsic laryngeal muscles and disturbed contraction and relaxation of antagonistic muscles. Generally, the voice organ of a hearing-impaired child shows no anatomical abnormalities in the first years of life. Data in the literature suggest that the impairment of the voice organ is a secondary effect and results not only from abnormal auditory feedback but also from inappropriate hearing, voice, and speech rehabilitation in early childhood, or even its cessation [1, 2]. Research on the physiopathology of voice and speech in hearing-impaired children proves that a physiological deficiency of the larynx affects phonation and articulation. Specialists therefore emphasize that voice and speech rehabilitation should begin as soon as possible, helping to maintain correct functioning of the larynx [3, 4]. Changes in the larynx of a prelingually hearing-impaired child and changes in his/her voice develop in the first years of life. The nature of these disorders depends on numerous conditions, including degree and type of hearing loss, duration of the hearing impairment, the moment of its occurrence, the treatment applied, and
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.otolaryngology/2013/394604/