Objectives: The primary objective of the study was to examine the occurrence and temporal structure of vocal turn-taking during spontaneous interactions between mothers and their children with cochlear implants (CI) over the first year after cochlear implantation as compared with interactions between mothers and children with normal hearing (NH). Design: Mothers’ unstructured play sessions with children with CI (n = 12) were recorded at 2 time points, 3 months (mean age 18.3 months) and 9...
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Objectives: Cochlear reflectance (CR) is the cochlear contribution to ear-canal reflectance. CR is a type of otoacoustic emission that is calculated as a transfer function between forward pressure and reflected pressure. The purpose of this study was to assess effects of age on CR in adults and interactions among age, sex, and hearing loss. Design: Data were collected from 60 adults selected for their age (e.g., 20–29, 30–39, 40–49, 50–59, 60–69, 70–79 years) and normal middle ear status....
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The use of “big data” for pediatric hearing research requires new approaches to both data collection and research methods. The widespread deployment of electronic health record systems creates new opportunities and corresponding challenges in the secondary use of large volumes of audiological and medical data. Opportunities include cost-effective hypothesis generation, rapid cohort expansion for rare conditions, and observational studies based on sample sizes in the thousands to tens of thousands....
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Objectives: Unilateral hearing loss (UHL) is a condition as common as bilateral hearing loss in adults. Because of the unilaterally reduced audibility associated with UHL, binaural processing of sounds may be disrupted. As a consequence, daily tasks such as listening to speech in a background of spatially distinct competing sounds may be challenging. A growing body of subjective and objective data suggests that spatial hearing is negatively affected by UHL. However, the type and degree of UHL...
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Objective: Distortion-product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) provide a rapid, noninvasive measure of outer hair cell damage associated with chemotherapy and are a key component of pediatric ototoxicity monitoring. Serial monitoring of DPOAE levels in reference to baseline measures is one method for detecting ototoxic damage. Interpreting DPOAE findings in this context requires that test–retest differences be considered in relation to normal variability, data which are lacking in children. This...
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Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of tinnitus and/or hyperacusis in Danish children aged 10 to 16 years, and to assess associations between tinnitus or hyperacusis and other relevant factors. Design: A cross-sectional study based on a previously established child cohort. A total of 501 children were enrolled in the project. The study was performed in eight mainstream schools and data were collected during an 8-week period from October 27, 2014 to December 16,...
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Objectives: Hearing impairment (HI) in midlife may increase the risk of dementia. However, epidemiological research on the association between HI and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is very limited. Design: The present cross-sectional study investigated the relationship between HI and MCI using baseline data from the Aidai Cohort Study. Study subjects were 995 Japanese adults aged 36 to 84 years. We used the audiometric definition of HI adopted by the World Health Organization, which identifies...
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Objectives: Understanding the determinants of hearing aid use is important to improve the provision of hearing healthcare. Prior research has indicated that materials in the clinic and online, as well as audiologists’ language during appointments, require a higher literacy level than most patients possess. We hypothesized that low health literacy is a barrier to entry in hearing healthcare, and therefore that health literacy would be positively correlated with the probability of hearing aid use. ...
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Objectives: The goal of the present study was to compare the extent to which children with hearing loss and children with normal hearing benefit from mismatches in target/masker sex in the context of speech-in-speech recognition. It was hypothesized that children with hearing loss experience a smaller target/masker sex mismatch benefit relative to children with normal hearing due to impairments in peripheral encoding, variable access to high-quality auditory input, or both. Design: Eighteen...
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Objectives: Hearing aids provide various signal processing techniques with a range of parameters to improve the listening experience for a hearing-impaired individual. In previous studies, we reported significant differences in signal modification for mild versus strong signal processing in commercially available hearing aids. In this study, the authors extend this work to clinically prescribed hearing aid fittings based on best-practice guidelines. The goals of this project are to determine the...
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Objectives: In noisy environments, listeners benefit from both hearing and seeing a talker, demonstrating audiovisual (AV) cues enhance speech-in-noise (SIN) recognition. Here, we examined the relative contribution of auditory and visual cues to SIN perception and the strategies used by listeners to decipher speech in noise interference(s). Design: Normal-hearing listeners (n = 22) performed an open-set speech recognition task while viewing audiovisual TIMIT sentences presented under different...
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Objectives: Speech-in-noise (SIN) perception is essential for everyday communication. In most communication situations, the listener requires the ability to process simultaneous complex auditory signals to understand the target speech or target sound. As the listening situation becomes more difficult, the ability to distinguish between speech and noise becomes dependent on recruiting additional cognitive resources, such as working memory (WM). Previous studies have explored correlations between...
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Objectives: The envelope difference index (EDI) compares the envelopes of two signals. It has been used to measure nonlinear distortion in hearing aids, but it also responds to linear processing. This article compares linear and nonlinear processing effects on the EDI. Design: The EDI for spectral tilt and peak clipping distortion is computed to illustrate the effects of linear and nonlinear signal modifications. The EDI for wide dynamic-range compression is then compared with that obtained...
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Objectives: Diet may affect susceptibility of the inner ear to noise and age-related effects that lead to tinnitus and hearing loss. This study used complementary single nutrient and dietary pattern analysis based on statistical grouping of usual dietary intake in a cross-sectional analysis of tinnitus and hearing difficulties in a large population study sample. Design: The research was conducted using the UK Biobank resource. Tinnitus was based on report of ringing or buzzing in one or both...
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Objectives: Hearing loss (HL) affects a significant proportion of adults aged >50 years by impairing communication and social connectedness and, due to its high prevalence, is a growing global concern. Cochlear implants (CIs) are effective devices for many people with severe or greater sensorineural HL who experience limited benefits from hearing aids. Despite this, uptake rates globally are low among adults. This multimethod, multicountry qualitative study aimed to investigate the barriers...
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Objectives: The most commonly employed speech processing strategies in cochlear implants (CIs) only extract and encode amplitude modulation (AM) in a limited number of frequency channels. Zeng et al. (2005) proposed a novel speech processing strategy that encodes both frequency modulation (FM) and AM to improve CI performance. Using behavioral tests, they reported better speech, speaker, and tone recognition with this novel strategy than with the AM-alone strategy. Here, we used the scalp-recorded...
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Objectives: A major issue in the rehabilitation of children with cochlear implants (CIs) is unexplained variance in their language skills, where many of them lag behind children with normal hearing (NH). Here, we assess links between generative language skills and the perception of prosodic stress, and with musical and parental activities in children with CIs and NH. Understanding these links is expected to guide future research and toward supporting language development in children with a CI. ...
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Objectives: To compare contralateral to ipsilateral stimulation with percutaneous and transcutaneous bone conduction implants. Background: Bone conduction implants (BCIs) effectively treat conductive and mixed hearing losses. In some cases, such as in single-sided deafness, the BCI is implanted contralateral to the remaining healthy ear in an attempt to restore some of the benefits provided by binaural hearing. While the benefit of contralateral stimulation has been shown in at least some...
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Objectives: Adopting the omnidirectional microphone (OMNI) mode and reducing low-frequency gain are the two most commonly used wind noise reduction strategies in hearing devices. The objective of this study was to compare the effectiveness of these two strategies on cochlear implant users’ speech-understanding abilities and perceived sound quality in wind noise. We also examined the effectiveness of a new strategy that adopts the microphone mode with lower wind noise level in each frequency channel. ...
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Objectives: Oscillopsia is a disabling condition for patients with bilateral vestibular hypofunction (BVH). When the vestibulo-ocular reflex is bilaterally impaired, its ability to compensate for rapid head movements must be supported by refixation saccades. The objective of this study is to assess the relationship between saccadic strategies and perceived oscillopsia. Design: To avoid the possibility of bias due to remaining vestibular function, we classified patients into two groups according...
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Objectives: The digits-in-noise test (DIN) has become increasingly popular as a consumer-based method to screen for hearing loss. Current versions of all DINs either test ears monaurally or present identical stimuli binaurally (i.e., diotic noise and speech, NoSo). Unfortunately, presentation of identical stimuli to each ear inhibits detection of unilateral sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL), and neither diotic nor monaural presentation sensitively detects conductive hearing loss (CHL). After an...
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Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess self-reported health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) in a group of children with cochlear implants (CIs) and to compare their scores to age- and gender-matched controls. The authors also assessed the agreement between proxy- and self-reported HR-QOL in the CI group and examined individual and environmental variables that could be associated with higher or lower self-reported HR-QOL in the CI group. Design: The sample consisted of 168...
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Objectives: Traditionally, elevated hearing thresholds have been considered to be the main contributors to difficulty understanding speech in noise; yet, patients will often report difficulties with speech understanding in noise despite having audiometrically normal hearing. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to critically evaluate the relationship of various metrics of auditory function (behavioral thresholds and otoacoustic emissions) on speech understanding in noise in a large sample...
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Taylor Swift's new Netflix documentary delves into eating disorders and the emotional pressures of the entertainment industry. (Jean Nelson/Deposit Photos/)Michele Patterson Ford is a Lecturer in Psychology at Dickinson College. This story originally featured on The Conversation.In her documentary “Miss Americana,” music icon Taylor Swift disclosed her history of eating disorders. Her revelation underscores the fact these disorders do not discriminate. According to the advocacy and awareness organization...
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No more slipping down your porch steps. (Raychan via Unsplash/)When winter weather comes, roads and walkways ice over, making walking and driving a hair-raising proposition. Salt and other ice-melting products work to lower the freezing point of water, turning ice into a soupy brine that spreads out and makes further freezing impossible for a period of time. There are many varieties of ice-melting salt products, and almost all of them you should not handle with your bare hands. If you’re looking...
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Yes, these won't fit in your back pocket, but no smartphone will be able to take photos like a camera with the right lens. (ShareGrid via Unsplash/)One of the best things about DSLR and mirrorless cameras (and their main advantage over your smartphone) is their ability to be specific. While taking photos with a device you carry around in your pocket all day is easy, shooting with a dedicated camera gives you many more options to tweak depending on what you’re shooting. This is exactly why having...
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All hail Baby Yoda, king of the toys. (Stan Horaczek /)Toy Fair happens every year in New York City. The big manufacturers pack their luggage full of fun stuff and lug it to the Big Apple and display it at the Javits Center on the west side of Manhattan. It’s aimed predominantly at buyers and suppliers hoping that the items can actually make it onto store shelves, but the press gets to take a look as well. We spent a day skipping down the aisles, checking out the most interesting new toys and trends...
Wed Feb 26, 2020 22:59
The mangrove-lined estuary on Abaco Island in the Bahamas. (Craig Layman/)For the mangrove forests that line the coast of Abaco Island in the Bahamas, fish pee is a precious resource. While fish such as cubera and gray snappers roam the mangroves in search of a meal, they excrete “fish pee” through their gills which, among other substances, contains the valuable nutrient nitrogen. However, it turns out that some of these fish do more than their fair share of this important and messy work, scientists...
Wed Feb 26, 2020 22:31
A snow squall—a brief yet intense blizzard-like storm—approaching Slate River Valley near Crested Butte, Colorado. (Flickr user: Jeffrey Beall /)Last December, television reporter David Jones tweeted a time-lapse of an impenetrable cloud of snow overtaking Manhattan and swallowing it whole by the end of the 32-second clip. “Run!” one person responded to the video, which has now been viewed about 350,000 times. “Produced by Stephen King,” another joked, joined by more than a few references to the...
Wed Feb 26, 2020 20:30
The CDC is warning Americans to prepare for outbreaks. (DepositPhoto/)The novel coronavirus will likely spread across U.S. communities, according to a recent update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It is not a question of “if” but “when” the COVID-19 virus escalates within our borders, Nancy Messonnier, the CDC’s director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said during a Tuesday media briefing.After observing rapid person-to-person spread in...
Wed Feb 26, 2020 20:47
Why have a boring, flat leather belt when you can have one that looks like weathered wood? (Courtesy of Aprille Tomlinson/)The iconic American cowboy’s style invokes a feeling of ruggedness and free spirit, so it’s no surprise the functional fashion of the wild, wild West is once again trendy in mainstream fashion. Distressed boot-cut jeans, a cowboy hat, and a pair high-end boots make wearers feel like they’re ready to saddle up and work on a ranch—even if they’ve never ridden a horse or touched...
Wed Feb 26, 2020 21:12
The InSight lander’s seismometer sits directly on the ground, feeling the Red Planet’s reverberations. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/)Like many seismologists, Bruce Banerdt checks his email every morning for the latest quake report. Unlike others, however, he fervently hopes that the “big one” has finally hit. That’s because the information in his daily briefing comes from an entirely different planet, where “marsquakes” pose no threat to human lives or infrastructure. If a big one does come along, traveling...
Wed Feb 26, 2020 18:00
The Fujifilm X-T4 is X-built around a trans CMOS 4 sensor and X-Processor 4 for fast AF and a wide dynamic range. (Jeanette D. Moses/)Fujifilm just announced the arrival of the X-T4, a camera with a 26.1 megapixel back-side illuminated CMOS sensor, a larger battery than its predecessors, a redesigned body, and an overhauled in-body image stabilization system. The mechanical shutter can shoot 15 fps, making it the fastest camera in the X series. I got a chance to check out and shoot with a pre-production...
Wed Feb 26, 2020 16:00
The category is: Syphilis. (Public Domain/)What’s the weirdest thing you learned this week? Well, whatever it is, we promise you’ll have an even weirder answer if you listen to PopSci’s hit podcast. The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week hits Apple, Anchor, and everywhere else you listen to podcasts every-other Wednesday morning. It’s your new favorite source for the strangest science-adjacent facts, figures, and Wikipedia spirals the editors of Popular Science can muster. If you like the stories...
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The Journal of Antibiotics, Published online: 27 February 2020; doi:10.1038/s41429-019-0269-6Remembering Professor Toshikazu Oki (24 January 1935–11 April 2019)
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Current Anthropology, Volume 61, Issue 1, Page 132-133, February 2020.
Wed Feb 26, 2020 12:30
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