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Otology & Neurotology : Official... Sep 2016The purpose of this article is to provide guidelines for determining a Significant Noise-Induced Threshold Shift in clinical trials involving human populations. The...
The purpose of this article is to provide guidelines for determining a Significant Noise-Induced Threshold Shift in clinical trials involving human populations. The article reviews recommendations for the standards to be referenced for human subjects, equipment, test environment, and personnel. Additional guidelines for military populations are provided. Guidelines for the calibration of audiometers, sound booth noise levels, and immitance equipment are provided. In addition the guidance provides specific suggestions for the subjects history before study onset, and otoscopy.Test frequencies for threshold determination and methods of threshold determination are reviewed for both air conduction and bone conduction for both baseline testing and later determination of either a temporary (TTS) or permanent threshold shift (PTS). Once a Significant Noise-Induced Threshold Shift has been determined, subjects should be retested, conductive component should be ruled out or addressed, and the subject should be counseled or referred for additional medical evaluation. Guidance for reporting procedures and the computerized study database are described. Finally, experimental designs suggested for noise-induced otoprotection clinical trials are described.
Topics: Adult; Auditory Threshold; Clinical Trials as Topic; Hearing Tests; Humans; Male
PubMed: 27518134
DOI: 10.1097/MAO.0000000000001135 -
Journal of Speech, Language, and... Feb 2019Purpose A Bayesian adaptive procedure, that is, the quick auditory filter (qAF) procedure, has been shown to improve the efficiency for estimating auditory filter shapes...
Purpose A Bayesian adaptive procedure, that is, the quick auditory filter (qAF) procedure, has been shown to improve the efficiency for estimating auditory filter shapes of listeners with normal hearing. The current study evaluates the accuracy and test-retest reliability of the qAF procedure for naïve listeners with a variety of ages and hearing status. Method Fifty listeners who were naïve to psychophysical experiments and exhibit wide ranges of age (19-70 years) and hearing threshold (-5 to 70 dB HL at 2 kHz) were recruited. Their auditory filter shapes were estimated for a 15-dB SL target tone at 2 kHz using both the qAF procedure and the traditional threshold-based procedure. The auditory filter model was defined using 3 parameters: (a) the sharpness of the tip portion of the auditory filter, p; (b) the prominence of the low-frequency tail of the filter, 10log( w); and (c) the listener's efficiency in detection, 10log( K). Results The estimated parameters of the auditory filter model were consistent between 2 qAF runs tested on 2 separate days. The parameter estimates from the 2 qAF runs also agreed well with those estimated using the traditional procedure despite being substantially faster. Across the 3 auditory filter estimates, the dependence of the auditory filter parameters on listener age and hearing threshold was consistent across procedures, as well as consistent with previously published estimates. Conclusions The qAF procedure demonstrates satisfactory test-retest reliability and good agreement to the traditional procedure for listeners with a wide range of ages and with hearing status ranging from normal hearing to moderate hearing impairment.
Topics: Adult; Aged; Auditory Perception; Auditory Threshold; Bayes Theorem; Discrimination, Psychological; Hearing; Humans; Middle Aged; Noise; Perceptual Masking; Reproducibility of Results; Young Adult
PubMed: 30950687
DOI: 10.1044/2018_JSLHR-H-18-0092 -
Hearing Research Oct 2022It is well known that ageing and noise exposure are important causes of sensorineural hearing loss, and can result in damage of the outer hair cells or other structures...
It is well known that ageing and noise exposure are important causes of sensorineural hearing loss, and can result in damage of the outer hair cells or other structures of the inner ear, including synaptic damage to the auditory nerve (AN), i.e., cochlear synaptopathy (CS). Despite the suspected high prevalence of CS among people with self-reported hearing difficulties but seemingly normal hearing, conventional hearing-aid algorithms do not compensate for the functional deficits associated with CS. Here, we present and evaluate a number of auditory signal-processing strategies designed to maximally restore AN coding for listeners with CS pathologies. We evaluated our algorithms in subjects with and without suspected age-related CS to assess whether physiological and behavioural markers associated with CS can be improved. Our data show that after applying our algorithms, envelope-following responses and perceptual amplitude-modulation sensitivity were consistently enhanced in both young and older listeners. Speech-in-noise intelligibility showed small improvements after processing but mostly for young normal-hearing participants, with median improvements of up to 8.3%. Since our hearing-enhancement strategies were designed to optimally drive the AN fibres, they were able to improve temporal-envelope processing for listeners both with and without suspected CS. Our proposed algorithms can be rapidly executed and can thus extend the application range of current hearing aids and hearables, while leaving sound amplification unaffected.
Topics: Auditory Threshold; Cochlea; Cochlear Nerve; Hearing; Humans; Noise; Speech Perception
PubMed: 35961207
DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2022.108569 -
Journal of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck... Mar 2016The Canadian Hearing and Auditory Research Translation (CHART) group is a newly formed taskforce to develop collaborative research initiatives. Initial discussions...
The Canadian Hearing and Auditory Research Translation (CHART) group is a newly formed taskforce to develop collaborative research initiatives. Initial discussions centered on diagnostic improvements for middle ear disease, auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder, tinnitus and presbycusis. Central to these discussions was the widely held view that the standard audiogram and its interpretation is inadequate to for describing many forms of hearing problems that we now recognize. This letter is designed to create awareness and to seek feedback from hearing healthcare professionals on their experience regarding the adequacy (or otherwise) of the audiogram in its present form.
Topics: Audiometry, Pure-Tone; Auditory Threshold; Canada; Hearing Loss; Humans
PubMed: 26965445
DOI: 10.1186/s40463-016-0132-8 -
The Journal of Experimental Biology Apr 2022Anthropogenic noise can be hazardous for the auditory system and wellbeing of animals, including humans. However, very limited information is known on how this global...
Anthropogenic noise can be hazardous for the auditory system and wellbeing of animals, including humans. However, very limited information is known on how this global environmental pollutant affects auditory function and inner ear sensory receptors in early ontogeny. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a valuable model in hearing research, including investigations of developmental processes of the vertebrate inner ear. We tested the effects of chronic exposure to white noise in larval zebrafish on inner ear saccular sensitivity and morphology at 3 and 5 days post-fertilization (dpf), as well as on auditory-evoked swimming responses using the prepulse inhibition (PPI) paradigm at 5 dpf. Noise-exposed larvae showed a significant increase in microphonic potential thresholds at low frequencies, 100 and 200 Hz, while the PPI revealed a hypersensitization effect and a similar threshold shift at 200 Hz. Auditory sensitivity changes were accompanied by a decrease in saccular hair cell number and epithelium area. In aggregate, the results reveal noise-induced effects on inner ear structure-function in a larval fish paralleled by a decrease in auditory-evoked sensorimotor responses. More broadly, this study highlights the importance of investigating the impact of environmental noise on early development of sensory and behavioural responsiveness to acoustic stimuli.
Topics: Animals; Auditory Threshold; Ear, Inner; Hair Cells, Auditory; Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced; Larva; Zebrafish
PubMed: 35258623
DOI: 10.1242/jeb.243743 -
International Journal of Pediatric... Apr 2022This study aims to explore the impact of a subject's testing state on auditory brainstem response (ABR) thresholds using a novel ABR system (Vivosonic Integrity™),...
OBJECTIVES
This study aims to explore the impact of a subject's testing state on auditory brainstem response (ABR) thresholds using a novel ABR system (Vivosonic Integrity™), which incorporates Kalman-weighted averaging and bluetooth electrical isolation to address the limitation of conventional ABR limitation to obtain a stable result under non-sedated conditions, especially for infants and children.
METHOD
Twenty-four adults (18-34 years old, 48 ears) with normal hearing were enrolled for ABR testing under three different states (lying quietly in the supine position or sleeping-lying; watching silent videos quietly in a seated position-sitting; and writing in a seated position-writing), which simulate the behaviors of young children most often encountered during non-sedated Kalman-weighted ABR testing in clinical practice. The click ABR (cABR) and tone-burst ABR (tbABR) thresholds (0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz) of each subject and the time taken to reach the monaural threshold for each kind of stimulus were recorded.
RESULTS
(1) The cABR and tbABR thresholds were observed to increase in the following order: lying < sitting < writing. Significant threshold differences were found between any two states, except for between the sitting and lying states for the cABR and between sitting and writing for the 0.5 kHz tbABR. (2) The time required for cABR testing in the writing state was significantly longer than that in the lying and sitting states. The time required for 1 and 4 kHz tbABR testing in the lying state was significantly shorter than that in the sitting or writing state. For 2 KHz tbABR, only testing time under writing was significantly longer than that under lying. There were no significant differences in the time used for 0.5 kHz tbABR testing among different states.
CONCLUSIONS
Different testing states have significant impacts on the thresholds of ABRs using Kalman-weighted averaging. A subject's state during ABR testing warrants consideration, and normal levels and correction values to estimate the hearing threshold from the ABR threshold should be determined for different testing states.
Topics: Acoustic Stimulation; Adolescent; Adult; Audiometry, Pure-Tone; Auditory Threshold; Child; Child, Preschool; Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem; Hearing; Hearing Tests; Humans; Infant; Young Adult
PubMed: 35219039
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijporl.2022.111085 -
Hearing Research Oct 2022Clinical auditory physiological measures (e.g., auditory brainstem responses, ABRs, and distortion product otoacoustic emissions, DPOAEs) provide diagnostic specificity...
Clinical auditory physiological measures (e.g., auditory brainstem responses, ABRs, and distortion product otoacoustic emissions, DPOAEs) provide diagnostic specificity for differentially diagnosing overt hearing impairments, but they remain limited in their ability to detect specific sites of lesion and subtle levels of cochlear damage. Studies in animal models may hold the key to improve differential diagnosis due to the ability to induce tightly controlled and histologically verifiable subclinical cochlear pathologies. Here, we present a normative set of traditional and clinically novel physiological measures using ABRs and DPOAEs measured in a large cohort of male macaque monkeys. Given the high similarities between macaque and human auditory anatomy, physiology, and susceptibility to hearing damage, this normative data set will serve as a crucial baseline to investigate novel physiological measures to improve diagnostics. DPOAE amplitudes were robust at f = 1.22, L/L = 65/55, increased with frequency up to 10 kHz, and exhibited high test re-test reliability. DPOAE thresholds were lowest from 2-10 kHz and highest < 2 kHz. ABRs with a standard clinical electrode montage (vertex-to-mastoid, VM) produced Waves I-IV with a less frequently observed Wave-I, and lower thresholds. ABRs with a vertex-to-tympanic membrane (VT) electrode montage produced a more robust Wave-I, but absent Waves II-IV and higher thresholds. Further study with the VM montage revealed amplitudes that increased with stimulus level and were largest in response to click stimuli, with Wave-II showing the largest ABR amplitude, followed by -IV and -I, with high inter- and intra-subject variability. ABR wave latencies decreased with stimulus level and frequency. When stimulus presentation rate increased or stimuli were presented in close temporal proximity, ABR amplitude decreased, and latency increased. These findings expand upon existing literature of normative clinical physiological data in nonhuman primates and lay the groundwork for future studies investigating the effects of noise-induced pathologies in macaques.
Topics: Animals; Auditory Threshold; Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem; Haplorhini; Humans; Macaca; Male; Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous; Reproducibility of Results
PubMed: 35896044
DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2022.108568 -
Advances in Experimental Medicine and... 2016Behavioral methods have been critical in the study of auditory perception and discrimination in fishes. In this chapter, we review some of the common methods used in... (Review)
Review
Behavioral methods have been critical in the study of auditory perception and discrimination in fishes. In this chapter, we review some of the common methods used in fish psychoacoustics. We discuss associative methods, such as operant, avoidance, and classical conditioning, and their use in constructing audiograms, measuring frequency selectivity, and auditory stream segregation. We also discuss the measurement of innate behavioral responses, such as the acoustic startle response (ASR), prepulse inhibition (PPI), and phonotaxis, and their use in the assessment of fish hearing to determine auditory thresholds and in the testing of mechanisms for sound source localization. For each psychoacoustic method, we provide examples of their use and discuss the parameters and situations where such methods can be best utilized. In the case of the ASR, we show how this method can be used to construct and compare audiograms between two species of larval fishes, the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) and the zebrafish (Danio rerio). We also discuss considerations for experimental design with respect to stimulus presentation and threshold criteria and how these techniques can be used in future studies to investigate auditory perception in fishes.
Topics: Acoustic Stimulation; Animals; Auditory Threshold; Echolocation; Fishes; Hearing; Perciformes; Psychoacoustics; Reflex, Startle; Zebrafish
PubMed: 26515314
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-21059-9_8 -
Neuroscience May 2019The effects of traumatic noise-exposure and deafening on auditory system function have received a great deal of attention. However, lower levels of noise as well as... (Review)
Review
The effects of traumatic noise-exposure and deafening on auditory system function have received a great deal of attention. However, lower levels of noise as well as temporary conductive hearing loss also have consequences on auditory physiology and hearing. Here we review how abnormal acoustic experience at early ages affects the ascending and descending auditory pathways, as well as hearing behavior.
Topics: Animals; Auditory Pathways; Auditory Threshold; Hearing; Hearing Loss, Conductive; Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced; Humans; Noise
PubMed: 30685543
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2019.01.020 -
Ear and HearingPostimplantation facial nerve stimulation is a common side-effect of intracochlear electrical stimulation. Facial nerve stimulation occurs when electric current intended...
OBJECTIVES
Postimplantation facial nerve stimulation is a common side-effect of intracochlear electrical stimulation. Facial nerve stimulation occurs when electric current intended to stimulate the auditory nerve, spread beyond the cochlea to excite the nearby facial nerve, causing involuntarily facial muscle contractions. Facial nerve stimulation can often be resolved through adjustments in speech processor fitting but, in some instances, these measures exhibit limited benefit or may have a detrimental effect on speech perception. In this study, apical reference stimulation mode was investigated as a potential intervention to facial nerve stimulation. Apical reference stimulation is a bipolar stimulation strategy in which the most apical electrode is used as the reference electrode for stimulation on all the other intracochlear electrodes.
DESIGN
A person-specific model of the human cochlea, facial nerve and electrode array, coupled with a neural model, was used to predict excitation of auditory and facial nerve fibers. These predictions were used to evaluate the effectiveness in reducing facial nerve stimulation using apical reference stimulation. Predictions were confirmed in psychoacoustic tests by determining auditory comfort and threshold levels for the apical reference stimulation mode while capturing electromyography data in two participants.
RESULTS
Models predicted a favorable outcome for apical reference stimulation, as facial nerve fiber thresholds were higher and auditory thresholds were lower, in direct comparison to conventional monopolar stimulation. Psychophysical tests also illustrated decreased auditory thresholds and increased dynamic range during apical reference stimulation. Furthermore, apical reference stimulation resulted in lower electromyography energy levels, compared to conventional monopolar stimulation, which suggests a reduction in facial nerve stimulation. Subjective feedback corroborated that apical reference stimulation alleviated facial nerve stimulation.
CONCLUSION
Apical reference stimulation may be a viable strategy to alleviate facial nerve stimulation considering the improvements in dynamic range and auditory thresholds, complemented with a reduction in facial nerve stimulation symptoms.
Topics: Auditory Threshold; Cochlea; Cochlear Implants; Cochlear Nerve; Electric Stimulation; Facial Nerve; Humans
PubMed: 34923558
DOI: 10.1097/AUD.0000000000001170