Hearing Research最新文献

{"title":"Deep learning models for predicting hearing thresholds based on joint stimulus-frequency otoacoustic emissions and distortion-product otoacoustic emissions","authors":"Runyi Xu ,&nbsp;Qin Gong","doi":"10.1016/j.heares.2025.109349","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.heares.2025.109349","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>According to the dual-source generation hypothesis, stimulus-frequency otoacoustic emissions (SFOAEs) and distortion-product OAEs (DPOAEs) arise from different cochlear mechanisms, and both are capable of characterizing hearing loss. However, their joint application for hearing threshold prediction remains unexplored. This study developed an efficient deep learning (DL) model integrating SFOAEs and DPOAEs to quantitatively predict hearing thresholds. Training data for the model were collected from 94 ears with normal hearing and 401 ears with sensorineural hearing loss. Frequency-specific DL models were constructed across five octave frequencies (0.5–8 kHz), with inputs including amplitude spectra and corresponding signal-to-noise ratio spectra of both SFOAEs and DPOAEs. Self-extractors of the model were constructed using convolutional neural network (CNN) and recurrent neural network (RNN), respectively. Cross-validation demonstrated that the dual-OAE model achieved mean absolute errors (MAEs) of 5.17, 3.83, 3.96, 4.71, and 4.90 dB at 0.5–8 kHz, significantly outperforming single-OAE DL models (except DPOAE-based models at 0.5 and 2 kHz) and baseline machine learning models. By reducing the number of OAE stimulus levels, the efficiency-optimized model reduced testing time per individual to approximately 15 min while preserving accuracy. The proposed dual-source OAE (SFOAE and DPOAE)-integrated DL model achieves state-of-the-art accuracy in hearing threshold prediction, with its optimized efficiency establishing a foundation for further developing a practical clinical tool for objective hearing loss diagnosis.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12881,"journal":{"name":"Hearing Research","volume":"465 ","pages":"Article 109349"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144563012","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Eye movement-related eardrum oscillations do not require current visual input","authors":"Hossein Abbasi ,&nbsp;Cynthia D. King ,&nbsp;Stephanie Lovich ,&nbsp;Brigitte Röder ,&nbsp;Jennifer M. Groh ,&nbsp;Patrick Bruns","doi":"10.1016/j.heares.2025.109346","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.heares.2025.109346","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Oculomotor signals influence the neural processing of auditory input. Recent studies have shown that this connection extends to the auditory periphery: The phase and amplitude of eardrum oscillations was systematically influenced by eye movement direction and magnitude, a phenomenon called eye movement-related eardrum oscillations (EMREOs). Previous findings have suggested that EMREOs occur independently from auditory stimulation, but it is unknown whether they depend on the presence of visual sensory input or solely reflect efference copies of the oculomotor system. To distinguish between these two alternatives, we measured eye movements and eardrum oscillations in sighted human participants who performed free saccadic eye movements in darkness. Despite the lack of any sensory stimulation during eye movements, significant EMREOs occurred in all participants. EMREO characteristics were comparable to a separate control experiment in which participants performed guided saccades to visual targets and were robust to different types of eye tracker calibration methods. Thus, our results suggest that EMREOs are not driven by bottom-up sensory signals but rather reflect a pure influence of oculomotor signals on peripheral auditory processing. This indicates that EMREOs might play a crucial role in reference frame transformations which are needed for audio-visual spatial integration.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12881,"journal":{"name":"Hearing Research","volume":"465 ","pages":"Article 109346"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144535964","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Predicting variability in pediatric cochlear implant outcomes through synchronous brain activation patterns: Insights from fNIRS","authors":"Hsueh-Ching Tseng ,&nbsp;Huei-Mei Liu ,&nbsp;Pei-Hsuan Lin ,&nbsp;Tien-Chen Liu ,&nbsp;Lu Lu ,&nbsp;Chun-Ying Wang ,&nbsp;Chia-Feng Lu ,&nbsp;Chen-Chi Wu","doi":"10.1016/j.heares.2025.109347","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.heares.2025.109347","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objectives</h3><div>This study examined the relationship between cortical activation and auditory performance in pediatric cochlear implant (CI) users compared to normal-hearing (NH) controls using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The aim was to identify neural predictors of CI outcome and to investigate post-implantation cortical plasticity.</div></div><div><h3>Design</h3><div>Eighteen pediatric CI users and 17 NH controls performed simultaneously non-speech discrimination and sentence recognition tasks while undergoing fNIRS recording. Cortical activation was assessed in bilateral temporal, frontal, and parietal regions, and correlation and regression analyses examined whether cortical activity predicted auditory performance variability.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>CI users performed similarly to NH controls on non-speech discrimination (92.6 ± 8.5 % vs. 91.7 ± 7.8 %), but had lower sentence recognition accuracy (76.9 ± 14.1 % vs. 96.1 ± 3.1 %, <em>p</em> &lt; 0.05). Hierarchical regression showed that dual-channel interactions in the CI group explained 68 % of the variance in non-speech discrimination (adjusted R² = 0.68, <em>p</em> = 0.002) and 61 % in sentence recognition (adjusted R² = 0.61, <em>p</em> = 0.001). Right middle temporal gyrus activation was positively correlated with non-speech accuracy (β = 1.20, <em>p</em> = 0.001), while left superior temporal gyrus activation was negatively associated (β = -0.83, <em>p</em> = 0.007). Left inferior frontal gyrus activation was negatively correlated with sentence recognition (β = -0.94, <em>p</em> &lt; 0.001), while left inferior parietal lobule activation was positively associated (β = 0.57, <em>p</em> = 0.007). In contrast, NH participants relied on a more flexible and integrated neural processing network, and no significant cortical predictors were identified, suggesting a less localized, more distributed activation pattern.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>These findings provide novel insights into neural plasticity and compensatory mechanisms in CI users, emphasizing the crucial role of cortical interactions in non-speech and sentence-level processing. The strong predictive power of hierarchical models highlights the potential of fNIRS in post-implantation cortical assessment. Given the cross-sectional design and sample size limitations, longitudinal research is needed to validate these findings and to further refine auditory rehabilitation strategies to enhance speech perception outcomes in pediatric CI users.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12881,"journal":{"name":"Hearing Research","volume":"465 ","pages":"Article 109347"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144535960","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Promoter polymorphism rs510432 in ATG5 affects the susceptibility of noise-induced hearing loss by altering the binding of C/EBPβ","authors":"Long Miao ,&nbsp;Man Qu ,&nbsp;Yu Xue ,&nbsp;Xiaoqin Li ,&nbsp;Lihong Yin ,&nbsp;Yuepu Pu","doi":"10.1016/j.heares.2025.109340","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.heares.2025.109340","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is an occupational-related disease characterized by progressive sensorineural hearing impairment. Autophagy is thought as a key pathway mediated by highly conserved autophagy-related genes (ATGs) and plays a critical role in maintaining the homeostasis of cells, tissue and organisms. However, the potential molecular mechanism linking ATGs with NIHL are still relatively unclear. Here, we conducted a case-control study on 688 NIHL-afflicted cases and 667 normal hearing controls to investigate the relationship of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in ATG4C, ATG5 and ATG7 genes with the susceptibility to NIHL. We found that ATG5 rs510432 CT/TT genotypes significantly diminished the risk of NIHL compared to the CC genotype. Individuals with rs510432 CT/TT genotypes had significantly elevated mRNA and plasma levels of ATG5 than those with the CC genotype. Human plasma with the rs510432 CT/TT genotypes expressed obviously higher SOD, GSH-Px and Bcl-2 than that with the CC genotype, while opposite trends were observed for Caspase-3. Mechanistically, rs510432 could regulate the transcription of ATG5 by affecting the binding of C/EBPβ in the promoter region. Of note, C/EBPβ knockdown promoted the expression of ATG5 and LC3-II and simultaneously inhibited p62 expression to induce autophagy in HEI-OC1 cells. Moreover, C/EBPβ knockdown could increase the Bcl-2 expression, but decrease the expressions of Caspase-3, Bax and PARP in HEI-OC1 cells. In summation, our study provides initial evidence that ATG5 rs510432 is associated with the susceptibility to NIHL by altering the binding efficiency of C/EBPβ to ATG5 promoter in a specific allelic manner and it may act as a promising biomarker for NIHL susceptibility.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12881,"journal":{"name":"Hearing Research","volume":"465 ","pages":"Article 109340"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144523819","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Neural and perceptual speech in noise processing among 6–8-year-old children: Relation to working memory","authors":"Anadel Khalaila-Zbidat,&nbsp;Hanin Karawani","doi":"10.1016/j.heares.2025.109345","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.heares.2025.109345","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Young school-age-children learn literacy skills in classrooms that present challenging listening environments, particularly background noise. The ability to perceive speech in noisy environments relies on the interaction between cognitive and auditory processing. The present study investigates the relationship between speech in noise (SiN) perception and working memory (WM) in children aged 6–8, in addition it explores potential neural-cognitive-behavioral links in SiN processing.</div><div>Thirty-four normal-hearing children aged 6–8 years participated in the study. Neural SiN processing was assessed using the frequency following response to speech syllable /da/, collected in quiet and background noise, and analyzed for latency, amplitude, and fundamental frequency (F0) components. Perceptual SiN accuracy was examined using a sentence recognition task at three signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) levels (+3, 0, and -3 dB). WM was assessed using digit span tasks.</div><div>Background noise reduced both perceptual accuracy and neural SiN processing showing delayed latencies and lower amplitudes, and weaker F0 encoding, compared to the quiet condition. WM function positively contributed to SiN perception, with its effect moderated by the neural encoding of F0 in noise. Specifically, better neural encoding of F0 in noise decreased the positive contribution of WM to SiN perception. This study confirms the relationship between SiN perception and WM in children aged 6–8 years, highlighting the crucial contribution of cognitive factors, such as WM, in processing SiN, and reveals a neural-cognitive-perceptual interaction that modulates this contribution.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12881,"journal":{"name":"Hearing Research","volume":"465 ","pages":"Article 109345"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144513714","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"On the definition and implications of stimulus polarity for the recording of ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials","authors":"Torsten Rahne ,&nbsp;Hannah Schütz ,&nbsp;Julia Dlugaiczyk ,&nbsp;Laura Fröhlich ,&nbsp;Karl-Johan Fredén Jansson ,&nbsp;Bo Håkansson","doi":"10.1016/j.heares.2025.109344","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.heares.2025.109344","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>This study investigates the effects of mastoid stimulus polarity on the recording of bone-conducted ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (oVEMPs). The goal was to analyze how different stimulus polarities, specifically condensation and rarefaction, influence the amplitude and latency of oVEMP responses.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Monocyclic sinusoidal tone bursts at 250 Hz and 500 Hz were used to stimulate the vestibular system in 21 participants with normal hearing and normal vestibular function. The stimuli were delivered through a B250 transducer in both condensation and rarefaction polarities. The output force waveforms were measured with an artificial mastoid and the time derivative of the force were calculated as surrogate for the jerk. For the different stimulus polarities and respective signal output, i.e., acceleration and jerk, the resulting oVEMP responses were compared.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Rarefaction stimuli generally produced clearer and larger n1-p1 responses compared to condensation stimuli. A pre-response n1 peak was observed for 250 Hz condensation stimulation, while 500 Hz condensation stimulation showed a secondary p1 peak following the main response. The output force and jerk, as recorded on an artificial mastoid, suggest that the inwards-directed force of the condensation phase is crucial for eliciting the oVEMP response.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Stimulus polarity plays a critical role in the measurement of bone-conducted oVEMPs, affecting both the timing and magnitude of the response and should thus be always checked and reported. For mastoid stimulation the most effective jerk for oVEMP recordings was achieved by rarefaction stimulation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12881,"journal":{"name":"Hearing Research","volume":"465 ","pages":"Article 109344"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144519146","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Cochlear health alters the polarity effect and spike-initiation sites in guinea pigs","authors":"Wiebke Konerding ,&nbsp;Julie Arenberg ,&nbsp;Andrej Kral ,&nbsp;Peter Baumhoff","doi":"10.1016/j.heares.2025.109341","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.heares.2025.109341","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>While cochlear implants (CIs) historically use cathodic-leading pulses for stimulation, studies in humans found that anodic-leading pulses are perceived louder than cathodic-leading ones. Modeling studies proposed that cathodic pulses excite the spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) more peripherally than anodic pulses. Thus, the anodic-benefit in human CI listeners is thought to reflect degenerated peripheral processes.</div><div>We used an animal model to test the contributions of peripheral dendrites and central axons of SGNs to polarity-effectiveness in CI stimulation. We mechanically lesioned the SGN (∼400 µm diameter; <em>n</em> = 18 cochleae) and introduced a 9-day degeneration time (<em>n</em> = 13 cochleae) to mimic human SGN degeneration. These lesions were compared to 20 control ears. We stimulated via a guinea-pig adjusted CI with symmetric, biphasic pulses (monopolar mode) of alternating leading-phase polarity (50µs/phase). Electrically-evoked compound action potential recordings to anodic- and cathodic-leading pulses were separated in the analysis to calculate the polarity effect.</div><div>We confirmed the cathodic-benefit for cochleae with healthy SGN (lower threshold, larger amplitudes, dynamic ranges, and steeper slopes). Longer latencies (50–70µs) to cathodic than anodic monophasic and biphasic pulses confirmed the proposed peripheral (cathodic) and central (anodic) spike-initiation sites. The cathodic benefit persisted after acute lesioning, which prolonged latencies for anodic- but not for cathodic-leading pulses – consistent with remaining structures being excited by both polarities. After chronic degeneration, the threshold showed polarity-specific changes, leading to an anodic-benefit.</div><div>The observed decline in cathodic-effectiveness with reduced neural health confirmed theoretical considerations for human CI users with stimulus-polarity and degeneration-type dependent changes in spike-initiation site.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12881,"journal":{"name":"Hearing Research","volume":"465 ","pages":"Article 109341"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144523893","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Can cognitive performance predict individual differences in speech recognition at a cocktail party?","authors":"Xianhui Wang ,&nbsp;Antoinette Abdelmalek ,&nbsp;Cindy Hoang-Tran ,&nbsp;Leo Li Tang Meller ,&nbsp;Fan-Gang Zeng","doi":"10.1016/j.heares.2025.109342","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.heares.2025.109342","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Although cognition is widely assumed to contribute to speech recognition at a cocktail party, the empirical evidence supporting this assumption is surprisingly limited. One reason for this lack of evidence is that cognitive contributions are often tangled with confounding factors such as age and hearing loss. Another reason is that while speech recognition is measured in various backgrounds, cognitive performance is typically measured only in a quiet background. To address these two issues, we measured speech recognition and cognitive performance in both a steady-state noise background and a two-talker babble background in 50 young adults with normal hearing (30 females). To minimize auditory masking, we presented the auditory stimuli for selective attention and digit span tasks to one ear and the background to the other ear. We found that the individual variance in speech recognition was three times greater in the babble background than in the noise background. Compared to the quiet background, noise had no effect but babble degraded performance in selective attention and digit span tasks. Correlation and regression analyses showed that cognitive performance did not significantly contribute to speech-in-noise recognition (r² = 0–11 %), but it explained 26–68 % of the variance in speech-in-babble recognition, with the greatest variance explained when cognitive performance was measured in the babble background. The present study demonstrates that under controlled conditions, cognitive performance can predict individual differences in speech recognition at a simulated cocktail party.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12881,"journal":{"name":"Hearing Research","volume":"465 ","pages":"Article 109342"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144501472","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Transcriptomic change in human utricles after aminoglycoside-induced hair cell ablation: Dynamic alterations to hair cell and supporting cell genes","authors":"Camilla Boschian ,&nbsp;Andrew Forge ,&nbsp;Michael Lovett ,&nbsp;Jonathan E. Gale ,&nbsp;Daniel J. Jagger","doi":"10.1016/j.heares.2025.109339","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.heares.2025.109339","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Losing sensory hair cells from the mammalian inner ear results in deafness and balance disorders. A major cause of acquired hair cell loss is the use of ototoxic drugs, including aminoglycoside antibiotics. Aminoglycosides are commonly prescribed, and are highly effective and cheap, but they specifically kill hair cells. In mammals, the capacity to regenerate hair cells is extremely limited, with only a small fraction being replaced in the vestibular system. Therefore, the functional deficits arising from their loss are permanent. To date there are no therapeutic strategies to prevent hair cell loss or restore them. Whilst most studies in this area have focused on murine or avian models, these may not fully recapitulate the complexity of human disease. Improved understanding of the underlying pathology and of how human tissues respond to ototoxic damage are essential to develop successful therapies. This study aims to fill this gap by describing how human vestibular sensory epithelia respond to aminoglycosides at a transcriptional level, and to identify genes linked to hair cell regeneration. The transcriptomic signature of gentamicin-damaged epithelia was characterised using a publicly-available RNAseq dataset. Particular attention was given to supporting cell-specific genes since these cells are essential for repair of the epithelial lesions resulting from hair cell loss, and for hair cell regeneration. As such they represent targets for therapies aimed towards repopulating damaged inner ear epithelia. The analysis revealed significant changes in adherens junction genes following hair cell loss, and identified genes potentially involved in the spontaneous formation of hair bundles.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12881,"journal":{"name":"Hearing Research","volume":"465 ","pages":"Article 109339"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144501471","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exploring applications of electrically evoked compound action potentials using the vestibulo-cochlear implant","authors":"Stan C.J. van Boxel ,&nbsp;Bernd L. Vermorken ,&nbsp;Benjamin Volpe ,&nbsp;Nils Guinand ,&nbsp;Angélica Perez-Fornos ,&nbsp;Elke M.J. Devocht ,&nbsp;Raymond van de Berg","doi":"10.1016/j.heares.2025.109326","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.heares.2025.109326","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objectives</h3><div>Vestibulo-cochlear implants are a potential treatment approach for patients with loss of vestibular function. A critical aspect is the development of reliable and objective outcome measures, to assess their efficacy and optimize their performance. As in cochlear implant care and other neural prostheses, electrically evoked compound action potentials (eCAP) can be used to measure the neural response to implant stimulation. eCAPs might provide information about the presence and misalignment of the electrically evoked vestibulo-ocular reflex, and potential vestibulo-cochlear interactions. This could be valuable in intra-operative functionality assessment, as input for fitting, and to measure spread of excitation. This study aimed to explore the potential role of eCAPs in vestibulo-cochlear implant research.</div></div><div><h3>Design</h3><div>eCAPs were measured in ten subjects with a vestibulo-cochlear implant. Different configurations were used, i.e., trans-canal, vestibulo-cochlear and cochleo-vestibular. The predictive value of eCAPs was evaluated for four outcomes: presence of an electrically evoked vestibulo-ocular reflex (eVOR), degree of misalignment of the eVOR, auditory perception due to vestibular stimulation, and the prevalence of vestibular activation due to cochlear stimulation.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>The results demonstrated a high positive predictive value of the eCAP for the presence of an eVOR (i.e., 1.0), while the negative predictive value was low (i.e., 0.54). The presence of trans-canal eCAP did not correspond with the degree of misalignment in the eVOR. Furthermore, the predictive values for auditory perception were low (i.e., ≤0.5). eCAP recordings in the cochlea to vestibular configuration imply a high likelihood of cochlear to vestibular interaction (i.e., 67% of electrodes).</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>The presence of a vestibular eCAP was demonstrated to be a predictor of the presence of the eVOR. However, the low negative predictive value prevents the eCAP from providing a reliable indicator for intra-operative electrode position evaluation. eCAP measurements in vestibulo-cochlear configurations indicated that spread of excitation between the cochlea and canals is already possible at stimulation levels within the clinical fitting range of both the vestibular and cochlear electrodes. Measured eCAPs did not correspond with misalignment of the eVOR or the presence of an auditory percept as result of vestibular stimulation. Future research is needed to elucidate the full potential of vestibulo-cochlear implant eCAP measurements.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12881,"journal":{"name":"Hearing Research","volume":"464 ","pages":"Article 109326"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144364594","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}