Ear and Hearing最新文献

{"title":"A Level-Adjusted Cochlear Frequency-to-Place Map for Estimating Tonotopic Frequency Mismatch With a Cochlear Implant.","authors":"Elad Sagi, Mario A Svirsky","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001641","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001641","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>To provide a level-adjusted correction to the current standard relating anatomical cochlear place to characteristic frequency (CF) in humans, and to re-evaluate anatomical frequency mismatch in cochlear implant (CI recipients considering this correction. It is proposed that a level-adjusted place-frequency function may represent a more relevant tonotopic benchmark for CIs in comparison to the current standard.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>The present analytical study compiled data from 15 previous animal studies that reported isointensity responses from cochlear structures at different stimulation levels. Extracted outcome measures were CFs and centroid-based best frequencies at 70 dB SPL input from 47 specimens spanning a broad range of cochlear locations. A simple relationship was used to transform these measures to human estimates of characteristic and best frequencies, and nonlinear regression was applied to these estimates to determine how the standard human place-frequency function should be adjusted to reflect best frequency rather than CF. The proposed level-adjusted correction was then compared with average place-frequency positions of commonly used CI devices when programmed with clinical settings.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The present study showed that the best frequency at 70 dB SPL (BF70) tends to shift away from CF. The amount of shift was statistically significant (signed-rank test z = 5.143, p < 0.001), but the amount and direction of shift depended on cochlear location. At cochlear locations up to 600° from the base, BF70 shifted downward in frequency relative to CF by about 4 semitones on average. Beyond 600° from the base, BF70 shifted upward in frequency relative to CF by about 6 semitones on average. In terms of spread (90% prediction interval), the amount of shift between CF and BF70 varied from relatively no shift to nearly an octave of shift. With the new level-adjusted place-frequency function, the amount of anatomical frequency mismatch for devices programmed with standard-of-care settings is less extreme than originally thought and may be nonexistent for all but the most apical electrodes.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The present study validates the current standard for relating cochlear place to CF, and introduces a level-adjusted correction for how best frequency shifts away from CF at moderately loud stimulation levels. This correction may represent a more relevant tonotopic reference for CIs. To the extent that it does, its implementation may potentially enhance perceptual accommodation and speech understanding in CI users, thereby improving CI outcomes and contributing to advancements in the programming and clinical management of CIs.</p>","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":"963-975"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12170178/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143392578","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of Middle Ear Status on Rotary Chair Outcomes in Children.","authors":"Manuel Vicente, Nour El-Hidek, Jessie N Patterson, Gabrielle R Merchant, Kristen L Janky","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001644","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001644","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Middle ear dysfunction is common in young children. There are varying reports on the effects of middle ear dysfunction on the vestibular system; however, it is unknown the extent to which abnormal middle ear function affects vestibular function tests, which could lead to misdiagnosis and improper medical management. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate how middle ear status affects rotary chair outcomes in young children (6 months to 6 years).</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>Twenty-one children with middle ear dysfunction (mean: 30 months, 11 males) and 36 control children with normal middle ear function (mean: 33 months, 19 males) participated. All participants completed tympanometry, wideband tympanometry, and sinusoidal harmonic acceleration rotary chair testing at 0.01, 0.04, and 0.16 Hz. The primary outcomes were rotary chair gain, phase, and symmetry.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>For rotary chair gain, there was a significant frequency by group interaction. As expected, gain increased with increases in frequency; however, there were larger gain increases in the middle ear dysfunction group for 0.04 and 0.16 Hz. There was no significant effect of middle ear dysfunction on rotary chair phase or symmetry. Although 6 subjects (29%) had rotary chair phase leads that were greater than 2 SDs from the control mean, there were no significant group-level differences in phase; there was also no effect of severity of middle ear dysfunction on any rotary chair outcomes.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Rotary chair in the presence of middle ear dysfunction is valid; however, isolated phase abnormalities can be present that are not explained by severity of middle ear dysfunction. Tympanometry and/or wideband tympanometry is recommended before rotary chair. In the event phase abnormalities are present coupled with abnormal tympanometry and/or wideband tympanometry, rotary chair testing could be repeated once the middle ear normalizes to rule out contributions from middle ear dysfunction.</p>","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":"976-982"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12170175/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143416302","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Changes in Patient Characteristics of Pediatric Cochlear Implant Candidates Over a 20-Year Timeframe Affect Language Outcomes and Equity of Healthcare.","authors":"Julie Hare, Tracey Sear, Deborah A Vickers","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001639","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001639","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Objectives: &lt;/strong&gt;To determine how the patient profile of pediatric cochlear implant recipients changed over a 20-year period in an inner-city clinic (typical of many larger clinics), and to understand how these changes were influenced by clinical practice and changes in society. To relate changes in patient profile to long-term language outcomes, the primary purpose of pediatric cochlear implantation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Design: &lt;/strong&gt;A retrospective, observational study of children implanted between 1998 and 2019 was conducted. Longitudinal language outcomes from preimplant to 5-year postimplant were collected from all children reaching the 5-year clinical review (179 children). Demographic factors of home language, onset of severe to profound deafness (congenital, progressive, or acquired), age at implantation, device configuration (unilateral, bimodal, bilateral), and socioeconomic status were collected for the entire sample (414 children) to understand changes over time. Chi-square, Kruskal-Wallis, and Analysis of Variance tests were conducted to determine if demographic factors changed over time and Logistic Regressions were conducted to understand which factors predicted language outcomes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Results: &lt;/strong&gt;Over the 20-year period, we observed a significant increase in the percentage of children from non-native English-speaking families (24 to 67%), influenced by population migration. There was a significant increase in the percentage of children with progressive onset of deafness (8 to 45%), influenced by UK National Institution of Health and Care Excellence guidance which saw a relaxation in audiometric criteria such that greater numbers of children with progressive losses were eligible. Age at implantation significantly decreased due to greater surgical confidence, increased awareness of the benefits of implanting babies under 12 months and the introduction of newborn hearing screening. There was a significant reduction in the Index of Multiple Deprivation (proxy for socioeconomic status) believed to be related to recession, austerity, and population migratory trends. Regression analyses suggested that onset of deafness, age at implantation, year of implantation, income deprivation, and parental education were key predictors of 5-year post-implantation language abilities.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusions: &lt;/strong&gt;Multiple factors affect long-term speech and language outcomes in children growing up using cochlear implants. Influential factors can alter over time due to changes in clinical practice/guidance or changes in society affecting cultural/linguistic distribution. If this complex and dynamically changing landscape of influential factors is well understood, appropriate interventions can be introduced for families that are most in need of them to facilitate faster rates of language acquisition. Clinical services should be streamlined and changes in patient characteristics monitored to provide equitable treatment.&lt;","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":"1009-1018"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143722505","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":"Wearing Hearing Protection Makes Me Worse at My Job: Impacts of Hearing Protection Use on Sensorimotor Tracking Performance.","authors":"Matthew G Wisniewski, C Shane Chuwonganant","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001630","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001630","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Occupational hearing loss is a significant problem worldwide despite the fact that it can be mitigated by the wearing of hearing protection devices (HPDs). When surveyed, workers frequently report that worsened work performance while wearing HPDs is one reason why they choose not to wear them. However, there have been few studies to supplement these subjective reports with objective measures. Where they do exist, assessed performance measures have mostly characterized auditory situational awareness in gross terms (e.g., average speech comprehension scores over an entire session). The temporal dynamics of performance and HPD impacts on nonauditory aspects of work performance are largely unknown. In the present study, we aimed to fill this gap in the literature by measuring how HPD usage impacted sensorimotor tracking performance in relation to ongoing auditory events.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>In two experiments, listeners heard commands sourced from the coordinate response measure (CRM) corpus (i.e., sentences of the form \"Ready <call sign> go to <color> <number> now\"). These commands informed listeners of which of nine moving on-screen objects to track with a computer mouse (e.g., \"blue four\" refers the listener to a blue square). The commands were presented in background street noise and were heard under either \"No HPD\" or \"HPD\" conditions. In experiment 1, HPD wearing was simulated with a digital filter designed to mimic the attenuation profile of a passive HPD. In experiment 2, actual HPDs were worn by listeners. Continuous recording of tracking error allowed us to simultaneously examine how HPD wearing impacted speech comprehension, the accuracy of tracking, and how tracking accuracy varied as a function of time on task and ongoing auditory events (e.g., the presentation of a critical CRM sentence).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In both experiments, listeners spent less time tracking the correct object in the HPD condition. After trimming data to those time points in which the target object was known, worse performance was exhibited by the HPD condition than the No HPD condition. In the examination of the temporal dynamics of tracking error, it was apparent that differences arose strongly during the presentation of CRM sentences.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Workers' complaints of poorer performance while wearing HPDs are justified and extend beyond just diminished auditory situational awareness. The negative impact on nonauditory aspects of work performance may be strongest around critical listening periods. Addressing these aspects of performance will be an important part of addressing HPD nonuse in occupational settings.</p>","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":"871-879"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143029625","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":"Self-Fitting Hearing Aids: Effects of Starting Response and Field Experience.","authors":"Arthur Boothroyd, Dhiman Sengupta, Shaelyn Painter, Elena Shur, Harinath Garudadri, Carol Mackersie","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001642","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001642","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>To determine the effects of changing from a prescribed to a generic starting response on self-fitting outcome and behavior before and after a brief field experience.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Twenty adult hearing-aid users with mild-to-moderate hearing loss used a smartphone interface to adjust level and spectral tilt of the output of a wearable master hearing aid while listening to prerecorded speech, presented at 65 dB SPL, in quiet. A prescribed starting response was based on the participant's own audiogram. A generic starting response was based on an audiogram for a typical mild-to-moderate hearing loss and was the same for all participants. Initial self-fittings from the two starting responses took place in the lab. After a brief field experience, involving conversation, self-hearing, and ambient noise, with readjustment as needed, self-fittings from the two starting responses were repeated in the lab. Starting responses, self-fitted responses, and adjustment steps were logged in the master hearing aid for subsequent evaluation of real-ear output spectra and for assessment of self-fitting behavior.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Neither starting response nor field experience had a significant effect on mean self-fitted output in the lab ( p = 0.506 and 0.149, respectively). However, the SD of individual starting-response effects on high-frequency self-fitted output fell by around 50% after the field experience ( p = 0.006). The effect of starting response on self-fitting behavior was limited to number of adjustment steps, which was higher for the generic start ( p = 0.014). The effect of field experience on self-fitting behavior was limited to a 50% reduction in self-fitting time ( p < 0.001). This reduction was attributable mainly to less time spent listening after each adjustment step ( p = 0.019).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The findings support the conclusion that, for a population with mild-to-moderate hearing loss, a generic starting response can be a viable option for over-the-counter self-fitting hearing aids. They highlight, however, the need for practice and experience with novel self-fitting hearing aids and the fact that self-fitting may not be suitable for all.</p>","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":"1019-1028"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143392580","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":"The Auditory-Cognitive Assessment of Speech Understanding: A Comprehensive Analysis of Construct Validity.","authors":"Louise Van Goylen, Katrien Kestens, Hannah Keppler","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001649","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001649","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Age-related hearing loss, the predominant global cause of hearing loss in middle-aged and older adults, presents a significant health and social problem, particularly affecting speech understanding. Beyond the auditory system, cognitive functions play a crucial role in speech understanding, especially in noisy environments. Although visual cognitive testing is commonly used as an intriguing alternative to mitigate the potential adverse effects of hearing loss on the perception of auditory test items, its efficacy within a hearing-related context is questionable due to construct differences. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the construct validity of auditory and visual versions of cognitive tests in predicting speech understanding, to identify the best suitable auditory or visual cognitive predictor(s) for implementation in the field of audiology.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>Fifty-two middle-aged and older adults with normal hearing and 52 with hearing loss were included in the study (mean age for the total group: 67.38 years [SD: 7.71 years], range: 45 to 80 years). Both subgroups were matched based on age, sex, and educational level. Speech understanding in quiet (SPIQ) and in noise (SPIN) was assessed using the ecologically valid Dutch Linguistically Controlled Sentences test. An extensive cognitive test battery was assembled, encompassing measures of sustained attention, working memory, processing speed, and cognitive flexibility and inhibition, through both auditory and visual assessments. Correlation coefficients examined the relationship between the independent variables (demographics and cognition), and SPIQ and SPIN separately. Identified predictors underwent stepwise and hierarchical multiple regression analyses, with significant variables included in final multiple regression models for SPIQ and SPIN separately.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The final multiple regression models demonstrated statistically significant predictions for SPIQ (adjusted R2 = 0.699) and SPIN (adjusted R2 = 0.776). Audiometric hearing status and auditory working memory significantly contributed to predicting SPIQ, while age, educational level, audiometric hearing status, auditory sustained attention, and auditory working memory played significant roles in predicting SPIN.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study underscores the necessity of exploring construct validity of cognitive tests within audiological research. The findings advocate for the superiority of auditory cognitive tests over visual testing in relation to speech understanding.</p>","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":"1044-1055"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143574722","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":"Let's See If You Can Hear: The Effect of Stimulus Type and Intensity to Pupil Diameter Response in Infants and Adults.","authors":"Amanda Saksida, Sašo Živanović, Saba Battelino, Eva Orzan","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001651","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001651","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Objectives: &lt;/strong&gt;Pupil dilation can serve as a measure of auditory attention. It has been proposed as an objective measure for adjusting hearing aid configurations, and as a measure of hearing threshold in the pediatric population. Here we explore (1) whether the pupillary dilation response (PDR) to audible sounds can be reliably measured in normally hearing infants within their average attention span, and in normally hearing adults, (2) how accurate within-participant models are in classifying PDR based on the stimulus type at various intensity levels, (3) whether the amount of analyzed data affects the model reliability, and (4) whether we can observe systematic differences in the PDR between speech and nonspeech sounds, and between the discrimination and detection paradigms.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Design: &lt;/strong&gt;In experiment 1, we measured the PDR to target warble tones at 500 to 4000 Hz compared with a standard tone (250 Hz) using an oddball discrimination test. A group of normally hearing infants was tested in experiment 1a (n = 36, mean [ME] = 21 months), and a group of young adults in experiment 1b (n = 12, ME = 29 years). The test was divided into five intensity blocks (30 to 70 dB SPL). In experiment 2a (n = 11, ME = 24 years), the task from experiment 1 was transformed into a detection task by removing the standard warble tone, and in experiment 2b (n = 12, ME = 29 years), participants listened to linguistic (Ling-6) sounds instead of tones.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Results: &lt;/strong&gt;In all experiments, the increased PDR was significantly associated with target sound stimuli on a group level. Although we found no overall effect of intensity on the response amplitude, the results were most clearly visible at the highest tested intensity level (70 dB SPL). The nonlinear classification models, run for each participant separately, yielded above-chance classification accuracy (sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value above 0.5) in 76% of infants and in 75% of adults. Accuracy further improved when only the first six trials at each intensity level were analyzed. However, accuracy was similar when pupil data were randomly attributed to the target or standard categories, indicating over-sensitivity of the proposed algorithms to the regularities in the PDR at the individual level. No differences in the classification accuracy were found between infants and adults at the group level, nor between the discrimination and detection paradigms (experiment 2a versus 1b), whereas the results in experiment 2b (speech stimuli) outperformed those in experiment 1b (tone stimuli).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusions: &lt;/strong&gt;The study confirms that PDR is elicited in both infants and adults across different stimulus types and task paradigms and may thus serve as an indicator of auditory attention. However, for the estimation of the hearing (or comfortable listening) threshold at the individual level, the most efficient and time-effective protocol with the","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":"1111-1124"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143671879","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":"Benefits of Cochlear Implantation and Hearing Preservation for Children With Preoperative Functional Hearing: A Prospective Clinical Trial.","authors":"Lisa R Park, Margaret E Richter, Erika B Gagnon, Shannon R Culbertson, Lillian W Henderson, Margaret T Dillon","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001636","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001636","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>This study was designed to (1) compare preactivation and postactivation performance with a cochlear implant for children with functional preoperative low-frequency hearing, (2) compare outcomes of electric-acoustic stimulation (EAS) versus electric-only stimulation (ES) for children with versus without hearing preservation to understand the benefits of low-frequency acoustic cues, and (3) to investigate the relationship between postoperative acoustic hearing thresholds and performance.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>This was a prospective, 12-month between-subjects trial including 24 pediatric cochlear implant recipients with preoperative low-frequency functional hearing. Participant ages ranged from 5 to 17 years old. They were recruited at their device activation and fit with EAS or ES based on their postoperative thresholds. Group outcomes were compared for single-word recognition, masked sentence recognition, perceived hearing abilities, speech production, receptive language, expressive language, and prosodic identification.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Children experienced improvements in word recognition, subjective hearing, speech production, and expressive language with EAS or ES as compared with their preoperative abilities. Children using EAS performed better on a prosodic identification task and had higher subjective hearing scores postactivation as compared with children using ES. There was a significant relationship between postoperative thresholds at 125 Hz and prosodic identification.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The results of this study support cochlear implantation for children with normal-to-moderate low-frequency hearing thresholds and severe-to-profound high-frequency hearing loss. They also highlight the benefits of postoperative hearing preservation for language development.</p>","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":"941-951"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143016829","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":"Effects of Masker Intelligibility and Talker Sex on Speech-in-Speech Recognition by Mandarin Speakers Across the Lifespan.","authors":"Duo-Duo Tao, Yuhui Fan, John J Galvin, Ji-Sheng Liu, Qian-Jie Fu","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001655","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001655","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Speech perception develops during childhood, matures in early adulthood, and declines in old age. Everyday listening environments often contain competing sounds that may interfere with the perception of the signal of interest. With competing speech, listeners often experience informational masking, where the intelligibility and acoustic characteristics (e.g., talker sex differences) of the maskers interfere with understanding of target speech. Across the lifespan, utilization of segregation cues in competing speech is not well understood. Furthermore, there is a dearth of research regarding speech-in-speech recognition across the lifespan in speakers of tonal languages such as Mandarin Chinese.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>Speech recognition thresholds (SRTs) were measured in listeners with age-adjusted normal hearing; the age range of participants was 5 to 74 years old. All participants were native speakers of Mandarin Chinese. SRTs were measured in the presence of two-talker Forward or Reverse speech maskers where the masker sex was the same as or different from the target.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In general, SRTs were highest (poorest) with the Forward same-sex maskers and lowest (best) with the Reverse different-sex maskers. SRT data were analyzed for 5 age groups: child (5 to 9 years), youth (10 to 17 years), adult (18 to 39 years), middle-aged (40 to 59 years), and elderly (60 to 74 years). Overall, SRTs were significantly higher for the child group than for the youth, adult, middle-aged, and elderly groups ( p < 0.05), and significantly higher for the elderly than for the adult group ( p < 0.05). There was a significant interaction among age group, speech direction, and talker sex cues, where SRTs were significantly higher for Forward than for Reverse speech, and significantly higher for same-sex than for different-sex maskers for all age groups ( p < 0.05), except for the child group.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Consistent with previous studies with non-tonal language speakers, the present SRTs with tonal language speakers were best in the adult group and poorest in the child and elderly groups. The child and youth groups demonstrated greater masking release with Reverse speech than with different-sex maskers, while the elderly group exhibited greater release with the different-sex maskers than with Reverse speech. This pattern of results may reflect developmental effects on utilization of talker sex cues in children; in older adults, enhanced top-down processes may compensate for the age-related declines in processing of temporal envelope and temporal fine structure information.</p>","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":"1085-1094"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12207858/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143652100","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Language Complexities for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Individuals in Their Pursuit of a Career in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine: Perspectives From an LSL/ASL User.","authors":"Henry J Adler","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001637","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001637","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A research scientist with 35 years of experience in the field of hearing research, the author writes that his own experiences have provided a perspective that may be valuable for both future d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing (D/HH) individuals and their peers with typical hearing in their pursuit of a career in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine (STEMM). The author first describes the role of Hearing Inclusive-Association for Research in Otolaryngology in enhancing inclusivity and accessibility for D/HH scientists in the field of Hearing Research. Second, the challenges faced by D/HH scientists arise from the difficulties of working with peers with typical hearing, resulting in less inclusivity and accessibility for the D/HH scientists. The next section deals with solutions to these challenges, including American Sign Language interpreters, websites that give advice on inclusivity and accessibility, and technological advances such as assistive listening devices and smartphones with a capacity for auto captioning. The solutions, however, are fraught with issues such as limited budgets and misperception. Fourth, the author argues that the experiences necessary for a career in STEMM may require a higher-than-expected degree of collaboration with peers with typical hearing outside the laboratory. Finally, studies on successful D/HH scientists in STEMM fields should include experiences of obtaining successful research funding.</p>","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":"851-855"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143191084","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}