Background and Aim: Risk factors including asphyxia , meningitis , form of delivery, etc. may cause hearing loss in neonates results in speech and language deprivation , emotional and educational problems. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of hearing loss and its relationship with risk factors among neonates hospitalized in neonate intensive care unit (NICU).
Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional study on 234 NICU hospitalized neonates in Ghaem and Imam-Reza hospitals of Mashhad. Epidemiologic and pathologic information were obtained. Otoacoustic emissions were done in all of neonates. Patients referred to the second otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) and patients failed in the second test controlled by auditory brainstem response (ABR).
Results: Hearing abnormality was found in 11 neonates (4.7%) including 2 girls and 9 boys.   (1 neonate with mild, 2 with mild to moderate, 2 with moderate to severe, 1 with sever to profound hearing loss and 4 with auditory neuropathy). Hearing abnormality has a significant greater incidence in group with apgar £5 and in patients with icterus (in need with transfusion).
Conclusion: Incidence of hearing loss in NICU hospitalized neonates are greater in comparison with general population. It has a greater incidence in group with icterus (in need with transfusion) and apgar £5,so,a comprehensive hearing screening program must be applied for early identification and intervention.

Background and Aim: Tinnitus represents the perception of sound without an external stimulus. The prevalence of tinnitus ranges from 3% to 30%. In most cases its etiology is unknown. Tinnitus can be classified as pulsatile or nonpulsatile. Nonpulsatile form is the most common form and almost exclusively subjective in nature.  There is a range of condition attributed to nonpulsatile high frequency tinnitus (acoustic neuroma,  Meniere&aposs disease, ototoxic agents, noise exposure...). There are many studies about form, site, loudness, and frequency of tinnitus and how it can affect the quality of patient life.
Materials and methods: This was a descriptive and analytic study. Thirty-six patients (23 men and 13 women) with mean age 53.1 year old with subjective tinnitus evaluated in pezhvak audiometric clinic in Mashhad .The data consisting of age sex, loudness, frequency form and site of tinnitus. Evaluation of affects of tinnitus on the quality of life and habits was performed with a tinnitus questionnaire (TQ).
Results: Tinnitus was unilateral in 64% of cases right site was more common. Mean  pitch was 7.03 kHz and average loudness was 3.8 dB SPL. SDS was in normal range in all of patients. There was a high frequency sensory neural hearing loss (above the 4 kHz) in most of the patients. The greatest score (60.3%) of TQ related to intrusiveness aspect. Sleep disorder has the lowest score (39/3%). Global score was 52.4%.
Conclusion: Nonpulsatile subjective tinnitus has a broad range of etiology with unknown mechanism in most cases and without any history of underlying disease in a large group of patients. This symptom mostly involves the patients` lifestyle that is intrusiveness aspect in comparison with the other aspects including sleep, hearing and somatic complaints. There is no cure for most patient and more studies are needed in the future.

Background and Aim: Formant structure and vowel space are the most important acoustic characteristics of speech sounds. The purpose of this study was to determine formant frequency and vowel space in six Persian vowels.
Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive-analytic study was performed on 60 Persian students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (30 males, 30 females) with their age ranging from 18 to 24 years. The subject articulated six Persian vowels in isolation and data was recorded by real-analyzer software. Then, the first three formant frequency of each vowel was determined for each subject. Vowel formant frequency averages were measured separately for each vowel and each gender. Vowel space was plotted. The difference between F0 in two groups was compared by Leven and independent sample t tests.
Results: Maximum and minimum values of F0 in both group was related to /æ/ and /a/ (135 Hz in males and 239 Hz in females) and /i/ (146 Hz in males and 239 Hz in females). Besides, F0 in females was significantly higher than males (p<0.001). Maximum and minimum values of F1 were related to /æ/ and /i/. Furthermore, maximum and minimum values of F2 were related to /i/ and /u/. Maximum and minimum values of F3 were related to /i/ and /u/.
Conclusion: The lowest vowels were /æ/ and /a/ and the highest was /i/. The frontest was /i/ and the backest was /u/. the spreadest vowel was /i/ and the roundest was /u/.

Background and Aim: The words are the symbolic tools for communication. Nouns are the initial and the most frequent components of language that children acquire and use during the procedure of language development. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the noun perception and expression abilities in Persian-speaking children, as well as gathering the normative data for two picture-pointing and picture-naming tests.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 110 normal Persian-speaking children (54 girls and 56 boys), 2.5 to 4 year-old in four groups, were selected randomly throughout Arak kindergartens. Two pictorial perception and expression tests were performed in this study.
Results: Mean scores of perception and expression was statistically different between all age groups, except 3 and 3.5 year-old groups (p<0.05). There was no statistically difference between mean scores of girls and boys. In addition, a significant positive correlation between mean scores of perception and expression was shown (p=0.001, r=0.896).
Conclusion: The perception and expression abilities are different in 4 age groups. The two picture-pointing and picture-naming tests can show these differences. Regardless of rapid development of perception, perception and expression abilities develop in parallel, and the ability of girls and boys shows similar trends.

Background and Aim: Phonological processing skills include the abilities to restore, retrieve and use memorized phonological codes. The purpose of this research is to compare and evaluate phonological processing skills in 6-7 year old blind and sighted Persian speakers in Tehran, Iran.
Methods: This research is an analysis-comparison study. The subjects were 24 blind and 24 sighted children. The evaluation test of reading and writing disorders in primary school students, linguistic and cognitive abilities test, and the naming subtest of the aphasia evaluation test were used as research tools.
Results: Sighted children were found to perform better on phoneme recognition of nonwords and flower naming subtests and the difference was significant (p<0.001). Blind children performed better in words and sentence memory the difference was significant (p<0.001). There were no significant differences in other subtests.
Conclusion: Blind children&aposs better performance in memory tasks is due to the fact that they have powerful auditory memory.

Background and Aim: Reading is the most important human need for learning. In normal-hearing people working memory is a predictor of reading comprehension. In this study the relationship between working memory and reading comprehension skills was studied in hearing-impaired children, and then compared with the normal-hearing group.
Methods: This was a descriptive-analytic study. The working memory and reading comprehension skills of 18 (8 male, 10 female) sever hearing-impaired children in year five of exceptional schools were compared by means of a reading test with 18 hearing children as control group. The subjects in the control group were of the same gender and educational level of the sample group.
Results: The children with hearing loss performed similarly to the normal-hearing children in tasks related to auditory-verbal memory of sounds (reverse), visual-verbal memory of letters, and visual-verbal memory of pictures. However, they showed lower levels of performance in reading comprehension (p<0.001). Moreover, no significant relationship was observed between working memory and reading comprehension skills.
Conclusion: Findings indicated that children with hearing loss have a significant impairment in the reading comprehension skill. Impairment in language knowledge and vocabulary may be the main cause of poor reading comprehension in these children. In hearing-impaired children working memory is not a strong predictor of reading comprehension.

Background and Aim : Learning and memory are two high level cognitive performances in human that hearing loss influences them. In our study, mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and Ray auditory-verbal learning test (RAVLT) was conducted to study cognitive stat us and lexical learning and memory in deaf adults using sign language.

Methods: This cross-sectional comparative study was conducted on 30 available congenitally deaf adults using sign language in Persian and 46 normal adults aged 19 to 27 years for both sexes, with a minimum of diploma level of education. After mini-mental state examination, Rey auditory-verbal learning test was run through computers to evaluate lexical learning and memory with visual presentation.

Results: Mean scores of mini-mental state examination and Rey auditory-verbal learning test in congenitally deaf adults were significantly lower than normal individuals in all scores (p=0.018) except in the two parts of the Rey test. Significant correlation was found between results of two tests just in the normal group (p=0.043). Gender had no effect on test results.

Conclusion: Cognitive status and lexical memory and learning in congenitally deaf individuals is weaker than in normal subjects. It seems that using sign language as the main way of communication in deaf people causes poor lexical memory and learning.

Background and Aim: Empathy is a basic human skill that is important in daily life. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of the theory of mind in predicting empathy.

Methods: This study adopted a causal-comparative design. 40 students with profound hearing impairment and 40 students with normal hearing, aged between 8 and 14, participated in the study. Instruments including false belief tasks and empathy questionnaires were distributed to the participants. For multivariate analysis of variance, a correlation analysis and multiple regression methods were used.

Results: Results indicated a significant difference between the total score of false belief tasks and empathy in students with hearing impairment and those with normal hearing (p<0.001 ). A significant relationship between the theory of mind and empathy was found in both groups (p<0.01). Also theory of mind could predict the empathy (p=0.001).

Conclusion: Based on the obtained results, significant reduction in the theory of mind and empathy was seen in students with hearing impairment. Therefore, training programs that focus on social skills are required for students with hearing impairment in order to address this problem. Moreover, training materials need to be tailored to their cognitive understanding.

Background and Aim: Students with hearing impairment show delayed development of theory of mind (ToM) compared with normal children. One factor impacting development of theory of mind is parent-child interaction. The present study investigated the relationship between maternal emotional intelligence and theory of mind in students with hearing impairment.

Methods: The present study employed correlational research. 40 students with profound hearing impairment (age range: 8-14 years) and their mothers were selected to participate. Measurement instruments included the false belief task and emotional intelligence questionnaire. The questionnaire was completed by mothers. Correlational analysis and multiple regression methods were used for data analysis.

Results: Results indicated no significant correlation between the total score on false belief task and the emotional intelligence score and its components (p>0.01). Multiple regression analysis showed that maternal emotional intelligence and its components cannot predict student's scores in false belief tasks (p>0.01).

Conclusion: The results show that there is no significant correlation between maternal emotional intelligence and theory of mind in students with hearing impairment. Therefore, maternal emotional intelligence cannot predict the development of theory of mind in students with hearing impairment.