Past News of thew OAE Portal---2005

Contents of this section: Year 2005

07/12	NATUS after the acquisition of the AccuScreeen royalties from Fischer-Zoth has also bought the Biologic line of products (merging of the Companies). For more info see this announcement . This brings NATUS to a very competitive edge in comparison to other manufacturers of AABR and OAE devices. Updates on the OAE hardware pages reflecting these developments are expected in early 2006.
03/12	The pages in the Articles section dedicated to authoring have been updated with the latest RANKING in terms of Impact Factors (year 2004). As it is expected more experimental Journals are leading the way (JARO), but Ear & Hearing is positioned in the second position. From an European point of view the International Journal of Audiology ranks as 17th and we are not sure if this implies something about the level of research in Europe. With the condensation of three journals into one (Audiology, British journal of Audiology, and Scandinavian Audiology ) there is a problem today of where to channel clinical OAE-based research in Europe. The good news is that from inside resources we have been informed that Audiological Medicine might enter in the Impact Factor and MEDLINE listings arena at the end of 2006.
26/11	The OAE hardware pages were updated with information related to Interacoustics, LABAT, Otodynamics and Etymotic Research.
06/11	The first announcements regarding the NHS 2006 Conference on Beyond Newborn Hearing Screening: Infant and Childhood Hearing in Science and Clinical Practice, are currently circulating in INTERNET via email. The event will take place on May 31 - June 3, 2006 at Villa Erba Congress Center, Cernobbio, Italy The conference will include Round Table discussions, Special Sessions, Keynote presentations, free papers and poster sessions. Other satellite events are being planned as well such as : A Phonak Workshop: Thursday, June 1 from 18.30; Oticon Pediatric Symposium: Friday, June 2 from 13.00 to 15.30; - 2nd Siemens Pediatric Satellite Event: Friday, June 2 from 17.00 to 19.00; Radio frequencies and hearing (EU Workshop): Saturday, June 3.
01/11	The pages dedicated to the Screening practices around the World were updated with new information related to newly-active EHDI programs. The Links pages were updated. The Interacoustics Sponsored pages were updated with initial information related to the DPOAE-20 device recently released. The OAE hardware pages will be updated when more photographic material will be available.
24/10	The pages on MEDLINE related articles were updated with volumes 2, 3 and 4. The Italian Authoring pages were updated with the contributions from the groups of Bari, Polytechnic of Milan and Rome-ISPESL.
17/10	We are very pleased to present in the reports section a white paper / report called "Future Directions of Basic and clinical OAE research". The material presented was edited by Dr. Hatzopoulos and it is an integration of information presented in various Portal editorials and international conferences in the period 2003 to 2005.
10/10	In this post we are presenting the FIRST references related to the Hearing Screening Program in the UK. The material was furnished by Nick Waddell (Portal's liaison) and Anne Stevenson (NHSP Operations Manager). Mr Waddell serves as 'IT Co-ordinator' for the UK NHSP. He was responsible for specifying and procuring our national IT system, as well as overseeing its rollout and ongoing development. He is now more involved now in strategic planning and developing approaches for working more closely with other antenatal and newborn screening programs, as well as ensuring that the IT system supports our developing quality assurance strategy. The information on the UK program is divided into two parts: The first is a report (ATTN pdf file 3.5 M) on the activities and the goals achieved so far (middle of 2005) and the second a report on the operational status of the program in 2005. (40K).
06/10	The editorial staff of the Portal welcomes to our Sponsor list Vivosonic , manufacturers of OAE, AABR and ASSR equipment . The Vivosonic sponsored pages are expected to be on-line by the end of November 2005. Otodynamics have designed new DP adult tips. The tips have been engineered to improve the quality and accuracy of stimulation when using DP probes. The basic shape of the tips has not changed, but the new shorter design enables the tips to fit flush with the end of the probe coupler tubes. This means increased accuracy when measuring and calibrating stimulus levels for DPOAE testing. This quality enhancement will also benefit TEOAE measurements. To read the rest of the announcement (pdf file) click here.
04/10	The white paper section on clinical OAR applications was updated with a contribution from Dr. Jemma Hine titled "Conventional and High Rate Otoacoustic Emissions in Normally Hearing and Hearing Impaired Subjects". This white paper is a synopsis of the article: Hine J.E. & Thornton A.R.D. (2005) Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions recorded using Maximum Length Sequences from Patients with Sensorineural Hearing Loss. Hearing Research 203, 122-133. Since completing her doctorate at Oxford University in auditory physiology, Dr. Jemma Hine has worked as a clinical scientist at the Medical Research Council's Institute of Hearing Research (IHR) in Southampton where she is also an honorary research fellow in Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Southampton. Her recent research has focused on the potential of otoacoustic emissions recorded using the maximum length sequence technique.
30/09	The Future-highlights page was updated with the activities until the end of 2005.
28/09	During the months of July and August and the first weeks of September we have received a large number of requests related to various aspects of OAE hardware with emphasis on neonatal screening devices. The common denominator in these questions was "which is the best / cheapest device" and from where it can be obtained from. Although we have partially responded to these questions we believe that such requests BELONG to the OAE FORUM space, where it can be answered by not only FORUM members but from the OAE company representatives as well. Each section editor is engaged in some sort of message forwarding (to the proper sources) when a pertinent question is not answered. So it is strongly advised to use the FORUM space for general or specific OAE questions and our email addresses for issues related to material posted in the Portal.
01/09	The OAE hardware pages were updates with the latest information received from all manufacturers (until 29/07/2005).
04/08	During the months of July and August we have stated a process of indexing and re-evaluation of the material present in the Portal. Thus the scheduled activities of July have been postponed for late August early-September.
26/06	The alternative screening technologies page has been updated with information relative to AABR.
10/06	The section on future highlights was updated with the remaining editorials for 2005, a white paper on MLS and TEOAEs and a report on the NHS practices in the UK
22/05	The meetings page has been updated with information related to an Audiology seminar / Workshop on OAEs, neonatal screening and relative technologies, organized by the ENT dept. of the hospital Dona Estef�nia in Lisbon Portugal.
16/05	The section on Neonatal Screening programs from around the World has been updated with a report on the pilot screening program at Tirana Albania. The report was compiled by Birkena Qirjazi MD, Ph.D.
11/05	We are pleased to announce that the FORUM activity has started to raise and numerous questions have been posted. One thing that should be underlined again. No matter how silly a question might be there is no reason why you should not try to get an answer. The FORUM space was created to promote communication between the members of the OAE community and in this context all questions( except offensive ones) are welcome. The white paper section on clinical OAE Application was updated with a classic presentation from the Ferrara group on the similarities and differences between the Linear and non-linear (i.e. derived) TEOAE protocols. This argument used to be at a constant spotlight in the late nineties , and the article presents data from various analysis methods which were popular at that time (i.e. short time FFT analysis, Input-Output TEOAE curves etc). The reader should note though that more precise data were obtained the last 5 years, using Time-Frequency (TF) and Time-Scale (TS) analysis methods.
04/05	The section on Alternative Neonatal Screening Technologies has been updated with a contribution by Dr. James Hall. The title of the presentation is "Application of Auditory Steady State Response (ASSR) in Diagnosis of Infant Hearing Loss in the Era of Universal Newborn Hearing Screening" . The lecture is offered as a pdf file (1.8 MB). Dr. Birkena Qirjazi (project coordinator) will be presenting in the next two weeks the first impressions of the recently implemented NHS program in Tirana , Albania. Her report will be divided into two parts related to the evaluated populations of well babies and NICU residents.
25/04	The section on Alternative Neonatal Screening Technologies has been updated with a contribution by Dr. James Hall. The title of the presentation is "The Role of Auditory Steady State Response (ASSR) in Audiology Today" . Due to the importance of the material the pdf file is relatively large (5 MB). If you have any difficulties downloading it please let us know.
20/04	The section on Neonatal Screening on-line lectures has been updated. Dr. Luisa Monteiro has contributed a revised presentation / report on issues related to UNHS and the newly started program in Portugal. The original material was presented during the 6th International Conference of European Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology (ESPO), May 25-29, 2004, Athens Greece. The OAE hardware section was updated with information related to the Biologic lines of screeners and diagnostic devices.
15/04	Due to security upgrades to our server the Portal material for this week will appear on-line from April 25th.
08/04	The section on Neonatal Screening has been updated. Later on this month we will present contributions on the ASSR approach.
04/04	The original programming of the first week of April will be delayed slightly due to the fact that the majority of the editorial board members attended the conference of the American Academy of Audiology, in Washington DC (March 30 - April 2). The scheduled update on the OAE hardware trends will appear later this week.
28/03	The On-line POwerpoint lectures, neonatal screening section, was updated with a contribution from Dr. Alexander Lapira, titled "The Application of Otoacoustic Emissions in Detecting Carriers of Autosomal Recessive Non-Syndromic Hearing Loss". The material was presented as an oral contribution during the 2004 IAPA meeting in Thessaloniki. Dr Lapira is presently employed as a Senior Registrar in Audiological Medicine at St Lukes Hospital, Malta. He received his basic medical degree at the University of Malta, before moving to Leeds University, UK, where he completed further postgraduate training in Otorhinolaryngology with a special interest in Phoniatry. He then further specialized in Audiological Medicine in Great Ormond Street Hospital and Queen's Square Neurotology Department, UK under Prof. Linda Luxon. His research interests include acoustic glottographic analysis of voice and clinical applications of OAEs in carriers of genetic deafness and noise induced tinnitus. He is presently involved in coordinating a Targeted Neonatal Hearing Screening Service in Malta.
22/03	We are very pleased to present a contribution of a leading figure in the Greek scene of Neonatal Hearing Screening. Dr. Mihalis Tsakanikos has generously provided to us his lecture presentation during the 6th International Conference of European Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology (ESPO), May 25-29, Athens Greece. The title of his lecture is "The Management of Children failing Hearing Screening". The Powerpoint lecture is available in two versions ( 1) a color pdf file (1.1 M) ; (2) a Black and White pdf file ( 482 k). Dr. Tsakanikos has been involved with neonatal Hearing Screening practices from the early 1990s. He is an ENT surgeon working in the largest children hospital in Greece (Aglaia Kiriakou hospital) and he has successfully organized three European Workshops on screening under the auspices of 3 European Concerted Actions. In terms of his contribution to hearing screening he has authored 3 books , more than 100 papers in Greek and more than 30 papers in English.
18/03	We have received a number of requests from new users of how to POST a message in the OAE FORUM. A short guide of how to use the FORUM to post new questions or to continue on previously posted arguments, can be found here.
14/03	The section dedicated to Recent MEDLINE articles was updated as Volume 1 2005. The Italian authoring contributions page was also updated with papers from the Polytechnic of Milan and second ENT clinic of Rome.
10/03	The Meetings page has been updated with information relative to a new course on neonatal hearing screening (9 & 10/06/2005) organized by GN-Otometrics, USA.
05/03	The book-project page was updated with material related to DPOAEs.
28/02	The Neonatal Screening , Programs in the World section was updated with a contribution from Dr. Stavros Korres on the latest information from the Universal screening practices in Athens, Greece.
19/02	The Clinical section of the on-line PowerPoint lectures was updated with a contribution from Dr. Rudolph Probst. The title of the presentation is "Possibilities and limits of clinical use of OAEs" (2.5M). The presentation is provided as a pdf file. The original lecture was given as an invited lecture during the 41rts Workshop of Inner Ear Biology in Debrecen Hungary (2004).
14/02	The Neonatal Screening section of the On-Line PowerPoint presentation was updated with a contribution from Dr. James Hall III. The Title of the presentation is "The Power of a OAE and ABR Newborn Hearing Screening Strategy" (2M). A reminder to all visitors of the Portal that from 2004 the On-line lectures are provided as pdf (Adobe Acrobat) files.
04/02	The first edition of the FORUM space is now on-line. Users do not need to register , but it is advisable to leave a valid email address to promote further communication. Please do not forget to brief the basic Forum Guide-Lines. It is understandable that any new technology (if a FORUM can be presented in this manner) requires some learning time, so if you have problems / suggestions with the structure of the FORUM please send us a message.
02/02	The future highlights section was updated with material which will be presented until May 2005. The FORUM space is ready but we are waiting to receive the final responses of the section moderators . More details on the sections and the moderators will be posted on 04/02NOTE: The FORUN link is inactive but you can access the initial FORUM guide-lines .
25/01	NOTE from the editor:We are apologizing for the lack of the programmed updates for the month of January, but our resources have been focused on the implementation of the OAE FORUM , which should go on line the first / second week of February. Normal updates of the OAE Portal pages will start (on the latest) from 31/01.
10/01/2005	Interacoustics has released information regarding the firmware of their portable screener (Otoread) and the related database. In the new firmware version 7.65 the following changes have been made: The Screener version now both have the option for a test with a 2 second averaging and a test with 4 second averaging. The Standard and the Clinical versions now have more customizable programs. Also, a new database (software version 7.70) for storage of data from the OtoRead to the PC is now available. For more information contact Mrs Jette Friis of Interacoustics. We welcome to our sponsors list LABAT the Italian manufacturer of portable OAE screeners ( Echolab, & Echolab plus) and ABR equipment.

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