The study included 80 patients treated for sudden deafness over the last 5-7 years. Case history, laboratory findings, pure-tone audiogram and electronystagmography (ENG) findings were noted. If any abnormalities had been recorded in ENG studies, the studies were redone. ORL status was redefined and audiograms were obtained in all patients. When becoming ill, the 80 patients had not differed from the normal population in common cardiovascular risk factors. None of them had had signs of viral infection (paired serum samples had been taken at 2-week intervals routine examinations had been done for common viral antigens). As many as 31 of the 80 patients with acute hearing loss had had abnormalities such as spontaneous nystagmus (PN), hypoexcitability (HE) and directional preponderance (DP) in the bithermal caloric tests (+44 degrees C, + 30 degrees C) of their ENG studies. Twenty of the 31 patients still had abnormal ENG studies after 5-7 years. Only 1 subject had positional nystagmus, and none had subjective vertigo. Patients with an abnormal ENG study showed a poor recovery of the speech reception threshold, whereas those with a normal ENG study showed slightly significant (p less than 0.05) recovery.

Auditory perceptual and visual-spatial characteristics of subjective tinnitus evoked by eye gaze were studied in two adult human subjects. This uncommon form of tinnitus occurred approximately 4-6 weeks following neurosurgery for gross total excision of space Occupying lesions of the cerebellopontine angle and hearing was lost in the operated ear. In both cases, the gaze evoked tinnitus was characterized as being tonal in nature, with pitch and loudness percepts remaining constant as long as the same horizontal or vertical eye directions were maintained. Tinnitus was absent when the eyes were in a neutral head referenced position with subjects looking straight ahead. The results and implications of ophthalmological, standard and modified visual field assessment, pure tone audio metric assessment, spontaneous otoacoustic emission testing and detailed psychophysical assessment of pitch and loudness are discussed.

In the present longitudinal study, 20 deaf and 20 hearing children were observed during free play with their hearing mothers when the children were 22 months and 3 years of age. Compared to hearing children, deaf children were severely language delayed, with deaf 3-year-olds using less language (speech or sign) than hearing 22-month-olds. Deaf children communicated primarily through nonlinguistic vocalizations, with increasing use of gesture from 22 months to 3 years of age. Although mothers of deaf children used more visual communication than mothers of hearing children, they still primarily communicated through speech. In addition, deaf children did not visually attend to much of their mothers&apos communication. Therefore, deaf children received much less communication than hearing children. These results suggest that intervention efforts should be focused on increasing the quantity of perceived linguistic input by the child.

Background and Aim: Hearing has an important role in speech production and making phonological distinction, especially voicing distinction. Voice onset time (VOT) has been a reliable acoustic cue of voicing differences in plosive consonants. The purpose of this study was to measure VOT in initial Persian (Farsi) oral plosives produced by cochlear implanted children, comparing to normal hearing children.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 20 cases and 20 controls were assessed. Cases were prelingually deaf children who were cochlear implanted 4.5 years prior to test. Controls were normal hearing children at 4.5 years of age. VOT were measured while children uttered oral plosives. The effect of hearing status, voicing, and gender on VOT were assessed.
Results: The amount of VOT of plosives produced by girls was higher than boys, in both groups. This difference was significantly higher in voiceless plosives than in voiced ones. In both groups, voiceless plosives had long-positive VOT value while the amount of VOT was short-positive regarding voiced plosives.
Conclusion: It was demonstrated that VOT is significantly correlated with voicing. In voiceless plosives, VOT could not be considered as a phonetic correlate of hearing status whereas it made significant differences between cochlear implanted children and hearing controls. Furthermore, it was confirmed that concerning voiceless plosives, the amount of VOT of girls was significantly higher than boys. On the contrary, in voiced plosives, gender had no significant effect on the amount of VOT.

Background and Aim: Hearing impairment is the most prevalent sensorineural defect in human. Epidemiological studies and the following preventive programs are the first steps to save many individuals from being handicapped and non-productive. Hereby, we aimed to study the prevalence of hearing impairment in Ardabil province and to assess the prevalent causes of hearing impairment in Ardabil.
Methods: In this study, 10718 cases were selected by random cluster sampling from rural and urban population in Ardabil province. Data was gathered using screening questionnaire, normal- and impaired-hearing individual questionnaire, and clinical audiometry. Statistical indices were calculated and data was analyzed using chi-square test.
Results: 7.1 per thousand individuals suffer hearing impairment and 4.3 per thousand are deaf. Hearing impairment was significantly more among villagers and aged individuals (p=0.46). However, there was no significant deference between two genders (p>0.05). Our results also showed significant deference in consanguineous marriage (p=0.031), accidents in pregnancy (p=0.007), older age of mother (p=0.007), parents hearing loss, severe illness during childhood (p=0.001), low family income (p=0.004), rural housing and educational level of parents (p=0.001) with hearing impairment.
Conclusion: Health status, economical, cultural and educational level of society are the most important factors associated with hearing impairment in Ardabil province. Consequently, extensive preventive programs are required to limit such factors.

Background and Aim: Deafness is a heterogeneous disorder induced by genetic and environmental factors. It is the most common hereditary sensory-neural disorder that affects 1/1000 to 1/2000 of the newborns. More than 70% of hearing loss cases are caused by genetic disorders, 85% of which result from nonsyndromic autosomal recessive sensory-neural hearing loss. Up to now, more than 100 genes contributing in hearing loss have been determined. Alteration of these genes may result in hearing loss.
This study was performed to identify the inheritance patterns of deafness and its relation with ethnicity, gender and consanguineous marriages.
Methods: In this survey, data from 356 families affected by hearing loss and referred to welfare organization of Ahvaz during the time were collected based on sex, ethnic groups and relativeness.
Results: The results state a high frequency of autosomal recessive deafness caused by consanguineous marriages within Arab and non-Arab ethnic groups (p<0.05). But no significant difference in gender.
Conclusion: In conclusion, the high frequency of autosomal recessive deafness among the population with a high frequency of consanguineous marriages is considerable. The dominant pattern of deafness observed in this population was autosomal recessive.

Background and Aim: Regarding the importance of employment in social and emotional status of individuals, it would be important for the deaf. The purpose of the present study was to assess the employment status of the members of Tehran deaf community.
Methods: This descriptive study was performed on all members of Tehran deaf community. A researchers-made questionnaire which had three parts (demographic information, employment status of the deaf members and their attitudes regarding employment) was used in this study. The obtained data were analyzed using descriptive methods.
Results: Majority of deaf community members were adult (ages ranging between 18 and 30). Sixty-eight of them (52.5%) were female and 53 (47.5%) were male, from our participants, 56.2% were unemployed and 43.8% were employed. Main problems were: having no access to facilities regarding their disability (14.5%), communication problems (9.4%), lower salaries because of their disability (12.4%), being far from the working place (15.4%), disproportion of working environment to their disability (11.4%), maltreatment of their coworkers (13.2%), maltreatment of their employer (12.5%) and discrimination because of their disability (11.2%), the attitudes of the deaf members were positive regarding the employment in all areas: 90% of them considered it as an essential part of life versus 10% of them mentioned not very important issue.
Conclusion: Our findings showed that most of the deaf were supported by their family members, but not by the social facilities or their past education. The social policies should be reformed to support employment of the deaf.

Background and Aim: Having healthy non-handicapped children plays a major role in mental health of the family and decreases family and society&aposs costs. While consanguineous marriage could lead to expression of recessive genes and a variety of handicaps including deafness, the aim of present study was to scrutinize the prevalence of consanguineous marriage among parents of deaf and normal children as well as its relationship with deafness.
Methods: In this study, 467 couples parenting normal children were selected by cluster sampling from elementary, guidance and high schools of Ardabil city and 423 couples parenting disabled children were selected non-randomly among which 130 had deaf children. Descriptive statistics was used to determine the prevalence of consanguineous marriage and chi-square test to compare prevalence of consanguineous marriage among parents of normal and deaf children.
Results: Descriptive analyses showed that 80 out of 130 (61.54%) parents who had deaf children have had consanguineous marriage. Furthermore data analysis demonstrated that prevalence of consanguineous marriage was significantly higher among parents of deaf children (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Consanguineous marriage plays a major role in expression of recessive genes and could lead to development of various handicaps including deafness. Increasing couples&apos awareness about consequences of consanguineous marriage and conducting genetic counseling are indispensable.

Background and Aim: The current study has been designed based on the framework of the Stress Deafness Model (SDM), and aims at investigating native listeners&apos general perceptual sensitivity to the acoustic correlates of stress in Persian, a language with predictable stress. According to SDM, more regularity in a language implies poorer perceptual sensitivity of its native speakers, as regular stress patterns will not require lexical encoding.
Methods: The experiment was a modified method of adjustment task where subjects had to simulate stimuli played to them. A total of thirty five Persian speakers took part in the experiment and were placed in three groups based on their linguistic background. In addition to overall perceptual sensitivity, the effect of exposure to English and phonetic knowledge were also tested.
Results: Persian speakers showed a weak perception of stress correlates. It was found, however, that exposure to English will improve stress deafness among Persian natives (p<0.0001). However, the results failed to show any significant effect by phonetic knowledge. It was also shown that the duration had the most erroneous perception by participants (p=0.0001), while there was no statistically significant difference between understanding fundamental frequency clues and intensity perception by listeners.
Conclusion: Since Persian speakers showed an overall weak perception of stress correlates, the results support the predictions made by SDM.

Background and Aim: Families who have a child with hearing deficiency deal with different challenges, and mothers have a greater responsibility towards these children because of their traditional role of caregiver so, they deal with more psychological problems. The aim of this study was to compare the psychological well-being and coping styles in mothers of deaf and normal children.
Methods: In this cross-sectional and post event study (causal-comparative method), 30 mothers of deaf students and 30 mothers of normal students from elementary schools of Ardabil, Iran, were selected using available sampling. The Ryff psychological well-being (1989) and Billings and Moos coping styles (1981) questionnaires were used in this study. The data were analyzed using MANOVA test.
Results: We found that in mother&aposs of deaf children, psychological well-being and its components was significantly lower than mothers of normal children (p<0.01 and p<0.05, respectively). There was a significant difference between two groups in terms of cognitive coping style, too (p<0.01). However, mothers of deaf children used less cognitive coping style.
Conclusions: It seems that child&aposs hearing loss affects on mothers psychological well-being and coping styles this effect can be visible as psychological problems and lower use of adaptive coping styles.

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 : Theory of mind refers to the ability to understand the others have mental states that can be different from one's own mental states or facts. This study aimed to investigate the relationship of theory of mind and executive functions in normal hearing, deaf, and cochlear-implanted children.

Methods: The study population consisted of normal, deaf and cochlear-implanted girl students in Mashhad city, Iran. Using random sampling, 30 children (10 normal, 10 deaf and 10 cochlear-implanted) in age groups of 8-12 years old were selected. To measure the theoty of mind, theory of mind 38-item scale and to assess executive function, Coolidge neuropsychological and personality test was used. Research data were analyzed using the Spearman correlation coefficient, analysis of variance and Kruskal-Wallis tests.

Results: There was a significant difference between the groups in the theory of mind and executive function subscales, organization, planning-decision-making, and inhibition. Between normal and deaf groups (p=0.01), as well as cochlear-implanted and deaf groups (p=0.01), there was significant difference in planning decision-making subscale. There was not any significant relationship between the theory of mind and executive functions generally or the theory of mind and executive function subscales in these three groups independently.

Conclusion: Based on our findings, cochlear-implanted and deaf children have lower performance in theory of mind and executive function compared with normal hearing children.

Background and Aim : Hearing loss affects human adjustment with environment and may be followed by mental complications such as behavioral problems. This study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of group behavioral management training of mothers based on the model of positive parenting on the rate of behavioral disorders of primary school deaf students in Isfahan.

Methods: The research method was semi-experimental with pre and post-test plan and control group. Using multi-stage sampling method, 30 mothers whose children demonstrated behavioral disorders symptoms were chosen and randomly assigned into two experimental and control groups. Data gathering was by parents’ form of child behavior checklist with confirmed validity and reliability. The obtained data was analyzed using covariance analysis method.

Results: The results showed that there is significant difference between performance of experimental and control groups on the reduction of behavioral disorders symptoms in the post-test (p<0.001).

Conclusion: It could be concluded that mother training based on the positive parenting model is effective on reducing behavioral disorders of their deaf child, and thus can be applied as an effective intervention method.

Background and Aim: Studies have found that deaf individuals have higher rates of psychiatric disorders, such as behavioral problems, than those who can hear. The aim of this review was to provide a summary of the literature on behavioral problems, with specific reference to deaf individuals. The objectives of the review were to establish the prevalence of behavioral problems in deaf populations describe the risk factor for behavioral problems in deaf populations and describe approaches to intervention and behavioral problems prevention that have been used in deaf populations.

Recent Findings: A review of articles published between 1991 and 2013 showed that the prevalence of behavioral problems in deaf people is higher than that of hearing people. Risk factors for behavioral problems in deaf populations include language impairments, communication problems, the role of parents, and the community’s beliefs and attitudes regarding the issue.

Conclusion: Given the high prevalence of behavioral problems in deaf people, the effectiveness of prevention strategies should be examined. Consequently, it would be advantageous to increase the availability of specialist mental health services, promote deaf awareness including their abilities, promote awareness and skills development among teachers, staff, and specialists and implement behavior change programs.

Background and Aim: Deaf children face many psychological problems due to their inability to hear. The present study investigates the effectiveness of art therapy (painting) in reducing the hopelessness and solitude experienced by these children.

Methods: An experimental design with pre- and post-testing and a control group was used. Multi-stage method was used for selecting 30 children with hearing impairment (age range: 7-10 years) from Isfahan. Subjects were randomly appointed to experimental and control groups. Data was collected using Kazdin hopelessness scale and Asher solitude scale. Analysis of covariance statistical method was used to analyze the data.

Results: Findings indicated a significant difference between feelings of hopelessness and solitude of deaf children in experimental and control groups (p<0.001).

Conclusion: From these findings it can be concluded that art therapy decreases the rate of hopelessness and solitude in deaf children and can be applied as an educational and therapeutic method.

Background and Aim: Deaf children face several compatibility issues because of their hearing impairment. The present study aims to investigate the effectiveness of psychodrama using pantomime on the social adjustment of 12-15-year-old deaf female students in Isfahan.

Methods: For this study, an experimental design was used with a pre-test and post-test and a control group. Thirty deaf subjects (12-15-year-olds) in Isfahan were selected randomly and allocated to experimental and control groups. To gather information, Rao’s Social Maturity Scale was used. The data were analyzed by the multivariate analysis of covariance s tatistical method (SPSS version 21).

Results: Our findings revealed that there was a significant difference between the performances of deaf students of both the groups in the post-test on social adjustment (p=0.0001).

Conclusion: The use of psychodrama increased the rate of social adjustment in deaf students.

Background and Aim: Clinicians and researchers always need standard measures for the evaluation of auditory perception and speech production in deaf children, particularly those with cochlear implants. This study addresses the reliability and validity of the Persian version of categorization of auditory performance (CAP) scale and speech intelligibility rating (SIR) in cochlear-implanted prelingual deaf children.

Methods: A total of 92 cochlear-implanted deaf children aged 1.3-15.7 years participated in the study. Test-retest reliability, inter-rater reliability, and criterion and construct validity of the scales were investigated.

Results: The obtained test-retest reliability for categorization of the auditory performance scale and speech intelligibility rating was 0.82 and 0.99 (p<0.01), respectively, whereas the suggested inter-rater reliability based on average Cohen’s kappa coefficient was 0.73 and 0.70 for the two scales (p<0.01), which appear acceptable. The concurrent validity of the scales was 0.64 and 0.69 (p<0.01). The construct validity for categorization of the auditory performance scale ranged between 0.58 and 0.74 (p<0.01), whereas the same feature for the speech intelligibility rating indicated a range between 0.66 and 0.69 (p<0.01).

Conclusion: The findings of this investigation indicated that both CAPII and SIR scales are reliable and valid instruments for the assessment of auditory perception and speech production of cochlear-implant deaf children.

Background and Aim: The hearing defects in deaf and hearing-impaired students also affect their cognitive skills such as memory in addition to communication skills. Hence, the aim of this study was to compare visual working memory in deaf and hearing-impaired students with that in normal counterparts.

Method: In the present study, which was a causal-comparative study using the André Rey test, 30 deaf and 30 hearing-impaired students were compared with 30 students in a normal group, and they were matched based on gender, intelligence, educational grade, and socioeconomic status.

Findings: Findings show that there is significant difference between the three groups’ subjects (p<0.05). The average of the normal group was more than that of the other two groups. However, the difference between the two auditory impaired groups was not significant (p>0.05).

Conclusion: Function of deaf or hard-of-hearing students in the visual working memory task was weaker in comparison with the normal counterparts, while the two deaf and hard-of-hearing groups have similar functions. With a better identification and understanding of the factors that affect the development of this cognitive ability, we can offer new methods of teaching and reduce many of the disadvantages of this group of people in the different fields of cognitive science.