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Sci Rep 2022 Jun 23;12(1):8929. Epub 2022 Jun 23.

Eaton-Peabody Laboratories, Massachusetts Eye & Ear, 243 Charles Street, Boston, MA, 02114-3096, USA.

The current gold standard of clinical hearing assessment includes a pure-tone audiogram combined with a word recognition task. This retrospective study tests the hypothesis that deficits in word recognition that cannot be explained by loss in audibility or cognition may reflect underlying cochlear nerve degeneration (CND). We collected the audiological data of nearly 96,000 ears from patients with normal hearing, conductive hearing loss (CHL) and a variety of sensorineural etiologies including (1) age-related hearing loss (ARHL); (2) neuropathy related to vestibular schwannoma or neurofibromatosis of type 2; (3) Ménière's disease; (4) sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL), (5) exposure to ototoxic drugs (carboplatin and/or cisplatin, vancomycin or gentamicin) or (6) noise damage including those with a 4-kHz "noise notch" or reporting occupational or recreational noise exposure. Read More

HNO 2022 Jun 20. Epub 2022 Jun 20.

Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Ernst-Grube-Str. 40, 06120, Halle (Saale), Germany.

Background: Systemic glucocorticosteroids ("steroids") are widely used worldwide as a standard of care for primary therapy of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSHL). The German ISSHL guideline recommends high-dose steroids without evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and refers solely to retrospective cohort studies. This RCT aims to assess the efficacy (improvement in hearing) and safety (especially systemic side effects) of high-dose steroids versus standard of care (standard dose systemic steroids) for the treatment of unilateral ISSHL, when given as a primary therapy. Read More

Int J Audiol 2022 Jun 19:1-10. Epub 2022 Jun 19.

Hörzentrum Oldenburg gGmbH, Oldenburg, Germany.

Objective: The International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health (ICF) is a classification of health and health-related domains created by the World Health Organization and can be used as a standard to evaluate the health and disability of individuals. The ICF Core Set for Hearing Loss (CSHL) refers to the ICF categories found to be relative to Hearing Loss (HL) and the consequences of it on daily life. This study aimed to adapt the content of a database gathered in Hörzentrum Oldenburg gGmbH that included HL medical assessments and audiological data to the ICF. Read More

Front Neurosci 2022 1;16:876421. Epub 2022 Jun 1.

Department of Audiology, ENT-Clinic, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany.

Objective: Understanding speech in noisy conditions is challenging even for people with mild hearing loss, and intelligibility for an individual person is usually evaluated by using several subjective test methods. In the last few years, a method has been developed to determine a temporal response function (TRF) between speech envelope and simultaneous electroencephalographic (EEG) measurements. By using this TRF it is possible to predict the EEG signal for any speech signal. Read More

J Am Acad Audiol 2022 Jun 15. Epub 2022 Jun 15.

Paediatric Neurologist The Children's Hospital at Westmead Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia, The Children's Hospital at Westmead Clinical School, Sydney, Australia.

Audiological manifestations of patients with PLA2G6 associated neurodegeneration (PLAN) are limited. We analyzed the audiological findings in a cohort of 13 children with infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy (INAD). Patients underwent a battery of audiological tests including tympanometry, distortion product otoacoustic emissions, impedance audiometry and Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potentials (BAEP's). Read More

Pediatr Diabetes 2022 Jun 14. Epub 2022 Jun 14.

Department of ENT (Audiology Unit), Menoufia University, Shebin Elkom, Egypt.

Background/objectives: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease that affects many body systems, including the nervous and auditory systems. It is noted that there is a scarcity of research on the effect of diabetes on cognitive functions in particular and auditory functions in general in children with type 1 diabetes. Therefore, this study was designed to assess cognitive and auditory functions in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus and to correlate the reflection of diabetes control on cognitive functions. Read More

J Korean Med Sci 2022 Jun 13;37(23):e182. Epub 2022 Jun 13.

Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

Background: The aim of this study is to investigate the clinical effectiveness of Ponto in Korea, a recently released percutaneous bone-anchored hearing implant.

Methods: 16 patients with single-sided deafness (SSD) and mixed or conductive hearing loss who underwent Ponto implantation from December 2018 to September 2020 were enrolled in the study. Puretone audiometry, the Korean version of the Hearing in Noise Test (K-HINT), sound localization test (SLT), and Pupillometry were performed pre- and three months post-operation. Read More

Am J Otolaryngol 2022 Jun 5;43(5):103528. Epub 2022 Jun 5.

School of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Division of Chinese Internal Medicine, Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan.

Background: Idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL) presents with emergent hearing impairment and is mainly treated with steroids. However, limited data exist regarding the prognostic factors among elderly patients (>65 years old) who receive an intra-tympanic steroid injection (ITSI). Therefore, we investigated the prognostic factors in these patients. Read More

Ear Hear 2022 Jun 8. Epub 2022 Jun 8.

Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.

Objectives: To evaluate the listening difficulty in a cocktail party environment in the sound field in order to better demonstrate patients' difficulties listening in noise, and to examine temporal and directional cue effects on the speech intelligibility in patients with listening difficulties in noise in comparison with control subjects.

Design: This study examined and analyzed 16 control subjects without any complaints of listening difficulties and 16 patients who had visited the outpatient clinic of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Tohoku University Hospital, with complaints of listening difficulties, especially in background crowded conditions, despite having relatively good hearing on routine audiograms and speech audiometry. Using five loudspeakers located in front of the subject and at 30° and 60° to the left and right from the front, word intelligibility for the target voice (female talker) presented from one of the loudspeakers in random order with four distractor voices (male talker) was assessed under the following cue conditions: (1) "no additional temporal/directional cue (only talker sex as a cue)"; (2) "fixed temporal cue without directional cue" (white noise bursts [cue sounds] were presented from the five loudspeakers just before word presentation at 500-ms intervals); (3) "directional + variable temporal cues" [cue sounds were presented from the loudspeaker where the next target word would be presented with a variable inter-stimulus interval [ISI] of 500, 1000, 1500, or 2000 ms between the cue sound and word presentation); and (4) "directional + fixed temporal cues" (cue sounds were presented from the loudspeaker where the next target word would be presented with a fixed ISI of 500 ms). Read More

J Chin Med Assoc 2022 Jun 2. Epub 2022 Jun 2.

Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Taichung Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC.

Background: Cochlear implants (CIs) are viable treatment options in patients with severe to profound hearing loss. Speech recognition difficulties were reported in some CI recipients even with good aided hearing threshold. The aim of this study was reporting a mapping strategy based on different target aided hearing thresholds in order to achieve optimal speech recognition and maximize functional outcome. Read More

Noise Health 2022 Jan-Mar;24(112):20-26

Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Speech and Hearing Centre, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Objective: Adolescents may be at risk of noise-induced hearing loss due to recreational sound. The aim of this study was to examine the role of distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) in screening for early stages of high-frequency loss such as can be observed in noise-induced hearing loss.

Setting And Design: This cross-sectional study was embedded within Generation R, an ongoing prospective birth cohort study in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Read More

Auris Nasus Larynx 2022 May 25. Epub 2022 May 25.

Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Tokyo Metropolitan Tama Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan.

Objective: The present study aimed to investigate whether hearing aid use can induce improvement as acclimatization effect in unaided speech perception in patients with age-related hearing loss.

Methods: Fifty ears in 41 patients (age range: 65-91 years) diagnosed as age-related hearing loss were enrolled in this study. They used hearing aids for more than 8 hours per day. Read More

Viruses 2022 04 20;14(5). Epub 2022 Apr 20.

Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital Mannheim, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68167 Mannheim, Germany.

Background: Various symptoms have been associated with COVID-19, but little is known about the impacts of COVID-19 on the sensory system, risk factors, and the duration of symptoms. This study assesses olfactory, gustatory, hearing, and vestibular systems after COVID-19.

Methods: This cross-sectional, single-center study involved 50 patients one to six months after COVID-19 and reports their patient records and the extent, onset, and duration of olfactory, gustatory, hearing, and balance disorders using questionnaires during and after COVID-19. Read More

Am J Audiol 2022 May 27:1-18. Epub 2022 May 27.

Speech and Hearing Science Research Institute, Children's Hearing Foundation, Taipei City, Taiwan.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to comprehensively monitor the auditory skill development of children with hearing loss after hearing instrument fitting, and a battery of four assessments was proposed.

Method: This battery was designed to fill the gap in speech discrimination in clinically available evaluations. The battery includes both behavioral and neural assessments. Read More

Acta Otorhinolaryngol Ital 2022 Apr;42(2):169-175

Department of Sense Organs, ENT Department, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.

Objective: To analyse hearing attention and quality of listening in a cohort of children affected by moderate to severe unilateral hearing loss, comparing a group of hearing aid users to children with no hearing aid.

Methods: Twenty-four children (12 hearing aid users, and 12 without hearing rehabilitation) underwent audiological evaluation with speech audiometry in quiet and noise, hearing attention tests, and the speech, spatial and quality of hearing questionnaire in the version for parents.

Results: Concerning speech audiometry in noise, in the most difficult condition no one in the unaided group achieved a normal speech recognition threshold score (0% 11. Read More

J Laryngol Otol 2022 May 25:1-21. Epub 2022 May 25.

Department Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Pretoria, South Africa.

J Neurosci Res 2022 May 22. Epub 2022 May 22.

Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Experimental Audiology, University hospital rechts der Isar of the Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.

Age-related hearing loss (ARHL, formerly presbycusis) is due to a variety of lifetime damages to the auditory system and is characterized by bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, impaired speech understanding in noise and central sound processing deficits. Despite its commonness, the pathogenesis has not been completely clarified yet; especially the existence of an independent central ARHL component still remains controversial. We present the results of a cross-sectional topodiagnostic test battery study which aimed at separating aging- and hearing loss-related effects on all parts of the auditory system by current test procedures. Read More

Codas 2022 9;34(6):e20210274. Epub 2022 May 9.

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte - UFRN - Natal (RN), Brasil.

Purpose: Verify how demographic and socioeconomic variables on the in-noise speech recognition threshold (SRT) from the digits-in-noise test (DIN) in Brazilian Portuguese influence normal-hearing subjects.

Methods: Cross-sectional, prospective study. The convenience sample had 151 normal-hearing subjects between 12 and 79 years (mean=34. Read More

Saudi Med J 2022 May;43(5):530-533

From the Department of Otolaryngology (Aldhafeeri), Hafr Albaten Central Hospital, Hafr Albaten, from the Audiology Unit (Yousef); from the from Otology Unit (alzhrani), King Abdullah Ear Specialist Center, Collage of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and from the Audiology Unit (Yousef), ENT Department, Menoufia University, Menoufia, Egypt.

Objectives: To evaluate the clinical and audiological outcomes of percutaneous bone conduction device placement by minimally invasive Ponto surgery (MIPS).

Methods: This was a retrospective descriptive study of patients who underwent MIPS from March-November 2019 at King Abdullah Ear Specialist Center, Collage of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. We reviewed all the clinical data of patients, including preoperative data, postoperative surgical results, and audiological performance (aided and unaided pure tone audiometry and aided and unaided speech tests). Read More

Am J Audiol 2022 Jun 10;31(2):445-452. Epub 2022 May 10.

Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of file compression on clinically measured word recognition scores obtained using the Northwestern University Test Number Six (NU-6; Auditec recording) materials.

Method: Participants were 86 adults ( = 170 ears; = 65.5). Read More

Ear Nose Throat J 2022 May 2:1455613221099996. Epub 2022 May 2.

ENT Unit, 432601Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the audiological outcomes and subjective benefits of transcutaneous bone conduction implants (BCIs) in patients with single-sided deafness (SSD).

Methods: This retrospective study was conducted on 11 patients with SSD implantations between 2015 and 2018 at a tertiary center. Pure-tone audiometry, speech reception threshold (SRT), and speech-in-noise (SPIN) tests were performed. Read More

Front Psychol 2022 15;13:845285. Epub 2022 Apr 15.

Audiological Acoustics, Department of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Hearing loss in old age, which often goes untreated, has far-reaching consequences. Furthermore, reduction of cognitive abilities and dementia can also occur, which also affects quality of life. The aim of this study was to investigate the hearing performance of seniors without hearing complaints with respect to speech perception in noise and the ability to localize sounds. Read More

Hear Res 2022 Aug 3;421:108503. Epub 2022 Apr 3.

Department of Electrical Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden.

Active transcutaneous bone conduction devices are a type of bone conduction device developed to keep the skin intact and provide direct bone conduction stimulation. The Bone Conduction Implant (BCI) is such a device and has been implanted in 16 patients. The objective of this paper is to give a broad overview of the BCI development to the final results of 13 patients at 5-year follow-up. Read More

Metab Brain Dis 2022 Apr 30. Epub 2022 Apr 30.

Health Sciences Faculty, Audiology Department, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey.

This study aimed to evaluate audiological findings among patients with glutaric aciduria type 1 (GA-1). We used a large test battery for the audiological evaluation of 17 individuals with GA-1 (the study group) and 20 healthy individuals (the control group). Conventional audiometry (0. Read More

Life (Basel) 2022 Apr 18;12(4). Epub 2022 Apr 18.

Department of Medical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333323, Taiwan.

Medical history taking, otoscopy, tympanometry, and audiometry are clinical methods to diagnose middle ear effusion (MEE); however, these procedures are experience-dependent and result in misdiagnosis under unfavorable conditions of the external auditory canal in non-cooperative young children. This study aimed to explore the use of transmastoid ultrasound combined with the Nakagami parameter analysis to detect MEE in children aged 3-5 years and to compare the proposed method with clinical evaluation methods. A total of forty subjects were enrolled; for each subject, a single-element ultrasound transducer of 2. Read More

Life (Basel) 2022 Mar 27;12(4). Epub 2022 Mar 27.

Department of Teleaudiology and Screening, World Hearing Center, Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, Kajetany, 05-830 Warsaw, Poland.

(1) Background: The main aim of this study was to assess the clinical effectiveness of two different schemes of administration of steroids ((1) dexamethasone administered intravenously in comparison with (2) combination of steroid treatments: orally administered prednisone and intravenously administered dexamethasone) in comparison with a control group (no steroid administration) on hearing preservation (HP) in patients who underwent an Advanced Bionics cochlear implantation. (2) Methods: Thirty-five adult patients met the inclusion criteria. All patients were randomly divided into three subgroups depending on the scheme of steroid administration: (1) the first subgroup with only intravenously administered dexamethasone (0. Read More

PLoS One 2022 22;17(4):e0266077. Epub 2022 Apr 22.

Department of Otolaryngology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.

Access to low-frequency acoustic information in cochlear implant patients leads to better speech understanding in noise. Electrocochleography (ECochG) can provide real-time feedback about the health of the cochlea during the insertion process with the potential to reduce insertion trauma. We describe our experiences of using this technique. Read More

Semin Pediatr Neurol 2022 04 14;41:100956. Epub 2022 Mar 14.

Dr. Pedro Weisleder, Division of Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, Nationwide Children's Hospital-The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. Electronic address:

Functional hearing disorder (FHD) is one of the conditions that fall under the umbrella of Functional Neurological Disorders. FHD is characterized by a decrease in hearing sensitivity without correlation in standard audiological testing. In the general pediatric population, the prevalence of FHD is estimated at less than 2%. Read More

Zhongguo Yi Liao Qi Xie Za Zhi 2022 Mar;46(2):152-155

Hunan Institute of Medical Device Testing, Changsha, 410001.

This paper analyzes the shortcomings of the existing pure tone audiometers, and proposes a system to realize pure tone audiometry and speech audiometry with a new DSP processor. The pure tone test signal produced by the system has accurate frequency, high signal-to-noise ratio, and small harmonic distortion. The noise generator that comes with DSP adds a band-pass filter to realize the generation of narrow-band noise. Read More

Cortex 2022 06 19;151:133-146. Epub 2022 Mar 19.

Department of Computational Linguistics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Center for Neuroscience Zurich, University and ETH of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address:

The alignment between low-frequency activity in the brain and slow acoustic modulations in the speech signal depicts a core principle in present theories of speech perception-a process referred to as 'neural speech tracking'. While most older adults, particularly those with highly prevalent age-related hearing loss, have difficulties with speech perception and comprehension, the impact of hearing loss on neural speech tracking is still unclear. In this study we investigated the effects of pure-tone hearing loss and different types of background noise on the neural tracking response in a large sample of older adults (N = 101). Read More