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Biomedical subjects

S E Gerber

Publications and source records attributed to S E Gerber.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Recent changes in the etiology of hearing disorders: perinatal drug exposure.

In recent years, we have observed causes of congenital or early onset hearing disorders that had not been recognized or known to exist before. These include drugs passed to an as-yet unborn child. Principal among them is alcohol, but others, such as cocaine, are now also occupying our attention. This article reviews the effects of such exposure on the communication skills of children who had been exposed. It is not yet clear whether there are specifically auditory effects, nor is it clear whether the communicative effects are long lasting.

Cocaine↗
PubMed1993

Diplophonia in a neonate.

Diplophonia has never been described in a neonate. An unusual case, then, of diplophonia in a neonate is described here. There is a description of the acoustic characteristics of this infant's cry and a discussion of their significance. This contributes to a review of the differential diagnosis of diplophonia. Moreover, this case further shows the essential relation between laryngoscopic findings and acoustical data.

Crying↗
PubMed1993

Infant feeding and phonologic development.

The relationship between breastfeeding and speech development was examined to determine what duration (if any) of breastfeeding is associated with better performance on a measure of phonologic development. Twenty-nine children aged 36-48 months and their parents were recruited from preschools to serve as subjects. The children's durations of exclusive breastfeeding ranged from 0 (always bottle fed) to 6 months. Phonologic development was assessed using an instrument known as the Percentage of Consonants Correct (PCC) [12]. Feeding histories were obtained by retrospective interviews with parents. Parents and teachers also made ratings of children's speech and total communication on a 5-point scale. This study fails to replicate earlier researchers' findings of an association between breastfeeding and phonologic development. No evidence was found of an association between any duration of either exclusive or partial breastfeeding and PCC scores. Pearson r correlations between parents' and teachers' ratings and PCC scores were weak. Results are discussed in comparison with previous reports of a correlation between breastfeeding and phonologic development.

Breast Feeding↗
PubMed1993

Evoked otoacoustic emissions in preterm infants.

Since Kemp's discovery of the otoacoustic emissions phenomenon [7], much study has been given to understanding the nature of it and its ontogeny. Development of the evoked otoacoustic emissions (EOAE) has spurred much interest because they may used as a valid and relatively quick test to assess cochlear integrity in the very youngest patients. One thing that has been learned is that EOAE amplitudes are much larger in normal ears of infants than in normal ears of adults. We asked about the form of this development in a longitudinal, rather than cross-sectional, study in an investigation on children born before 40 weeks postconceptional age. We were able to examine reliably five ears of four preterm babies while they remained in the neonatal intensive care unit. The EOAEs of these ears were then studied to determine whether and how they changed over time. To do this, we examined both their amplitudes and their spectral properties. It turned out that there are properties of the EOAE spectrum that may be related to post-conceptional age. These are described herein. These findings are expected to have considerable clinical utility as more and more researchers are able to confirm their validity.

Evoked Potentials, Auditory↗
PubMed1992

Why and how should we study infant cry?

The study of the acoustics of infants' vocalizations has important implications for the study of infant development and for clinical prediction. We suggest procedures that enhance the probability of discriminating among sub-glottal, periglottal, and supraglottal sites of pathology, With these procedures, then, it should become possible to contribute to diagnosis and therefore to treatment.

Acoustics↗
PubMed1990

Degeneration of speech, language, and hearing in a patient with mucopolysaccharidosis VII.

Mucopolysaccharidosis VII (MPS-VII) is probably the rarest of the mucopolysaccharidoses; literature reveals only 20 cases. We have had the opportunity to study and treat such a child in our clinic, and this paper documents his speech, language, and hearing. Results demonstrated a delay with respect to his chronological age in all cognitive, linguistic, and social domains. He had a mixed hearing loss which could have contributed to his diminishing speech and language abilities; he had chronic otitis media. After 59 h of speech and language intervention (over a period of 19 months), primarily for language treatment, standardized tests revealed that his scores had decreased over time. During this period, both his speech production and his hearing got poorer. At about the time of his 8th birthday, he underwent a permanent tracheostomy, altering further therapy. Although MPS-VII is a very rare disorder, what has been learned here may apply to other MPSs and even to other multiply handicapped patients. We hope that the presentation of our findings may assist others when confronted with complex, degenerative disorders.

Child↗
PubMed1990

Review of a high risk register for congenital or early-onset deafness.

This paper is an attempt to assess the success of a high risk register for congenital or early onset of severe to profound hearing impairment. With some years experience, and a large number of publications, it is possible to evaluate (at least in part) the extent to which such a register actually does permit us to identify these infants. To that end, an extensive review is reported here and some recommendations are made.

Hearing Disorders↗
PubMed1988

Inter-stimulus interval in audiometry for neonates.

The usual paradigm employed for both clinical and experimental evaluation of auditory responsiveness of newborns dictates that signal presentations be separated by a minimum of 15 s. Furthermore, this paradigm requires that there be 8 presentations of the signal and that two responses among the 8 trials should be taken as normal responsiveness. Many have been concerned about accepting 25% as normal, and would prefer a paradigm that could lead to increased responsiveness. A procedure with inter-stimulus intervals longer than 15 s might be that paradigm. Therefore, the following experiment employed inter-stimulus intervals of 15, 30 and 60 s to examine responsiveness of infants young enough to be in a newborn nursery. Each infant received 24 signal presentations (8 with each of the 3 inter-stimulus intervals), and these were counter-balanced across babies. Although there is evidence of response habituation across time, there is also evidence that longer inter-stimulus intervals do lead to increased responsiveness.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1987

The acoustic characteristics of the cry of an infant with unilateral vocal fold paralysis.

We have previously shown the acoustic similarity among well, full-term infants of the same post-conceptional and post-partum ages (Int. J. Pediat. Otorhinolaryngol., 10 (1985) 1-8). The objective of that research was to provide a template against which the cries of any given infant may be compared. This paper shows a more detailed analysis of both the normal infants' cries and the cry of an infant with a unilateral vocal fold paralysis. It is evident from this analysis that this infant's cry is not normal as it displays a spectrum not found in the cries of normal infants. What this research shows is that a technique is available with which it is possible to make a screening identification of those infants who merit further investigation. It is an objective of such research to determine if the cry of a given infant is abnormal in specifiable, and therefore diagnostic, ways. In this instance, we can conclude that the cry of this infant differs from that of one with a normal airway.

Crying↗
PubMed1987

Early development of the acoustic reflex.

Acoustic reflex testing was conducted on 2-day-old and on 6-week-old infants to determine how frequently, if at all, the acoustic reflex occurs, if it can be reliably observed, and also to determine what is the mean normal acoustic reflex threshold for pure tones and broad-band noise in these populations. Twenty normal infants were tested in each group. Each infant was considered to be normal by the following criteria: full term, normal pregnancy normal pregnancy and delivery, birth weight greater than 2500 g, 5-min Apgar of 7 or greater, and considered to be not at risk for hearing loss by the absence of any high risk factors. Subjects were tested following feedings. Acoustic reflexes were obtained from subjects with normal tympanograms (+/- 50 mm H2O) for 500, 1,000, 2,000, and 4,000 Hz and broad-band noise stimuli. Behavioral responses were common, requiring quieting pauses in testing and repeated stimulation for habituation of the behavioral component. Acoustic reflexes were observed, and normative reflex threshold data were obtained. The number of reflexes obtained and the mean acoustic reflex thresholds for these age-groups are reported.

Acoustic Impedance Tests↗
PubMed1985

Acoustical analyses of neonates' vocalizations.

Crying and other vocalizations of normal children under the age of 3 days were recorded and analyzed. The purpose was to establish a norm, in acoustical terms, to which one could compare the cry of any given newborn of the same age. One hopes that such a template may assist in the identification of such neonates who have airway obstructions and/or inadequate neuromotor control of respiration. The data reveal two things. One is that the type of vocalization (cry or non-cry) is not relevant to the analysis. The other finding is that spontaneous vocalization (as distinguished from elicited vocalization) is satisfactory for the purpose.

Acoustics↗
PubMed1984

Purification and characterization of human T-lymphocyte-derived erythroid-potentiating activity.

The human T-lymphoblast cell line, Mo, secretes a number of lymphokines, including erythroid-potentiating activity (EPA), an important early regulator of erythropoiesis. We report purification of EPA to homogeneity, from serum-free Mo-conditioned medium. Purification was accomplished by sequential concentration, ammonium sulfate precipitation, lentil lectin affinity chromatography, gel filtration, and reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. EPA was assayed by its ability to stimulate the growth of large erythroid colonies (bursts) from normal human peripheral blood. The purified EPA has a molecular weight of 28,000 and appears as a single band when analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under reducing or nonreducing conditions. Purified EPA stimulates the growth of both early and late erythroid precursors from human bone marrow, as well as colony formation by the K562 human erythroleukemia cell line. Purified EPA has no colony-stimulating factor activity nor does it appear to be a structural protein of the human T-cell leukemia virus subtype II which infects the Mo cells.

Bone Marrow↗
PubMed1984

Developmental norms for the acoustic reflex.

Acoustic reflexes were observed in 45 infants between the ages of 12 and 36 weeks. As age increased, smaller ranges of signal levels were needed to elicit the reflex and less intensity was required, but a noise stimulus did not show age-related changes. Stimulus frequency was not a source of variation of response. The reflex arc has undergone maturation by 12 weeks of age and continues to mature to 36 weeks.

Acoustic Impedance Tests↗
PubMed1983

Auditory arousal in preterm infants.

Auditory arousal was assessed in eleven preterm infants for two different signal spectra. The responsibility of these infants was compared to that previously determined for full term infants to the same signals. It was found that preterm infants respond more frequently than full term infants to both wide band and narrow band noises. Moreover, like the full term infants, the preterm infants respond to wide band signals more readily than to narrow band signals.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1982

The use of noise-making toys as audiometric devices.

For a considerable period of time in the literature concerned with pediatric audiology--or, more specifically, audiometry for infants--it has been suggested that one should or should not use measurable noise-making toys as stimulus devices. Proponents of their use suggest that they are intrinsically more attractive to infants and therefore enhance responsiveness. Opponents of the use of such devices have based their claims on the idea that the signal produced by such devices are neither calibrated nor replicable. It is probably the case that both positions are correct, and this leaves the practitioner without expert advice. The study reported here is a simple electroacoustic evaluation of a set of such toys which are now commercially available. The experiment consisted of having two persons use each device 3 times according to the instructions provided with the materials. The toys consist of a bell, a horn, two rattles, and a squeaking toy. The signals produced by these several repetitions of the toys were subjected to one-third octave band analysis by a Bruel and Kjaer Model 2112 spectrometer. A result showed that the signals produced by these toys are indeed replicable, but generally have such flat spectra that they may not be selectively useful except as gross screening devices.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1979

Effects of hemodialysis on pure-tone thresholds and blood chemistry measures.

Eight adults suffering from end-stage renal disease and undergoing hemodialysis were subjected to pure tone audiometry before and after each of five consecutive hemodialysis treatments. In addition, pre-treatment and post-treatment blood chemistries were analyzed. Computer statistics for these audiometric and physiologic variables indicated that these subjects, as a group, did not exhibit significant differences in threshold before and after hemodialysis, although individual differences did appear. No trend regarding the direction of change was evident. However, threshold shifts did occur which might reflect transient imbalance in the labyrinthine system produced by hemodialysis.

Adult↗