scholarly journals Suppression of Connexin 43 Leads to Strial Vascular Hyper-Permeability, Decrease in Endocochlear Potential, and Mild Hearing Loss

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinhui Zhang ◽  
Xiaohan Wang ◽  
Zhiqiang Hou ◽  
Lingling Neng ◽  
Jing Cai ◽  
...  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willy Nguyen ◽  
Miseung Koo ◽  
Seung Ha Oh ◽  
Jun Ho Lee ◽  
Moo Kyun Park

BACKGROUND Underuse of hearing aids is caused by several factors, including the stigma associated with hearing disability, affordability, and lack of awareness of rising hearing impairment associated with the growing population. Thus, there is a significant opportunity for the development of direct-to-consumer devices. For the past few years, smartphone-based hearing-aid apps have become more numerous and diverse, but few studies have investigated them. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to elucidate the electroacoustic characteristics and potential user benefits of a selection of currently available hearing-aid apps. METHODS We investigated the apps based on hearing-aid control standards (American National Standards Institute) using measurement procedures from previous studies. We categorized the apps and excluded those we considered inefficient. We investigated a selection of user-friendly, low-end apps, EarMachine and Sound Amplifier, with warble-tone audiometry, word recognition testing in unaided and aided conditions, and hearing-in-noise test in quiet and noise-front conditions in a group of users with mild hearing impairment (n = 7) as a pilot for a future long-term investigation. Results from the apps were compared with those of a conventional hearing aid. RESULTS Five of 14 apps were considered unusable based on low scores in several metrics, while the others varied across the range of electroacoustic measurements. The apps that we considered “high end” that provided lower processing latencies and audiogram-based fitting algorithms were superior overall. The clinical performance of the listeners tended to be better when using hearing aid, while the low end hearing-aid apps had limited benefits on the users. CONCLUSIONS Some apps showed the potential to benefit users with limited cases of minimal or mild hearing loss if the inconvenience of relatively poor electroacoustic performance did not outweigh the benefits of amplification.


2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Walker ◽  
Meredith Spratford ◽  
Sophie E. Ambrose ◽  
Lenore Holte ◽  
Jacob Oleson

Purpose This study investigates clinical practice patterns and parent perception of intervention for children with mild hearing loss (HL). Method Ages at and delays between service delivery steps (first diagnostic evaluation, confirmation of HL, hearing aid [HA] fitting, entry into early intervention) were investigated for 113 children with mild HL. Comparisons were made to children with moderate-to-severe HL. Parents of children with mild HL reported reasons for delays and their perceptions of intervention and amplification for their children. Results Seventy-four percent of children with mild HL were identified through the newborn hearing screen; 26% were identified later due to passing or not receiving a newborn hearing screen. Ninety-four percent of children with mild HL were fit with HAs, albeit at significantly later ages than children with moderate-to-severe HL. Most parents indicated that their children benefited from HA use, but some parents expressed ambivalence toward the amount of benefit. Conclusions Audiologists appear to be moving toward regularly providing amplification for children with mild HL. However, delays in HA fittings indicate that further educating professionals and parents about the benefits of early amplification and intervention is warranted to encourage timely fitting and consistent use of HAs.


2021 ◽  
Vol Publish Ahead of Print ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosamaria Santarelli ◽  
Pietro Scimemi ◽  
Marco Costantini ◽  
María Domínguez-Ruiz ◽  
Montserrat Rodríguez-Ballesteros ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 146 (2) ◽  
pp. 113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlijn M. P. le Clercq ◽  
Lisanne J. E. Labuschagne ◽  
Marie-Christine J. P. Franken ◽  
Robert J. Baatenburg de Jong ◽  
Maartje P. C. M. Luijk ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 104 (11) ◽  
pp. 1056-1063 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Wang ◽  
Jon Quach ◽  
Valerie Sung ◽  
Peter Carew ◽  
Ben Edwards ◽  
...  

ObjectiveTo investigate the associations of hearing thresholds and slight to mild hearing loss with academic, behavioural and quality of life outcomes in children at a population level.MethodsDesign and participants:children aged 11–12 years in the population-based cross-sectional Child Health CheckPoint study within the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Audiometry:mean hearing threshold across 1, 2 and 4 kHz (better and worse ear); slight/mild hearing loss (threshold of 16–40 decibels hearing loss (dB HL)). Outcomes: National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy, language, teacher-reported learning, parent and teacher reported behaviour and self-reported quality of life. Analysis:linear regression quantified associations of hearing threshold/loss with outcomes.ResultsOf 1483 children (mean age 11.5 years), 9.2% and 13.1% had slight/mild bilateral and unilateral hearing loss, respectively. Per SD increment in better ear threshold (5.7 dB HL), scores were worse on several academic outcomes (eg, reading 0.11 SD, 95% CI 0.05 to 0.16), parent-reported behaviour (0.06 SD, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.11) and physical (0.09 SD, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.14) and psychosocial (0.06 SD, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.11) Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL). Compared with normally hearing children, children with bilateral slight/mild losses scored 0.2–0.3 SDs lower in sentence repetition, teacher-reported learning and physical PedsQL but not other outcomes. Similar but attenuated patterns were seen in unilateral slight/mild losses.ConclusionsHearing thresholds and slight/mild hearing loss showed small but important associations with some child outcomes at 11–12 years. Justifying hearing screening or intervention at this age would require better understanding of its longitudinal and indirect effects, alongside effective management and appropriate early identification programmes.


1997 ◽  
Vol 106 (3) ◽  
pp. 210-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig W. Newman ◽  
Gerald A. Hug ◽  
Gary P. Jacobson ◽  
Sharon A. Sandridge

Using the Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults (HHIA), we assessed self-perceived hearing handicap in a sample of 63 patients having either unilaterally normal hearing or a mild hearing loss (pure tone average ≤40 dB hearing level). Large intersubject variability in responses to the HHIA confirmed observations that reactions to minimal hearing impairment vary greatly among patients. The individual differences in responses highlight the importance of quantifying the perceived communication and psychosocial handicap, which cannot be determined from the audiogram alone. An item examination of responses to the HHIA revealed a number of emotional and social-situational problems encountered by patients with minimal hearing loss.


2015 ◽  
Vol 93 (7) ◽  
pp. 505-516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pradip Kumar Kamat ◽  
Anuradha Kalani ◽  
Naira Metreveli ◽  
Suresh C. Tyagi ◽  
Neetu Tyagi

Ischemic brain stroke is a leading cause of disability and includes hearing loss. Clinical reports have also suggested that there is hearing loss in stroke patients but the mechanism was not determined. Therefore, we hypothesized that hearing loss after cerebral ischemia may be associated with changes to the synapse, gap junction, and sodium channel (NaC) proteins. Ischemia–reperfusion injury was induced in wild-type mice (I/R group). The lesion volume was determined by 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining of the brain sections. BBB disruption was confirmed by Evans blue staining and leakage of bovine serum albumin labeled with fluorescein isothiocyanate (BSA-FITC). We found that brain edema, infarct size, and permeability were increased in ischemic mice as compared with the sham-operated group. Caspase-3, caspase-9, and TUNEL-positive cells were increased in I/R mice, indicating neuronal apoptosis. Moreover, there were increased expressions of matrix metalloprotease’s (MMP-2, -3, -9, and -13), interleukin (IL)-6, and decreased expressions of tight junction proteins (TJP) in the I/R group, as compared with the sham group, which signifies inflammation and BBB disruption. We also observed decreased levels of post-synaptic density protein-95 (PSD-95), synapse-associated protein 97 (SAP-97), connexin-43, NaC-α, and NaC-β, and increased expression of connexin-45, whereas no substantial change was observed in connexin-26 expression in the I/R group. Interestingly, auditory response was reduced in the I/R mice, indicating hearing loss. These data suggest that hearing loss in ischemic mice was primarily due to alterations in connexin, synapses, and NaC channels.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document