A total of 329 patients consulted our hospital with a main complaint of tinnitus between December 1, 2011, and April 31, 2014. We performed a retrospective statistical analysis of these 329 patients. There were 144 men (43.8%) and 185 women (56.2%). The patient age ranged from 7–92 years (average, 59.0 years). In age and the sex, a lot of 40 years old or more were recognized and, as for the 40 years old level, there were many men and was admitted and there were many women in the 50 years old level, the 60 years old level, the 70 years old level and was admitted. The tinnitus handicap inventory (THI) score was distributed approximately equally. But a lot of 10–39 points in particular of ranges were recognized. Many patients with slight hearing loss were recognized in the pure tone audiometry. The frequency of tinnitus had most 8 KHz and was 4 KHz next. We prescribed a lot of vitamin B12 preparation and ATP preparation and subsequently prescribed cerebral circulation improvement. The most commonly prescribed Kampo medicine was Chotosan, followed by Goshajinkigan. After explanation, hearing aid treatment and the sound therapy took effect, too. In this article, we introduced the action in outpatients specialized in the tinnitus in our hospital and gave an outline at a point of the tinnitus treatment. At first a thing corresponding to the carefulness is thought to be important tenaciously by one year from a half year while giving psychotherapy, sound therapy, Kampo therapy.

両側小耳症外耳道閉鎖症の術前の両耳骨導補聴器装用下および両耳外耳道形成術後の両耳気導補聴下の方向感がどの程度成立するかこれまで明らかではない。

われわれは両側小耳症外耳道閉鎖症例に対して，10歳前後に耳介形成術と外耳道形成術の合同手術を過去20年にわたって実施している。方向感検査を術前に両耳骨導補聴下と術後の両耳カナル型気導補聴器の装用下に実施した。その結果両耳時間差も両耳音圧差も両耳骨導補聴下でもカナル型補聴下でも閾値の上昇を認めはするが成立することがわかった。

　フレイルは要介護状態の前段階であり, 難聴もそのリスクとされている. Fried らによる Cardiovascular Health Study(CHS) 基準ではフレイル判定に移動能力の低下, 筋力の低下, 疲労感, 低い活動性, 身体の萎縮 (体重減少) を用いる.

　老化に関する長期縦断疫学研究 (NILS-LSA) 第6次調査と2年後の第7次調査に参加し, フレイル評価および純音聴力検査ほか解析項目に欠損のない903名 (69.8±6.7歳) を対象にフレイルと聴力の関連を検討した.

　年齢, 性別を考慮した多重比較で, 第6次調査の4周波数平均の良聴耳聴力レベル (最小二乗平均) は, 第6次, 第7次調査におけるフレイル判定により有意に異なっており, どちらの調査においてもフレイル群では健常群と比して聴力レベルは悪かった (第6次健常: 24.2±0.5dB, フレイル: 28.0±1.7dB, p＝0.022, 第7次健常: 24.6±0.6dB, フレイル: 28.7±1.5dB, p＝0.047). 聴力レベルは, 2年後のフレイル悪化を予測する変数としては有意ではなかった.

　CHS 基準には聴力に関する項目は含まれていないが, 高齢者の聴力とフレイルの間の関連が示唆された.

要旨: 本研究では, 補聴器・人工内耳装用者における, 早口の音声聴取能改善に効果的な改善方法として, 統語的な休止区間の挿入の有効性について検討した。対象は人工内耳装用者と補聴器装用者, 各17名であり, ニュース番組におけるアナウンサーの発話速度を基準速度として, 1.5倍速度文および2.0倍速度の早口の音声文を作成した。これに対し, 休止区間挿入方法は, 毎文節に休止区間を挿入する毎文節挿入条件, 休止区間を意味的に区切ることができる1か所のみ挿入する意味的挿入条件の2条件とした。その結果, 補聴器装用者, 人工内耳装用者ともに1.5倍速文においては休止区間挿入による聴取能改善は認めなかったが, 人工内耳装用者に対する2.0倍速文においては, 毎文節挿入条件に比し, 意味的挿入条件において聴取能は有意に改善した。休止区間挿入は, 毎文節区切って話すより, 意味的なまとまりで区切って話すことが, 早口の音声聴取には効果的であることが示唆された。

It is significant to evaluate the recruitment of fast twitch fibers quantitively in means of preventing sarcopenia. In a previous study, m-ch method was proposed to observe propagation wave which originates from action potential of each muscle fiber. In this study, relation between strength of muscle contraction and propagation wave had been examined in purpose of evaluating recruitment of fast twitch fibers during training. The result suggests that most propagation waves acquired band's velocity has increased by increase of muscle contraction strength. There is a hope for evaluating recruitment of fast twitch fibers during training.

The surface electromyography (EMG) is used to evaluate skeletal muscle, mainly in the clinical and sports science fields. Muscular activity is regulated by types and number of motor units (MUs). The action potential generated by MUs are measured as EMG. Most of the use of surface EMG is to evaluate the amount of muscle activity by amplitude information. Although surface EMG contains information on the activities of many MUs, these analyzes are rarely performed. We have developed a new method to extract conduction waves by focusing on the conduction of the potential waveform using a multi-channel surface EMG. By this method, it can be examined that the information on the emission of action potentials from motor nerves. We gave an overview of this method and its development. The method finds pairs of similar waveforms as conduction waves by quantitative judgment automatically. Since the position of conduction waves can be confirmed automatically, the position of the end-plate can be found. Also, depending on the research, it is possible to determine the angle of muscle fibers automatically. We are also studying the relationship between muscle thickness and conduction waves for diagnosis of muscle condition.

要旨: 本研究の目的は, 聴覚障害者の日常生活における早口の音声聴取能について, 自然な早口の音声を用いて検討する。さらに, 早口の音声聴取に文の有意味性が関与するのかについても検討することであった。対象は人工内耳装用者15名と補聴器装用者16名であり, 対照群は健聴者10名であった。早口音声はニュース番組におけるアナウンサーの発話速度を基準速度とし, 基準速度文 (1倍速文), 1.5倍速度文および2.0倍速度文を作成した。検査文は有意味文と構文構造を崩さない無意味文条件を設定し, 条件間で比較した。

　その結果, 補聴器装用者及び人工内耳装用者は早口の音声聴取能が健聴者に比し有意に低下し, 人工内耳装用者は2.0倍速文において補聴器装用者より有意に低下した。また, 文の有意味性については, 補聴器装用者及び人工内耳装用者は基準速度文と1.5倍速文においては文脈から推測し聴取を補っているが, 2.0倍速文のように発話速度が速いと文脈からの推測は働きにくくなることが明らかになった。

The elucidation of muscle activity is important in clinical fields such as diagnosis of sarcopenia. Muscular activity is regulated by types and number of motor units (MU). The action potential generated by MUs are measured as electromyography (EMG). The multi-channel surface EMG (sEMG) is used to analyze the conduction of muscle potential. It is recorded as the interference electric potential generated by MUs. In our previous study, we proposed a method for searching all conducting waves appearing quantitatively in the multi-channel sEMG by calculating the similarity of the waveforms. It has possibility to estimate the mobilization of MUs by examining conduction waves. However, consideration of the results required anatomical and physiological knowledge. One of the quantitative evaluations of muscles is the measurement of muscle thickness using ultrasonic images. In this study, we investigated the relationship between conducting waves and muscle thickness measurement on 10 subjects. We examined the frequency of muscle training, muscle thickness, and the multi-channel sEMG during isometric contraction for each subject. It was found that the conduction velocity of waves is related to the biceps muscle thickness. In addition, the number of conducting waves is related to the ratio of biceps muscle thickness to subcutaneous fat thickness.

Skeletal muscle is a set of motor units (MU). Muscle contractile activity is carried out by regulating the firing frequency of MU and the types of muscle fibers to be mobilized. Multi-channel surface electromyogram (sEMG) contains many conducting waves that represent a single motor unit action potentials (MUAP). In previous study, we proposed a method to extract conducting waves quantitatively and automatically. This method is useful for elucidating mobilized MUs and can be applied to kinematic analysis and diagnosis of muscle diseases. In multi-channel sEMG measurement, rows of electrodes need to be applied along the direction of the muscle fibers. However, the electrodes are difficult to set because the direction of the muscle fibers cannot be visually confirmed on the skin. This study investigated a method for estimating muscle fiber direction by analyzing conducting waves from two-dimensional multichannel surface electromyograms using grid-shaped surface electrodes. By examining the number of conducting waves acquired in each direction of the electrode row, it was suggested that the direction of muscle fiber may be estimated from the direction with the largest number of propagating wave acquisitions. It was also found that the method of acquiring differential potential signals has a significant impact on the analysis of propagation direction.