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Teachers are at a higher risk for occupation-related voice disorders than the general population. The aim of this work is the investigations on the relationships between vocal doses and clinical status, acoustical conditions (noise and reverberation) in the classrooms and subjective evaluations of vocal effort and fatigue. At clinical evaluation 41% of the teachers showed no sign of vocal disease. Students talking in the classroom is the most annoying, noise source in classrooms. The consequence of the poor acoustics in all the schools was the decrease in students question perception. The main cause of a vocal pathology was time dose.

Clinical and biological prognostic factors in 135 patients affected by sinonasal carcinoma treated in Piedmont. Long-term survival of patients with sinonasal carcinoma remains disappointing in spite of aggressive treatment. The aim of the study is the assessment of overall survival in a group of patients treated with a fixed protocol and the positivity of proliferation and neoangiogenesis markers (Ki-67 and VEGF). From our data it comes out that staging, histological type and treatment are the most important clinical and pathological prognostic factors, moreover surgery +/- radiotherapy is the first line treatment for these tumors. Proliferation index and neoangiogenesis plays a pivotal role in the natural history of such neoplasms.

Socio-presbyacusis is a hot topic with an increasing incidence and high social costs. The main etiological factors are: genetics, smoking and drinking habits, diet, metabolic syndrome, chronic otitis and noise exposure (professional, environmental and recreative). Despite its multifactorial origin, the pathogenetic mechanism of cochlear damage is based on the increased production of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). The clinical characteristic feature of socio-presbyacusis is represented by slow cochlear degeneration causing a reduction of central hearing inputs. The result is a gradual social isolation of the deaf patient with a worsening of his Quality of Life. The main target of the management of socio-presbyacusis is the early diagnosis and prosthetic remediation in order to avoid patient's isolation. New preventive and remediative strategies are represented by antioxidant drugs.

Based on today's common hearing aid design and technology, the team of researchers successfully designed a DPI which allows the worker to be "protected" against loudness and in the same time guarantee a good level of communication and perception of the surrounding environment. The design of this new device is very much similar to a standard BTE hearing aid which allows the use of an active DPI very comfortable, robust and easy to use. The research using the prototypes was divided into 3 phases: Phase 1: 24 volunteers coming from non-industry companies did undergo a specific trial protocol. Phase 2: 6 workers coming from a mining company did undergo the same protocol used in Phase 1. Phase 3: The Acoustics Laboratory from the "Energetica" Department of the Polytechnic of Turin (University/Institute) took objective measures for the DPI attenuation figures used in phase 1 and 2.

Aim of this study was to evaluate the effectivness of Coenzyme Q-Ter and Vitamin A in functional voice disorders. Twenty two patients were treated with CoQ10-ter and vitamin A twice a day for ten days. A general otolaryngological/foniatric and logopedic examination were performed. Videolaringostroboscopy, GIRBAS, Voice Handicap Index questionnaire and Multi-Dimensional Voice analysis were carried out before and after treatment. In all patients an improvement was observed in almost all parameters considered after treatment. CoQ10-ter and Vitamin A risulted effective in treatment of patients with functional voice disorders (caused by vocal "malmenage" or "surmenage").

The aims of this study is to assess how DPOAEs can discriminate normal subjects with a risk of damage induced by noise, the effectiveness of OAEs in monitoring the effect of Q-Ter, and the role of blood tests to monitor therapy. In the placebo group, the amplitude of DPOAEs was reduced 1 hour and 16 hours after exposure, the group treated with Q-Ter showed normal DPOAEs. This pilot study confirms that DPOAEs represent a sensitive test for monitoring the effects of noise in preclinical conditions and pharmacological treatment.