Ear and Hearing最新文献

{"title":"Variant Reclassification in Underrepresented Minority Children With Sensorineural Hearing Loss.","authors":"Sonia M Scaria, Jacqueline Harris, Noura Ismail Mohamad, Emily Taketa, Yesai Park, Dylan K Chan","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001653","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001653","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Underrepresented minority (URM, comprising Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, and Native American) children with sensorineural hearing loss have fivefold lower odds of receiving a genetic diagnosis after undergoing hearing loss gene-panel testing. Using hearing loss-specific American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG)/Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) guidelines applied to a URM-specific cohort demonstrates the utility of these guidelines in reducing the disparity in diagnostic efficacy of genetic testing for URM populations.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>A total of 2740 variants from 715 patients with sensorineural hearing loss (1275 variants from 348 URM patients) were queried. ACMG variant interpretation guidelines with hearing loss expert specification were used to attempt reclassification of multihit (≥2 occurrences) variants of uncertain significances (VUSs), focusing on case-control analysis relative to ancestry-matched controls and computational prediction.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Before curation, only 198 of the 1275 variants (15.52%) in the URM population were classified as likely pathogenic. Sixty-one multihit VUSs, including variants in OTOG , TJP2 , COL11A2 , and 34 other genes, were probed using hearing loss-specific ACMG/AMP guidelines, resulting in reclassification of 19 variants. For the remaining 42 VUSs, reclassification would require parental testing and segregation analysis. In addition to these VUSs that appeared at least twice in our dataset, many additional VUSs appeared only once, but were extremely rare or absent from ancestry-matched databases and could be reclassified with additional information.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study demonstrates the utility of the application of HL-specific ACMG/AMP classification to specifically URM variants and the dramatic effects it can have on clarifying pathogenicity of VUSs, thus contributing to clinicians' ability to improve the standard of care for URM patients with improved genetic testing accuracy and subsequent early intervention.</p>","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":"1141-1148"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143607250","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":"Early Intervention Influences 9-Year Speech, Language, Cognitive, and Quality-of-Life Outcomes in Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing Children.","authors":"Teresa Y C Ching, Linda Cupples, Mark Seeto, Vicky Zhang, Sanna Hou, Angela Wong, Christopher Flynn, Vivienne Marnane, Greg Leigh, Harvey Dillon","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001657","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001657","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Early identification of congenital deafness enables early intervention, but evidence on the influence of age at fitting of hearing aids (HAs) or cochlear implants (CIs) on outcomes in school-aged children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) is limited. This study (1) described developmental outcomes and health-related quality of life in DHH children; and (2) examined the relationships among demographic factors, including age at fitting of HAs or CIs, and outcomes.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>This prospective cohort study included participants in a population-based study who were followed up at 9 years of age. Children who are DHH and who first received hearing habilitation services before 3 years of age from the government-funded national hearing service provider in the states of New South Wales, Victoria, and Southern Queensland in Australia were invited to enroll in the study. At 9 years of age, enrolled children were assessed using standardized measures of language, cognitive abilities, and speech perception. The children also completed questionnaire ratings on their quality of life. Parents provided demographic information about their child, family, and education; and completed ratings on their child's quality of life. Audiological data were retrieved from the client database of the hearing service provider and records held at CI centers. Descriptive statistics were used to report quantitative outcomes. The relationships among demographic characteristics, including age at fitting of HAs or CIs, and children's outcomes were examined using structural equation modeling.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 367 children, 178 (48.5%) girls, completed assessments at age 9.4 (SD = 0.3) years. On average, performance was within 1 SD of the normative mean for language, cognitive functioning, and health-related quality of life; but much below norms for speech perception. The modeling result is consistent with verbal short-term memory having a mediating effect on multiple outcomes. Better verbal short-term memory is significantly associated with no additional disabilities, earlier age at CI activation, use of an oral communication mode in early intervention, and higher maternal education. In turn, verbal short-term memory directly and positively affects speech perception, language, and health-related quality of life. Maternal education directly and positively affects language outcomes, and indirectly via its effects on nonverbal I.Q. and verbal short-term memory. Better language is directly associated with a better quality of life.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study found evidence consistent with early hearing intervention having a positive effect on speech perception and language via its effect on verbal short-term memory. Children who had better language also had better quality of life. The importance of early hearing for cognitive development lends support to early detection and early hearing int","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":"1174-1188"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12353045/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143588385","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":"Relationships Between Subjective and Objective Measures of Listening Accuracy and Effort in an Online Speech-in-Noise Study.","authors":"Ian M Wiggins, Jemaine E Stacey, Graham Naylor, Gabrielle H Saunders","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001662","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001662","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Speech-in-noise performance is of paramount importance to daily function, and there exists a bewildering array of outcome measures to capture the many dimensions of this concept. The aim of the present study was to provide insight into how different speech-in-noise outcome measures relate to one another, how they behave under different test conditions, and how researchers or practitioners might go about selecting an outcome measure (or measures) depending on the context and focus of their enquiry.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>An online speech-in-noise study was conducted using the Labvanced experimental platform. A total of 67 participants (42 who reported having normal hearing, 25 who said they had some degree of hearing loss) completed the Effort Assessment Scale (a self-reported measure of daily-life listening effort), followed by a sentence recognition task in which BKB sentences were presented in speech-shaped noise at signal to noise ratios (SNRs) of -8, -4, 0, +4, +8, and +20 dB. Participants were instructed to listen to each sentence and then repeat aloud what they heard. Responses were recorded through participants' webcams and later independently scored by 2 research assistants. Several outcome measures were used to tap into both accuracy and listening effort. Specifically, we examined: (1) objective intelligibility (percentage of keywords correctly repeated); (2) subjective intelligibility; (3) subjective listening effort; (4) subjective tendency to give up listening; and (5) verbal response time (VRT) extracted from the audio recordings. Data were analyzed using Bayesian statistical methods.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Hearing loss and age were associated with speech-in-noise outcomes. Specifically, we observed lower intelligibility (objective and subjective), higher subjective listening effort, and longer VRT (time to verbal response onset) in hearing-impaired compared with normal-hearing listeners, and reduced objective intelligibility and longer VRT in older compared with younger listeners. When moving from highly favorable to more adverse listening conditions, subjective listening effort was the first measure to show sensitivity to worsening SNR, followed by subjective intelligibility, objective intelligibility, subjective tendency to give up listening, and, finally, VRT. Participants, especially those with normal hearing, consistently underestimated their own performance.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The present findings offer useful insight into how different subjective and objective measures of listening accuracy and effort respond to variation in hearing status, age, and SNR. Although speech intelligibility remains a measure of primary importance, it is a sensitive measure only under adverse listening conditions, which may not be representative of everyday listening. Under more ecologically relevant listening conditions (generally speaking, at moderate, positive SNRs), listening eff","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":"1197-1209"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12352569/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143675000","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":"Motor Competence in School-Aged Children at Risk of Vestibular Loss: An Overview.","authors":"Ruth Van Hecke, Ingeborg Dhooge, Cleo Dhondt, Sarie Martens, Marieke Sucaet, Saartje Vanaudenaerde, Lotte Rombaut, Els De Leenheer, Helen Van Hoecke, Frederik J A Deconinck, Leen Maes","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001659","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001659","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>On the basis of research and clinical experience, our otorhinolaryngology department developed an extensive protocol including auditory, vestibular, and motor assessments for all children at risk of vestibular disorders. The purpose of this study was to present the outcomes of this clinical protocol in a school-aged population and to provide an overview of the main clinical features and the motor competence of the children at risk of vestibular dysfunctions.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>Data collection for this study took place between October 2017 and October 2021. During this timeframe, all school-aged children (4.0 to 16.9 years old), who were either in follow-up or referred to our otorhinolaryngology department at the Ghent University Hospital because of a risk of vestibular deficits, and who expressed a willingness to participate in the study, were included. Children were deemed at risk if they had (1) vestibular complaints (i.e., vertigo, instability, dizziness), (2) sensorineural hearing loss (with or without cochlear implant[s]), (3) a medical history with ototoxic drugs, (4) inner ear malformations defined by imaging, (5) a head trauma, (6) genetic mutations linked to vestibular loss, or (7) evidence of prior infections that are related to vestibular loss in the literature (e.g., meningitis, congenital cytomegalovirus infection).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Among the 117 participants (59 boys; 7.3 ± 3.1 years), four groups could be identified: those with combined vestibular and hearing loss (n = 47), with isolated vestibular loss (n = 5) or hearing loss (n = 33), and those without audiovestibular deficits (n = 32). Group differences revealed diminished fine motor skills, as well as lower balance and total MABC-2 scores in the group with combined vestibular and auditory dysfunctions ( p < 0.001), particularly in children with severe bilateral vestibular deficits. Moreover, the majority (38/47; 80.9%) were referred for additional monitoring of their motor functioning and/or for physical therapy.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This first large-scale study encompassing school-aged children at risk of vestibular disorders revealed a diverse clinical presentation among them. Considering crucial trends and influential factors, the study emphasized the importance of adopting a comprehensive approach, including auditory, vestibular, and motor tests, for assessing and managing pediatric vestibular concerns, particularly in children with combined vestibular and auditory deficits.</p>","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":"1222-1234"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144027023","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":"Psychophysical and Electrophysiological Measures of Frequency Modulation Sensitivity: Effects of Age and Interaural Modulator Phase.","authors":"John H Grose, Heidi Martini-Stoica, Monica Folkerts, Stacey Kane, Emily Buss","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001671","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001671","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>The purpose of this study was to measure sensitivity to interaurally in-phase and out-of-phase frequency modulation (FM) using parallel behavioral and electrophysiological approaches. The broader goal was to apply these approaches to the assessment of age-related deficits in temporal fine-structure processing. The hypothesis was that the range of modulation rates over which FM detection is superior for out-of-phase modulation, as well as the magnitude of benefit, diminishes with age due to reduced fidelity of temporal fine-structure processing.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>Participants were 63 adults with good audiometric hearing for their age divided equally into 3 age groups of young (mean = 23 years), middle-aged (mean = 47 years), and older (mean = 70 years) listeners. FM detection thresholds for stimuli carried by a nominally 500-Hz tone were measured for interaurally in-phase and out-of-phase modulators having rates ranging from 4 to 32 Hz. The rationale for restricting carrier and modulator frequencies to low rates was to focus on the benefit provided by interaurally out-of-phase modulators as a gauge of temporal fine-structure processing. The electrophysiological acoustic change complex (ACC) was also measured in the same participants for a subset of these modulation rates where the depth of modulation was fixed at 3 Hz. The ACC was quantified using an intertrial phase coherence metric.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>For in-phase modulation, there was minimal change in FM detection threshold across the range of modulation rates, and no effects of age. For out-of-phase modulation, thresholds were markedly lower for low rates and increased (became poorer) monotonically as rate increased. For the 2 older age groups, thresholds for the 2 modulator phases converged by 32 Hz. Young participants performed consistently better than the participants in the 2 older groups for the out-of-phase configurations. The ACC was most robust for low-rate, out-of-phase modulation and diminished systematically as rate increased in all participants. No ACC was observed for the highest rate of 32 Hz. The older listeners had consistently poorer ACC responses across all rates. Correlations between behavioral and electrophysiological metrics were small, but significant, for rates of 8, 16, and 24 Hz.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The results support the hypothesis of diminishing temporal fine-structure processing as a function of age. For behavioral FM detection, middle-age and older adults had poorer thresholds for out-of-phase FM than young adults, with functions for in- and out-of-phase FM converging at a lower rate. For the ACC test, this was demonstrated by reduced intertrial phase coherences in the older participants. Although there were general similarities between the behavioral and electrophysiological data patterns, some differences were observed, and further study is required to clarify underlying mechanism(s). The","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":"1295-1304"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144035977","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":"Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex Dysconjugacy Associated With Central Cause of Dizziness.","authors":"Anand K Bery, Ying-Chi Hong, Yu-Hung Kuo, Tzu-Pu Chang","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001663","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001663","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Most current video head impulse test (vHIT) systems take monocular recordings, which is sufficient to identify a peripheral vestibulopathy. Given central ocular motor abnormalities can cause dysconjugacy between the eyes, binocular vHIT may help further identify central/dangerous lesions. Here, we examined the utility of binocular vHIT to differentiate central from peripheral vestibulopathy.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>We enrolled three groups: healthy volunteers, consecutive patients with peripheral vestibulopathy, and consecutive patients with central vestibulopathy, respectively. All subjects underwent binocular vHIT, with vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) gains of each eye recorded individually. We calculated various measures of VOR gain conjugacy, including intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), the VOR difference (VORD), and the VOR ratio between the two eyes. The absolute values of VORD (|VORD|) were compared across groups.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We enrolled 48 healthy controls, 37 patients with peripheral vestibulopathy, and 17 patients with central vestibulopathy. In rightward impulses, the ICC was 0.89 in controls, 0.98 in the peripheral group, and 0.78 in the central group. In leftward impulses, the ICC was 0.76 in controls, 0.93 in the peripheral group, and 0.71 in the central group. The |VORD| was higher in the central group (mean ± SD: 0.12 ± 0.16) compared to the peripheral group (0.05 ± 0.04, p = 0.02) and healthy controls (0.05 ± 0.03, p = 0.02).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Binocular vHIT can measure the VOR gain consistency between two eyes. A finding of high-degree VOR inconsistency should increase clinical suspicion for central vestibulopathy.</p>","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":"1247-1253"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144053386","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 Implantation Is Associated With Reduced Incidence of Dementia in Severe Hearing Loss.","authors":"Hee Won Seo, Soorack Ryu, Sang-Yoon Han, Seung Hwan Lee, Jae Ho Chung","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001660","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001660","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Hearing loss is recognized as a potentially modifiable risk factor for dementia in midlife. This study aimed to investigate the association between rehabilitation methods and dementia risk in patients with severe to profound hearing loss.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>Using the nationwide population data from South Korea, individuals with severe to profound hearing loss were identified. Individuals aged 40 to 79 were then divided into 3 groups according to the type of auditory rehabilitation they received in the period between 2005 and 2010, namely cochlear implant (CI), hearing aid (HA), or no rehabilitation (NR). No hearing loss (NHL) group (with normal hearing) consisted of individuals without hearing loss. Dementia incidence was followed up to 2022.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The study involved 649 individuals in the CI group, 35,076 in the HA, 16,494 in the NR, and 1,280,788 in the NHL group. The groups that received auditory rehabilitation (HA and CI groups) had a significantly reduced risk of dementia compared with the NR group, with the CI group showing the most pronounced reduction. The CI group demonstrated a lower risk of dementia than the HA group and had a similar dementia risk to the NHL group.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>In individuals with severe to profound hearing loss, rates of dementia were lower in CI users than in HA users. Moreover, the risk of dementia in those undergoing CI surgery is comparable to that of individuals with normal hearing.</p>","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":"1189-1196"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143813046","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":"Social Predictors of Hearing Aid Purchase: Do Stigma, Social Network Composition, Social Support, and Loneliness Matter?","authors":"Gurjit Singh, Huiwen Goy, Kay Wright-Whyte, Alison L Chasteen, M Kathleen Pichora-Fuller","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001656","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001656","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>The purpose of this study was to evaluate the extent to which four different social factors (stigma, social network composition, social support, and loneliness) predict the purchase of hearing aids in a sample of older adults with impaired hearing who had not previously tried hearing aids and visited a hearing care clinic for the first time.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>Data collection took place across 130 different hearing care clinics (Connect Hearing) in Canada. A total of 4630 participants were recruited for the study from notices in the waiting rooms of the clinics or by advertising in local newspapers. The final sample consisted of 753 adults (mean age = 69.2 years; SD = 9.0; 57.4% male) who were all recommended to try hearing aids. Clinical records were tracked for a minimum of 3 months and a maximum of 15 months after the appointment to determine if they obtained hearing aids. Participants completed a 56-item questionnaire before their appointment and then experienced standard care at the clinic (i.e., hearing evaluation, hearing rehabilitation if desired, etc.). Key factors assessed by the questionnaire included stigma related to age, stigma related to hearing aids, social network composition, perceived levels of social support, loneliness, self-reported hearing disability, and demographic information.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Data were analyzed using two methods, a penalized logistic regression and a classification tree analysis, to identify statistical predictors and meaningful clinical cutoff scores, respectively. Both models found that hearing aid adoption was best predicted by being older and having greater self-reported hearing disability. Hearing aid uptake was also predicted by social factors, but these predictors were less robust than age and self-reported hearing disability. Participants were more likely to adopt hearing aids if they reported less hearing aid stigma and had a social network that included at least 1 person with a suspected hearing loss. Loneliness and social support did not predict hearing aid adoption. Some model-specific variables also emerged.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Using a prospective research design, the study provides novel quantitative evidence of the role of different social factors regarding the uptake of hearing aids. The research findings may be used to better identify individuals more and less likely to obtain hearing aids, inform hearing rehabilitation, and motivate the use of interventions designed to lessen the impact of stigma on hearing rehabilitation.</p>","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":"1149-1163"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12352571/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143733299","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":"On the Difficulty of Defining Duration of Deafness for Adults With Cochlear Implants.","authors":"Rebecca Kelly, Anna R Tinnemore, Nicole Nguyen, Matthew J Goupell","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001666","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001666","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The amount of time that a person with a cochlear implant experiences severe-to-profound hearing loss before implantation is thought to impact the underlying neural survival, health, and function of the auditory system, thus likely being closely related to post-implantation performance in auditory tasks. The reporting of this number in the research literature is ubiquitous. Although it is most commonly called \"duration of deafness,\" our point of view is that the term is imprecise and the calculation of this number can be nontrivial, particularly for cases of adult onset of hearing loss. We provide suggestions on changing the terminology to \"duration of severe-to-profound hearing loss.\" We also propose a method of determining this number through a series of questions that leads a participant/patient through their progression of hearing loss. We encourage research methodology that requires researchers to explicitly report the process used to determine the duration of severe-to-profound hearing loss with the overall goals of (1) improving rigor and reproducibility in cochlear-implant research and (2) improving the translation between research findings and clinical recommendations.</p>","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":"1125-1129"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12353471/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144058911","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":"Assessing Array-Type Differences in Cochlear Implant Users Using the Panoramic ECAP Method.","authors":"Charlotte Garcia, Robert P Carlyon","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001673","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001673","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Cochlear implant companies manufacture devices with different electrode array types. Some arrays have a straight geometry designed for minimal neuronal trauma, while others are precurved and designed to position the electrodes closer to the cochlear neurons. Due to their differing geometries, it is possible that the arrays are not only positioned differently inside the cochlea but also produce different patterns of the spread of current and of neural excitation. The panoramic electrically evoked compound action potential method (PECAP) provides detailed estimates of peripheral neural responsiveness and current spread for individual patients along the length of the cochlea. These estimates were assessed as a function of electrode position and array type, providing a normative dataset useful for identifying unusual patterns in individual patients.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>ECAPs were collected from cochlear implant users using the forward-masking artifact-reduction technique for every combination of masker and probe electrode at the most comfortable level. Data were available for 91 ears using Cochlear devices, and 53 ears using Advanced Bionics devices. The Cochlear users had straight arrays (Slim Straight, CI-22 series, n = 35), or 1 of 2 precurved arrays (Contour Advance, CI-12 series, n = 43, or Slim Modiolar, CI-32 series, n = 13). Computed tomography scans were also available for 41 of them, and electrode-modiolus distances were calculated. The Advanced Bionics users had 1 of 2 straight arrays (1J, n = 9 or SlimJ, n = 20), or precurved arrays (Helix, n = 4 or Mid-Scala, n = 20). The ECAPs were submitted to the PECAP algorithm to estimate current spread and neural responsiveness along the length of the electrode array for each user. A linear mixed-effects model was used to determine whether there were statistically significant differences between different array types and/or for different electrodes, both for the PECAP estimates of current spread and neural responsiveness, as well as for the available electrode-modiolus distances. Correlations were also conducted between PECAP's estimate of current spread and the electrode-modiolus distances.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>For Cochlear users, significant effects of array type ( p = 0.001) and of electrode ( p < 0.001) were found on the PECAP's current-spread estimate, as well as a significant interaction ( p = 0.006). Slim Straight arrays had a wider overall current spread than both the precurved arrays (Contour Advance and Slim Modiolar). The interaction revealed the strongest effect at the apex. A significant correlation between PECAP's current-spread estimate and the electrode-modiolus distances was also found across subjects ( r = 0.516, p < 0.001). No effect of array type was found on PECAP's estimate of current spread for the Advanced Bionics users ( p = 0.979).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>These results suggest that for users of the Cochlear ","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":"1355-1368"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7617747/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144120705","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}