Deans' stroke musings: Auditory rehabilitation after stroke: treatment of auditory processing disorders in stroke patients with personal frequency-modulated (FM) systems

Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Auditory rehabilitation after stroke: treatment of auditory processing disorders in stroke patients with personal frequency-modulated (FM) systems

Just in case you need to know about this.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/09638288.2016.1152608

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DOI:: 10.3109/09638288.2016.1152608

Nehzat Koohi^a^b^*, Deborah Vickers^b, Hoskote Chandrashekar^c, Benjamin Tsang^a, David Werring^c & Doris-Eva Bamiou^a^b

Publishing models and article dates explained

Received: 7 Sep 2015
Accepted: 7 Feb 2016
Published online: 23 Mar 2016

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Abstract

Purpose: Auditory disability due to impaired auditory processing (AP) despite normal pure-tone thresholds is common after stroke, and it leads to isolation, reduced quality of life and physical decline. There are currently no proven remedial interventions for AP deficits in stroke patients. This is the first study to investigate the benefits of personal frequency-modulated (FM) systems in stroke patients with disordered AP. Methods: Fifty stroke patients had baseline audiological assessments, AP tests and completed the (modified) Amsterdam Inventory for Auditory Disability and Hearing Handicap Inventory for Elderly questionnaires. Nine out of these 50 patients were diagnosed with disordered AP based on severe deficits in understanding speech in background noise but with normal pure-tone thresholds. These nine patients underwent spatial speech-in-noise testing in a sound-attenuating chamber (the “crescent of sound”) with and without FM systems. Results: The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for 50% correct speech recognition performance was measured with speech presented from 0° azimuth and competing babble from ±90° azimuth. Spatial release from masking (SRM) was defined as the difference between SNRs measured with co-located speech and babble and SNRs measured with spatially separated speech and babble. The SRM significantly improved when babble was spatially separated from target speech, while the patients had the FM systems in their ears compared to without the FM systems. Conclusions: Personal FM systems may substantially improve speech-in-noise deficits in stroke patients who are not eligible for conventional hearing aids. FMs are feasible in stroke patients and show promise to address impaired AP after stroke.

Implications for Rehabilitation
This is the first study to investigate the benefits of personal frequency-modulated (FM) systems in stroke patients with disordered AP.
All cases significantly improved speech perception in noise with the FM systems, when noise was spatially separated from the speech signal by 90° compared with unaided listening.
Personal FM systems are feasible in stroke patients, and may be of benefit in just under 20% of this population, who are not eligible for conventional hearing aids.