scholarly journals Listening in Noise Remains a Significant Challenge for Cochlear Implant Users: Evidence from Early Deafened and Those with Progressive Hearing Loss Compared to Peers with Normal Hearing

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 1381
Author(s):  
Yael Zaltz ◽  
Yossi Bugannim ◽  
Doreen Zechoval ◽  
Liat Kishon-Rabin ◽  
Ronen Perez
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
Test Word ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Receptive Vocabulary ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Profound Hearing Loss ◽  
Significant Challenge ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Listening In Noise

Cochlear implants (CIs) are the state-of-the-art therapy for individuals with severe to profound hearing loss, providing them with good functional hearing. Nevertheless, speech understanding in background noise remains a significant challenge. The purposes of this study were to: (1) conduct a novel within-study comparison of speech-in-noise performance across ages in different populations of CI and normal hearing (NH) listeners using an adaptive sentence-in-noise test, and (2) examine the relative contribution of sensory information and cognitive–linguistic factors to performance. Forty CI users (mean age 20 years) were divided into “early-implanted” <4 years (n = 16) and “late-implanted” >6 years (n = 11), all prelingually deafened, and “progressively deafened” (n = 13). The control group comprised 136 NH subjects (80 children, 56 adults). Testing included the Hebrew Matrix test, word recognition in quiet, and linguistic and cognitive tests. Results show poorer performance in noise for CI users across populations and ages compared to NH peers, and age at implantation and word recognition in quiet were found to be contributing factors. For those recognizing 50% or more of the words in quiet (n = 27), non-verbal intelligence and receptive vocabulary explained 63% of the variance in noise. This information helps delineate the relative contribution of top-down and bottom-up skills for speech recognition in noise and can help set expectations in CI counseling.

scholarly journals Speechreading as a communication mediator

CoDAS ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Letícia Neves de Oliveira ◽  
Alexandra Dezani Soares ◽  
Brasilia Maria Chiari
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Hearing Impairment ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Study Group ◽  
Vocabulary Test ◽  
Profound Hearing Loss ◽  
Significance Level ◽  
Female Speaker

Purposes: To compare the speechreading between individuals with hearing impairment and with normal hearing levels to verify the factors that influence the speechreading among hearing impaired patients. Methods: Forty individuals with severe-to-profound hearing loss aged between 13 and 70 years old (study group) and 21 hearing individuals aged between 17 and 63 years old (control group) were evaluated. As a research instrument, anamnesis was used to characterize the groups; three speechreading instruments, presenting stimuli via a mute video, with a female speaker; and a vocabulary test, to verify their influence on speechreading. A descriptive and analytical statistics (ANOVA test and Pearson's correlation), adopting a significance level of 0.05 (5%). Results: A better performance was observed in the group with hearing impairment in speechreading tests than in the group with hearing individuals. By analyzing the group with hearing loss, there was a mean difference between tests (p<0.001), which also showed correlation between them. Individuals with pre-lingual hearing loss and those who underwent therapy for speechreading had a better performance for most speechreading instruments. The variables gender and schooling showed no influence on speechreading. Conclusion: Individuals with hearing impairment had better performance on speechreading tasks in comparison to people with normal hearing. Furthermore, it was found that the ability to perform speechread might be influenced by the vocabulary, period of installation of the hearing loss, and speechreading therapy.

Masking Level Differences for Tones and Speech in Elderly Listeners With Relatively Normal Audiograms

1994 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 422-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Grose ◽  
Elizabeth A. Poth ◽  
Robert W. Peters
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Speech Recognition ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
The Other ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Central Effects ◽  
Masking Level Difference ◽  
Tone Detection

This study measured the masking level difference (MLD) for both 500-Hz tone detection and spondee word recognition in two groups of listeners. One group consisted of 9 elderly listeners with normal audiometric sensitivity bilaterally, up to at least 2000 Hz. The other group was a control group of 10 young listeners with normal hearing. The intent was to determine whether the elderly listeners exhibited a reduction in binaural performance that might contribute to the difficulties many such listeners have in understanding speech in noisy situations. By measuring MLDs in elderly listeners in the absence of marked peripheral hearing loss, it was hoped that any observed changes in MLD could be more strongly attributed to central effects. For both tone detection and speech recognition, it was found that the elderly performed more poorly than the young listeners, primarily on the NoSπ condition.

scholarly journals Perception and learning of relative pitch by musicians using the vibrotactile mode

2021 ◽  
pp. 102986492110152
Author(s):  
Carl Hopkins ◽  
Saúl Maté-Cid ◽  
Robert Fulford ◽  
Gary Seiffert ◽  
Jane Ginsborg
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Success Rate ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Pitch Discrimination ◽  
Professional Musicians ◽  
Profound Hearing Loss ◽  
Relative Pitch ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Schools For The Deaf

This study investigated the perception and learning of relative pitch using vibrotactile stimuli by musicians with and without a hearing impairment. Notes from C3 to B4 were presented to the fingertip and forefoot. Pre- and post-training tests in which 420 pairs of notes were presented randomly were carried out without any feedback to participants. After the pre-training test, 16 short training sessions were carried out over six weeks with 72 pairs of notes per session and participants told whether their answers were correct. For amateur and professional musicians with normal hearing and professional musicians with a severe or profound hearing loss, larger pitch intervals were easier to identify correctly than smaller intervals. Musicians with normal hearing had a high success rate for relative pitch discrimination as shown by pre- and post-training tests, and when using the fingertips, there was no significant difference between amateur and professional musicians. After training, median scores on the tests in which stimuli were presented to the fingertip and forefoot were >70% for intervals of 3–12 semitones. Training sessions reduced the variability in the responses of amateur and professional musicians with normal hearing and improved their overall ability. There was no significant difference between the relative pitch discrimination abilities between one and 11 semitones, as shown by the pre-training test, of professional musicians with and without a severe/profound hearing loss. These findings indicate that there is potential for vibration to be used to facilitate group musical performance and music education in schools for the deaf.

scholarly journals Perception of Auditory Distance in Normal-Hearing and Moderate-to-Profound Hearing-Impaired Listeners

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 233121651988761 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilles Courtois ◽  
Vincent Grimaldi ◽  
Hervé Lissek ◽  
Philippe Estoppey ◽  
Eleftheria Georganti
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Spatial Cues ◽  
Linear Amplification ◽  
Profound Hearing Loss ◽  
Wireless Microphone ◽  
Auditory Distance ◽  
Non Linear

The auditory system allows the estimation of the distance to sound-emitting objects using multiple spatial cues. In virtual acoustics over headphones, a prerequisite to render auditory distance impression is sound externalization, which denotes the perception of synthesized stimuli outside of the head. Prior studies have found that listeners with mild-to-moderate hearing loss are able to perceive auditory distance and are sensitive to externalization. However, this ability may be degraded by certain factors, such as non-linear amplification in hearing aids or the use of a remote wireless microphone. In this study, 10 normal-hearing and 20 moderate-to-profound hearing-impaired listeners were instructed to estimate the distance of stimuli processed with different methods yielding various perceived auditory distances in the vicinity of the listeners. Two different configurations of non-linear amplification were implemented, and a novel feature aiming to restore a sense of distance in wireless microphone systems was tested. The results showed that the hearing-impaired listeners, even those with a profound hearing loss, were able to discriminate nearby and far sounds that were equalized in level. Their perception of auditory distance was however more contracted than in normal-hearing listeners. Non-linear amplification was found to distort the original spatial cues, but no adverse effect on the ratings of auditory distance was evident. Finally, it was shown that the novel feature was successful in allowing the hearing-impaired participants to perceive externalized sounds with wireless microphone systems.

Skull Base Factors in Relation to Hearing Impairment in Cleft Palate Children

2000 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 166-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Carrie ◽  
A. Sprigg ◽  
A.J. Parker
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Cleft Palate ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Outpatient Clinics ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Otologic Surgery ◽  
Soft Tissue Neck ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Primary Groups

Objective This investigation was performed to determine if an easily measurable, reproducible, bony parameter could be identified that might predict hearing loss in cleft palate children. Subjects In this prospective study performed at the Sheffield Children's Hospital (U.K.), 34 children with successfully repaired cleft palate who responded to a postal request for volunteers were assessed clinically, audiologically, and by lateral soft tissue neck radiography. Six children were excluded because of previous otologic surgery or poor quality radiographs. Twenty-six children who had the same series of investigations were randomly selected from routine otolaryngological outpatient clinics and acted as controls. Methods The sphenopalatine angle (SPA), which relates the facial and cranial components of the skull, was measured on each child's radiograph. Results The median SPA in the cleft palate group was significantly greater than in the control group (p = 0.01). In those cleft palate children with a hearing loss the sphenopalatine angle was smaller than in their normal hearing counterparts (p = 0.01). No significant difference was found in the SPA between the hearing loss and normal hearing controls. There was no significant difference in age ranges between the hearing and hearing loss subgroups in each of the two primary groups. Conclusions In this study, those cleft palate children with a smaller SPA have a greater incidence of hearing loss.

Evaluation of Hearing and Balance Functions of Patients with Sickle Cell Anemia

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elif Tugba Sarac ◽  
Bilgehan Boke ◽  
Semsettin Okuyucu
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Sickle Cell ◽  
Sickle Cell Anemia ◽  
Pure Tone ◽  
Mixed Type ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Spontaneous Nystagmus ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Hearing Thresholds ◽  
Significant Difference

Introduction: Sickle cell anemia is a disease characterized by a wide vaso-occlusive incident from micro-vascular incident to muscularactivity. The cochlear function can also get affected by this vaso-occlusion. Objective: It is aimed at determining what kind of effects sickle cell anemia has on hearing and balance system. Methods: This study has been conducted on 46 patients with sickle cell anemia and 45 healthy individuals. For all participants, their pure tone hearing thresholds and videonystagmography (VNG) findings have been determined in 17 frequencies between 125–16.000 Hz. Results: All hearing thresholds between 125 and 16,000 Hz, pure tone averages of patients with sickle cell anemia have been found statistically significant to be higher than the corresponding values in the control group(p < 0.05). The normal hearing rate of patients with sickle cell anemia has been determined to be 71.1% conductive hearing loss (CHL) to be 4.4%, sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) to be 22.2%, and mixed type hearing loss to be 2.2% in right ear; the normal hearing rate has been determined to be 71.1%, CHL to be 2.2%, SNHL to be 22.2%, and mixed type hearing loss to be 4.4% in left ear. Statistically significant difference has not been found between head shake, spontaneous nystagmus, optokinetic, tracking test batteries, static and dynamic positional tests used in VNG, saccade accuracy and saccade peak velocity, which are saccadic test findings of 2 groups. However, saccadic latency, which is a saccadic test finding, has been determined to be longer in patients with sickle cell anemia in comparison to the control group. Conclusion: While sickle cell anemia causes hearing deficits, it does not have any effect on the central or peripheral vestibular system.

scholarly journals Subjective Benefits of Bimodal Listening in Cochlear Implant Recipients with Asymmetric Hearing Loss

2020 ◽  
Vol 162 (6) ◽  
pp. 933-941 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas J. Thompson ◽  
Margaret T. Dillon ◽  
Emily Buss ◽  
Meredith A. Rooth ◽  
English R. King ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
Cochlear Implant ◽  
Sound Field ◽  
Profound Hearing Loss ◽  
Sentence Recognition ◽  
Academic Center ◽  
Asymmetric Hearing Loss

Objective To investigate the influence of cochlear implant (CI) use on subjective benefits in quality of life in cases of asymmetric hearing loss (AHL). Study Design Prospective clinical trial. Setting Tertiary academic center. Subjects and Methods Subjects included CI recipients with AHL (n = 20), defined as moderate-to-profound hearing loss in the affected ear and mild-to-moderate hearing loss in the contralateral ear. Quality of life was assessed with the Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ) pragmatic subscales, which assess binaural benefits. Subjective benefit on the pragmatic subscales was compared to word recognition in quiet and spatial hearing abilities (ie, masked sentence recognition and localization). Results Subjects demonstrated an early, significant improvement ( P < .01) in abilities with the CI as compared to preoperative abilities on the SSQ pragmatic subscales by the 1-month interval. Perceived abilities were either maintained or continued to improve over the study period. There were no significant correlations between results on the Speech in Quiet subscale and word recognition in quiet, the Speech in Speech Contexts subscale and masked sentence recognition, or the Localization subscale and sound field localization. Conclusions CI recipients with AHL report a significant improvement in quality of life as measured by the SSQ pragmatic subscales over preoperative abilities. Reported improvements are observed as early as 1 month postactivation, which likely reflect the binaural benefits of listening with bimodal stimulation (CI and contralateral hearing aid). The SSQ pragmatic subscales may provide a more in-depth insight into CI recipient experience as compared to behavioral sound field measures alone.

Perception of Spectral Contrast by Hearing-Impaired Listeners

2005 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 910-921 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura E. Dreisbach ◽  
Marjorie R. Leek ◽  
Jennifer J. Lentz
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Internal Representation ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Stimulus Level ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Frequency Resolution ◽  
Spectral Peak ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Complex Sounds ◽  
Spectral Contrast

The ability to discriminate the spectral shapes of complex sounds is critical to accurate speech perception. Part of the difficulty experienced by listeners with hearing loss in understanding speech sounds in noise may be related to a smearing of the internal representation of the spectral peaks and valleys because of the loss of sensitivity and an accompanying reduction in frequency resolution. This study examined the discrimination by hearing-impaired listeners of highly similar harmonic complexes with a single spectral peak located in 1 of 3 frequency regions. The minimum level difference between peak and background harmonics required to discriminate a small change in the spectral center of the peak was measured for peaks located near 2, 3, or 4 kHz. Component phases were selected according to an algorithm thought to produce either highly modulated (positive Schroeder) or very flat (negative Schroeder) internal waveform envelopes in the cochlea. The mean amplitude difference between a spectral peak and the background components required for discrimination of pairs of harmonic complexes (spectral contrast threshold) was from 4 to 19 dB greater for listeners with hearing impairment than for a control group of listeners with normal hearing. In normal-hearing listeners, improvements in threshold were seen with increasing stimulus level, and there was a strong effect of stimulus phase, as the positive Schroeder stimuli always produced lower thresholds than the negative Schroeder stimuli. The listeners with hearing loss showed no consistent spectral contrast effects due to stimulus phase and also showed little improvement with increasing stimulus level, once their sensitivity loss was overcome. The lack of phase and level effects may be a result of the more linear processing occurring in impaired ears, producing poorer-than-normal frequency resolution, a loss of gain for low amplitudes, and an altered cochlear phase characteristic in regions of damage.

Temporal Processing in Low-Frequency Channels: Effects of Age and Hearing Loss in Middle-Aged Listeners

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (07) ◽  
pp. 393-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth D. Leigh-Paffenroth ◽  
Saravanan Elangovan
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
Temporal Processing ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Pure Tone ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Gap Detection ◽  
Middle Aged ◽  
Hearing Sensitivity

Background: Hearing loss and age interfere with the auditory system's ability to process temporal changes in the acoustic signal. A key unresolved question is whether high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss (HFSNHL) affects temporal processing in the low-frequency region where hearing loss is minimal or nonexistent. A second unresolved question is whether changes in hearing occur in middle-aged subjects in the absence of HFSNHL. Purpose: The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to examine the influence of HFSNHL and aging on the auditory temporal processing abilities of low-frequency auditory channels with normal hearing sensitivity and (2) to examine the relations among gap detection measures, self-assessment reports of understanding speech, and functional measures of speech perception in middle-aged individuals with and without HFSNHL. Research Design: The subject groups were matched for either age (middle age) or pure-tone sensitivity (with or without hearing loss) to study the effects of age and HFSNHL on behavioral and functional measures of temporal processing and word recognition performance. These effects were analyzed by individual repeated-measures analyses of variance. Post hoc analyses were performed for each significant main effect and interaction. The relationships among the measures were analyzed with Pearson correlations. Study Sample: Eleven normal-hearing young adults (YNH), eight normal-hearing middle-aged adults (MANH), and nine middle-aged adults with HFSNHL were recruited for this study. Normal hearing sensitivity was defined as pure-tone thresholds ≤25 dB HL for octave frequencies from 250 to 8000 Hz. HFSNHL was defined as pure-tone thresholds ≤25 dB HL from 250 to 2000 Hz and ≥35 dB HL from 3000 to 8000 Hz. Data Collection and Analysis: Gap detection thresholds (GDTs) were measured under within-channel and between-channel conditions with the stimulus spectrum limited to regions of normal hearing sensitivity for the HFSNHL group (i.e., <2000 Hz). Self-perceived hearing problems were measured by a questionnaire (Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit), and word recognition performance was assessed under four conditions: quiet and babble, with and without low-pass filtering (cutoff frequency = 2000 Hz). Results: The effects of HFSNHL and age were found for gap detection, self-perceived hearing problems, and word recognition in noise. The presence of HFSNHL significantly increased GDTs for stimuli presented in regions of normal pure-tone sensitivity. In addition, middle-aged subjects with normal hearing sensitivity reported significantly more problems hearing in background noise than the young normal-hearing subjects. Significant relationships between self-report measures of hearing ability in background noise and word recognition in babble were found. Conclusions: The conclusions from the present study are twofold: (1) HFSNHL may have an off-channel impact on auditory temporal processing, and (2) presenescent changes in the auditory system of MANH subjects increased self-perceived problems hearing in background noise and decreased functional performance in background noise compared with YNH subjects.

scholarly journals Acoustic Features of Infant-Directed Speech to Infants with Hearing Loss

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irena Lovcevic ◽  
Marina Kalashnikova ◽  
Denis Burnham
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Receptive Vocabulary ◽  
Expressive Vocabulary ◽  
Acoustic Features ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Speech Input ◽  
Intelligible Speech ◽  
Acoustic Analyses

This study investigated the effects of hearing loss and hearing experience on the acoustic features of infant-directed speech (IDS) to infants with hearing loss (HL) compared to controls with normal hearing (NH) matched by either chronological or hearing age (Experiment 1) and across development in infants with HL as well as the relation between IDS features and infants’ developing lexical abilities (Experiment 2). Both experiments included detailed acoustic analyses of mothers’ productions of the three corner vowels /a, i, u/ and utterance-level pitch in IDS and in adult-directed speech (ADS). Experiment 1 demonstrated that IDS to infants with HL was acoustically more variable than IDS to hearing-age matched infants with NH. Experiment 2 yielded no changes in IDS features over development; however, the results did show a positive relationship between formant distances in mothers’ speech and infants’ concurrent receptive vocabulary size, as well as between vowel hyperarticulation and infants’ expressive vocabulary. These findings suggest that despite their HL and thus diminished access to speech input, infants with HL are exposed to IDS with generally similar acoustic qualities as are infants with NH. However, some differences persist, indicating that infants with HL might receive less intelligible speech.

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