Suppression of otoacoustic emissions in dysarthria

• Grant number: 13/19951-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: January 01, 2014
• End date: December 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Speech Therapy
• Principal Investigator: Daniela Gil
• Grantee: Carolina Naegeli Caverni
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Dysarthria is a speech disorder, resulting from changes in muscle control mechanisms involved in speech production, these changes are due to a lesion of the central or peripheral nervous system.Due to the difficulty in oral production of dysarthric individuals, hearing evaluation should be performed using objective tests, such as: otoacoustic emissions and suppression test. These instruments will provide important information about the functioning of the cochlea, the efferent system and the interaction between the afferent and efferent systems, allowing to differentiate the peripheral auditory disorders of the central ones.Because the auditory efferent fibers originate in the most diverse points of central nervous system, and dysarthria may result from changes in the Central or Peripheral Nervous System, there are hypotheses that there may be some relationship between dysarthria and the absence of suppression of TOAE. Objective: This study aims to analyze the hearing function in individuals with dysarthria and the functioning of the medial efferent olivocochlear system, using transient evoked otoacoustic emissions with and without noise. METHODS: 30 individuals between 25 and 59 years of age will be recruited and divided into two groups, one study group and control group. The study group will be composed of 15 individuals with dysarthria diagnosed over a year from the Acquired Neurological Disorders Ambulatory, Speech Therapy Department of Federal University of São Paulo. The control group will consist of 15 individuals without dysarthria and/or complaints of communication disorders. The control and study groups will be matched considering gender and age. Both groups will undergo the same audiological procedures, such as meatoscopy, imitanciometry and contralateral acoustic reflexes, pure tone audiometry, speech audiometry and transient evoked otoacoustic emissions with and without contralateral noise. After the evaluation the results will be recorded and analyzed with descriptive and inferential measurements.