Ear and Hearing最新文献

{"title":"Health Service Use in Children With Mild Bilateral and Unilateral Hearing Loss.","authors":"Elizabeth M Fitzpatrick, Eunjung Na, Marie Pigeon, Janet Olds, Lamia Hayawi, Nick Barrowman, Bahar Rafinejad-Farahani, Doug Coyle, Isabelle Gaboury, Andrée Durieux-Smith, Flora Nassrallah, JoAnne Whittingham","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001661","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/AUD.0000000000001661","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>The number of children identified early with mild bilateral and unilateral hearing loss (MUHL) has increased over the past 3 decades due to population-based newborn hearing screening initiatives. Early identification involves additional hearing-related services for these children in the early years. Despite the growing number of children, little information exists regarding their use of health care services. We examined overall health care utilization for this population of children with hearing loss in a Canadian pediatric center as well as the factors associated with audiology and early intervention service utilization.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>As part of a longitudinal MUHL research program, we examined health care utilization in a population-based cohort of 182 children with MUHL who were identified in one Canadian pediatric center from 2014 to 2018 and followed up to 6 years. Audiologic characteristics were collected prospectively, and health care utilization data were collected retrospectively through administrative databases. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize health care encounters. We used negative binomial regression models to examine the relationship between several clinical factors including age of diagnosis, degree, and laterality (unilateral/mild bilateral) of hearing loss, use of hearing technology, developmental concerns, and services used in audiology and early intervention.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The 182 children were diagnosed at a median age of 4.1 months (interquartile range: 1.9, 55.7) and mean follow-up time was 48.6 (SD: 20.0) months. A total of 9867 hospital encounters were recorded in the medical chart including 2247 audiology, 3429 early intervention, and 701 Ear Nose and Throat service encounters. For audiology services, health care utilization (rate of visits per month of follow-up) was related to whether hearing loss was mild bilateral or unilateral, use of hearing aid(s), progressive hearing loss, developmental concerns, and age of diagnosis. Children with mild bilateral hearing loss had 68% more visits compared with children with unilateral hearing loss. Children with hearing aid(s) had 86%more visits than those without amplification. During the study period, 68.1% of children had at least one early intervention visit. In multivariable regression, after controlling for time followed, earlier age at diagnosis, bilateral hearing loss, use of hearing aid(s), progressive hearing loss, more severe hearing loss, and developmental concerns were all significantly associated with more early intervention service utilization.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our findings provide a comprehensive profile of hearing-related services provided to a population-based cohort of early-identified children with MUHL. Children with mild bilateral loss required more audiology services than those with unilateral hearing loss. Two-thirds of the children with MUHL utilized some ear","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144046747","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":"Rapid Increases in Children's Spontaneous and Responsive Speech Vocalizations Following Cochlear Implantation: Implications for Spoken Language Development.","authors":"Margaret Cychosz, Chiara Scarpelli, Jihyun Stephans, Ana Marija Sola, Kayla Kolhede, Rebecca Ramirez, Erin Christianson, Vincci Chan, Dylan K Chan","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001646","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/AUD.0000000000001646","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Cochlear implants are the most effective means to provide access to spoken language models for children with severe to profound deafness. In typical development, spoken language emerges gradually as children vocally explore and interact with caregivers. But it is unclear how early vocal activity unfolds after children gain access to auditory signals, and thus spoken language, via cochlear implants, and how this early vocal exploration predicts children's spoken language development. This longitudinal study investigated how two formative aspects of early language-child speech productivity and caregiver-child vocal interactions-develop following cochlear implantation, and how these aspects impact children's spoken language outcomes.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>Data were collected via small wearable recorders that measured caregiver-child communication in the home pre- and for up to 3 years post-implantation (N = 25 children, average = 167 hours/child, 4,180 total hours of observation over an average of 11 unique days/child). Spoken language outcomes were measured using the Preschool Language Scales-5. Growth trajectories were compared with a normative sample of children with typical hearing (N = 329).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Even before implantation, all children vocalized and vocally interacted with caregivers. Following implantation, child speech productivity (β = 9.67, p < 0.001) and caregiver-child vocal interactions (β = 12.65, p < 0.001) increased significantly faster for children with implants than younger, hearing age-matched typical hearing controls, with the fastest growth occurring in the time following implant activation. There were significant, positive effects of caregiver-child interaction on children's receptive, but not expressive, spoken language outcomes.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Overall, children who receive cochlear implants experience robust growth in speech production and vocal interaction-crucial components underlying spoken language-and they follow a similar, albeit faster, developmental timeline as children with typical hearing. Regular vocal interaction with caregivers in the first 1 to 2 years post-implantation reliably predicts children's comprehension of spoken language above and beyond known predictors such as age at implantation.</p>","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144042110","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 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":"https://doi.org/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":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","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":"","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":"https://doi.org/10.1097/AUD.0000000000001671","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Objectives: &lt;/strong&gt;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.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Design: &lt;/strong&gt;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.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Results: &lt;/strong&gt;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.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusions: &lt;/strong&gt;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":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-18","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":"Effect of Attitudes Toward Hearing Loss and Hearing Aids on the Risk of Device Abandonment Among Older Adults With Hearing Loss Fitted in the Chilean Public Health Sector.","authors":"Eduardo Fuentes-López, Javier Galaz-Mella, Carrie L Nieman, Manuel Luna-Monsalve, Anthony Marcotti","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001669","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/AUD.0000000000001669","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Objectives: &lt;/strong&gt;The World Health Organization estimates that 25% of older adults worldwide have disabling hearing loss. Although hearing aids are the conventional management strategy for this condition, the rate of abandonment of these devices is high. Complete abandonment of the device can expose individuals to the negative consequences of untreated hearing loss. Although previous studies have examined the effect of attitudes on hearing aid abandonment, they have not investigated the time over which abandonment occurs. Consequently, previous evidence has not explored whether attitudes toward hearing loss and hearing aids are associated with the speed (i.e., hazard) at which individuals abandon their hearing aids over time. Our primary objective was to determine the effect of attitudes toward hearing loss and hearing aids on both the risk and timing of hearing aid abandonment. A secondary objective was to assess the potential effect of attitudes toward hearing loss and hearing aids on changes in social participation and withdrawal from social activities.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Design: &lt;/strong&gt;We conducted a retrospective cohort study involving 355 patients who received hearing aids from a Chilean public hospital. Device abandonment over time was assessed by asking the patients about the specific month of hearing aid abandonment. Attitudes toward hearing loss and hearing aids were measured using the Spanish version of the Attitudes towards Loss of Hearing Questionnaire (S-ALHQ), while changes in participation and withdrawal from social activities were assessed using the Glasgow Benefit Inventory questionnaire. Univariate and multivariate flexible parametric models were developed to estimate the hazard ratio of hearing aid abandonment over time, with attitudes toward hearing loss and hearing aids as the primary predictors. Furthermore, multivariate multinomial regression models were constructed to evaluate the relationship between attitudes and changes or withdrawal from social activities.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Results: &lt;/strong&gt;The cumulative incidence of hearing aid abandonment was approximately 21%. The median score on the S-ALHQ was 2.45 points (25th to 75th percentile: 2.05 to 2.77). In the flexible parametric survival models, for each average point increase on the S-ALHQ questionnaire, there was a twofold increase in the risk of hearing aid abandonment over time (Hazard Ratio = 2.09; 95% Confidence Interval = 1.30 to 3.40). In addition, an association was found between attitudes and withdrawal from social activities, with a 5.5-fold increase in the risk ratio for withdrawal from social activities (Relative-Risk Ratio = 5.53; 95% Confidence Interval = 1.49 to 20.56).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusions: &lt;/strong&gt;More negative attitudes toward hearing loss and hearing aids were associated with an increased risk of hearing aid abandonment over time, and an increased risk of withdrawal from social activities. Thus, attitudes toward hearing loss and hearing","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144053169","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":"https://doi.org/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":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-09","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":"Machine Learning Feasibility in Cochlear Implant Speech Perception Outcomes-Moving Beyond Single Biomarkers for Cochlear Implant Performance Prediction.","authors":"Matthew A Shew, Cole Pavelchek, Andrew Michelson, Amanda Ortmann, Shannon Lefler, Amit Walia, Nedim Durakovic, Alisa Phillips, Ayna Rejepova, Jacques A Herzog, Phillip Payne, Jay F Piccirillo, Craig A Buchman","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001664","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/AUD.0000000000001664","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Objectives: &lt;/strong&gt;Machine learning (ML) is an emerging discipline centered around complex pattern matching and large data-based prediction modeling and can improve precision medicine healthcare. Cochlear implants (CI) are highly effective, however, outcomes vary widely, and accurately predicting speech perception performance outcomes between patients remains a challenge. This study aims to evaluate the ability of ML to predict speech perception performance among CI recipients at 6-month post-implantation using only preoperative variables on one of the largest CI datasets to date, with an emphasis placed on identification of poor performers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Design: &lt;/strong&gt;All patients enrolled in the national CI outcome tracking database, HERMES, and the institutional CI registry. Data were split 90/10 training/testing with hyperparameter tuning designed to optimize AUPRC performed during 10-fold cross-validation within 100 iterations. Multiple models were developed to predict final and delta (Δ) in consonant-nucleus-consonant (CNC) words and AzBio sentences at 6-month post-implantation. Two metrics, (1) final performance scores and (2) equally distributed 20th percentile performance ranking were used as primary outcomes. All models were compared with currently used \"gold standard,\" defined as linear or logistic regression models leveraging Lazard features (LF). Final metrics for comparison included mean absolute error (MAE), calibration curves, heat accuracy maps, area under the receiver operating curve (AUROC), and F1 score.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Results: &lt;/strong&gt;A total of 1877 patients were assessed through an ML pipeline. (1) XGBoost (XGB) predicted CNC with MAE of 17.4% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 17.34 to 17.53%) and AzBio with MAE of 20.39% (95% CI: 20.28 to 20.50%) and consistently outperformed linear regression with LF (CNC MAE 18.36% [95% CI: 18.25 to 18.47]; AzBio 21.62 [95% CI: 21.49 to 21.74]). Although statistically significant, the 1 to 2% boost of performance is clinically insignificant. (2) Predicting quintiles/20th percentile categories for CI performance, XGB outperformed logistic regression (Log-LF) across all metrics. XGB demonstrated superior calibration compared with Log-LF and provided a larger proportion of predicted probabilities predictions at the extremes (e.g., 0.1 or 0.9). XGB outperformed Log-LF predicting ≤40th percentile for CNC (AUROC: 0.708 versus 0.594; precision: 0.708 versus 0.596; F1 score: 0.708 versus 0.592) and AzBio (AUROC: 0.709 versus 0.572; precision: 0.710 versus 0.572; F1 score: 0.709 versus 0.572). This was consistent for ΔCNC and ΔAzBio. Last, accuracy heat maps demonstrated superior performance of XGB in stratifying sub-phenotypes/categories of CI performance compared with Log-LF.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusions: &lt;/strong&gt;This study demonstrates how ML models can offer superior performance in CI speech perception outcomes prediction modeling compared with current gold standard (Lazard-linear ","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143784642","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":"Investigating the Role of Working Patterns in Tinnitus: Results From a Large UK Population.","authors":"Yao Song, Wendu Pang, Xiaohong Yan, Yaxin Luo, Yufang Rao, Ke Qiu, Minzi Mao, Di Deng, Junhong Li, Danni Cheng, Wei Xu, Jianjun Ren, Yu Zhao","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001654","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/AUD.0000000000001654","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>This study aimed to examine the association of different working patterns and tinnitus.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>This cross-sectional study (2006-2010, n = 91,089) was a secondary analysis of existing data from the UK Biobank. It exploratorily evaluated the association between various working patterns, including shift work (day workers/sometimes/frequent), night shift work (day workers/rarely/sometimes/frequent), heavy work (never/sometimes/usually/always), work satisfaction (very happy/moderately happy/moderately unhappy/very unhappy), standing work (never/sometimes/usually/always) and workplace noise (no/exposing <1 year/1 to 5 years/>5 years) and the occurrence (yes/no), frequency (constant/transient) and severity (troublesome/not troublesome) of tinnitus. Univariate and multivariable logistic regression analysis models were conducted. Sub-analysis was performed to estimate the effects of age, sex, and different working factors on tinnitus.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The study results showed that occasional shift and night shift were associated with an increased risk of tinnitus, while frequent shift/night shift showed no such association. This risk was further exacerbated by increased heavy work, prolonged standing work, lower job satisfaction, and extended exposure to noisy workplaces. Specifically, being occasionally engaged in shift/night shift, increasing workload, and short-term noise exposure (<1 year) were correlated with \"transient tinnitus,\" while long-time noise exposure (>5 years) was identified as a significant risk factor for \"constant tinnitus.\" Lower work satisfaction and noise exposure for more than 1 year were positively associated with \"troublesome tinnitus.\"</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Irregular working shifts, increasing physical workload, lower work satisfaction, and longer noise exposure were related to the occurrence, frequency, and severity of tinnitus in the UK Biobank cohort. Therefore, targeted interventions aimed at improving working patterns may help prevent tinnitus.</p>","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143765613","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":"https://doi.org/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":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","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":"","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":"https://doi.org/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":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-27","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}