Ear and Hearing最新文献

{"title":"Balance Control Impairments in Usher Syndrome.","authors":"Ana Margarida Amorim, Ana Beatriz Ramada, Ana Cristina Lopes, João Lemos, João Carlos Ribeiro","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001558","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001558","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>To explore postural disability in Usher Syndrome (USH) patients using temporal posturographic analysis to better elucidate sensory compensation strategies of deafblind patients for posture control and correlate the Activities-specific Balance Confidence (ABC) scale with posturographic variables.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>Thirty-four genetically confirmed USH patients (11 USH1, 21 USH2, 2 USH 4) from the Otolaryngology Outpatient Clinic and 35 controls were prospectively studied using both classical and wavelet temporal analysis of center of pressure (CoP) under different visual conditions on static and dynamic platforms. The functional impact of balance was assessed with the ABC scale. Classical data in the spatial domain, Sensorial Organization Test, and frequency analysis of the CoP were analyzed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>On unstable surfaces, USH1 had greater CoP surface area with eyes open (38.51 ± 68.67) and closed (28.14 ± 31.64) versus controls (3.31 ± 4.60), p < 0.001 and (7.37 ± 7.91), p < 0.001, respectively. On an unstable platform, USH consistently showed increased postural sway, with elevated angular velocity versus controls with eyes open (USH1 [44.94 ± 62.54]; USH2 [55.64 ± 38.61]; controls [13.4 ± 8.57]) ( p = 0.003; p < 0.001) and closed (USH1 [60.36 ± 49.85], USH2 [57.62 ± 42.36]; controls [27.31 ± 19.79]) ( p = 0.002; p = 0.042). USH visual impairment appears to be the primary factor influencing postural deficits, with a statistically significant difference observed in the visual Sensorial Organization Test ratio for USH1 (80.73 ± 40.07, p = 0.04) and a highly significant difference for USH2 (75.48 ± 31.67, p < 0.001) versus controls (100). In contrast, vestibular ( p = 0.08) and somatosensory ( p = 0.537) factors did not reach statistical significance. USH exhibited lower visual dependence than controls (30.31 ± 30.08) (USH1 [6 ± 11.46], p = 0.004; USH2 [8 ± 14.15], p = 0.005). The postural instability index, that corresponds to the ratio of spectral power index and canceling time, differentiated USH from controls on unstable surface with eyes open USH1 (3.33 ± 1.85) p < 0.001; USH2 (3.87 ± 1.05) p < 0.002; controls (1.91 ± 0.85) and closed USH1 (3.91 ± 1.65) p = 0.005; USH2 (3.92 ± 1.05) p = 0.045; controls (2.74 ± 1.27), but not USH1 from USH2. The canceling time in the anteroposterior direction in lower zone distinguished USH subtypes on stable surface with optokinetic USH1 (0.88 ± 1.03), USH2 (0.29 ± 0.23), p = 0.026 and on unstable surface with eyes open USH1 (0.56 ± 1.26), USH2 (0.072 ± 0.09), p = 0.036. ABC scale could distinguish between USH patients and controls, but not between USH subtypes and it correlated with CoP surface area on unstable surface with eyes open only in USH1( ρ = 0.714, p = 0.047).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>USH patients, particularly USH1, exhibited poorer balance control than controls on unstable platform with eyes open and appeared to rely mor","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":"44-52"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141762794","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 Sound Genre on Emotional Responses for Adults With and Without Hearing Loss.","authors":"Steven C Marcrum, Lori Rakita, Erin M Picou","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001561","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001561","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Adults with permanent hearing loss exhibit a reduced range of valence ratings in response to nonspeech sounds; however, the degree to which sound genre might affect such ratings is unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine if ratings of valence covary with sound genre (e.g., social communication, technology, music), or only expected valence (pleasant, neutral, unpleasant).</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>As part of larger study protocols, participants rated valence and arousal in response to nonspeech sounds. For this study, data were reanalyzed by assigning sounds to unidimensional genres and evaluating relationships between hearing loss, age, and gender and ratings of valence. In total, results from 120 adults with normal hearing (M = 46.3 years, SD = 17.7, 33 males and 87 females) and 74 adults with hearing loss (M = 66.1 years, SD = 6.1, 46 males and 28 females) were included.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Principal component analysis confirmed valence ratings loaded onto eight unidimensional factors: positive and negative social communication, positive and negative technology, music, animal, activities, and human body noises. Regression analysis revealed listeners with hearing loss rated some genres as less extreme (less pleasant/less unpleasant) than peers with better hearing, with the relationship between hearing loss and valence ratings being similar across genres within an expected valence category. In terms of demographic factors, female gender was associated with less pleasant ratings of negative social communication, positive and negative technology, activities, and human body noises, while increasing age was related to a subtle rise in valence ratings across all genres.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Taken together, these results confirm and extend previous findings that hearing loss is related to a reduced range of valence ratings and suggest that this effect is mediated by expected sound valence, rather than sound genre.</p>","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":"34-43"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141918188","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 Inter-Phase Gap Offset Effect as a Measure of Neural Health in Cochlear Implant Users With Residual Acoustic Hearing.","authors":"Leanne Sijgers, Christof Röösli, Rahel Bertschinger, Lorenz Epprecht, Dorothe Veraguth, Adrian Dalbert, Alexander Huber, Flurin Pfiffner","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001556","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001556","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>The inter-phase gap (IPG) offset effect is defined as the dB offset between the linear parts of electrically evoked compound action potential (ECAP) amplitude growth functions for two stimuli differing only in IPG. The method was recently suggested to represent neural health in cochlear implant (CI) users while being unaffected by CI electrode impedances. Hereby, a larger IPG offset effect should reflect better neural health. The aims of the present study were to (1) examine whether the IPG offset effect negatively correlates with the ECAP threshold and the preoperative pure-tone average (PTA) in CI recipients with residual acoustic hearing and (2) investigate the dependency of the IPG offset effect on hair cell survival and intracochlear electrode impedances.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>Seventeen adult study participants with residual acoustic hearing at 500 Hz undergoing CI surgery at the University Hospital of Zurich were prospectively enrolled. ECAP thresholds, IPG offset effects, electrocochleography (ECochG) responses to 500 Hz tone bursts, and monopolar electrical impedances were obtained at an apical, middle, and basal electrode set during and between 4 and 12 weeks after CI surgery. Pure-tone audiometry was conducted within 3 weeks before surgery and approximately 6 weeks after surgery. Linear mixed regression analyses and t tests were performed to assess relationships between (changes in) ECAP threshold, IPG offset, impedance, PTA, and ECochG amplitude.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The IPG offset effect positively correlated with the ECAP threshold in intraoperative recordings ( p < 0.001) and did not significantly correlate with the preoperative PTA ( p = 0.999). The IPG offset showed a postoperative decrease for electrode sets that showed an ECochG amplitude drop. This IPG offset decrease was significantly larger than for electrode sets that showed no ECochG amplitude decrease, t (17) = 2.76, p = 0.014. Linear mixed regression analysis showed no systematic effect of electrode impedance changes on the IPG offset effect ( p = 0.263) but suggested a participant-dependent effect of electrode impedance on IPG offset.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The present study results did not reveal the expected relationships between the IPG offset effect and ECAP threshold values or between the IPG offset effect and preoperative acoustic hearing. Changes in electrode impedance did not exhibit a direct impact on the IPG offset effect, although this impact might be individualized among CI recipients. Overall, our findings suggest that the interpretation and application of the IPG offset effect in clinical settings should be approached with caution considering its complex relationships with other cochlear and neural health metrics.</p>","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":"83-97"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11637583/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141762795","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":"Developing a Framework for Industrial Noise Risk Management Based on Noise Kurtosis and Its Adjustment.","authors":"Meibian Zhang, Anke Zeng, Hua Zou, Jiarui Xin, Shibiao Su, Wei Qiu, Xin Sun","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001571","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001571","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Noise risk control or management based on noise level has been documented, but noise risk management based on a combination of noise level and noise's temporal structure is rarely reported. This study aimed to develop a framework for industrial noise risk management based on noise kurtosis (reflecting noise's temporal structure) and its adjustment for the noise level.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>A total of 2805 Chinese manufacturing workers were investigated using a cross-sectional survey. The noise exposure data of each subject included L EX,8h , cumulative noise exposure (CNE), kurtosis, and kurtosis-adjusted L EX,8h (L EX,8h -K). Noise-induced permanent threshold shifts were estimated at 3, 4, and 6 kHz frequencies (NIPTS 346 ) and 1, 2, 3, and 4 kHz frequencies (NIPTS 1234 ). The prevalence of high-frequency noise-induced hearing loss prevalence (HFNIHL%) and noise-induced hearing impairment (NIHI%) were determined. Risk 346 or Risk 1234 was predicted using the ISO 1999 or NIOSH 1998 model. A noise risk management framework based on kurtosis and its adjustment was developed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Kurtosis could identify the noise type; Kurtosis combining noise levels could identify the homogeneous noise exposure group (HNEG) among workers. Noise kurtosis was a risk factor of HFNIHL or NIHI with an adjusted odds ratio of 1.57 or 1.52 ( p < 0.01). At a similar CNE level, the NIPTS 346 , HFNIHL%, NIPTS 1234 , or NIHI% increased with increasing kurtosis. A nonlinear regression equation (expressed by logistic function) could rebuild a reliable dose-effect relationship between L EX,8h -K and NIPTS 346 at the 70 to 95 dB(A) noise level range. After the kurtosis adjustment, the median L EX,8h was increased by 5.45 dB(A); the predicted Risk 346 and Risk 1234 were increased by 11.2 and 9.5%, respectively; NIPTS 346 -K of complex noise at exposure level <80, 80 to 85, and 85 to 90 dB(A), determined from the nonlinear regression equation, was almost the same as the Gaussian noise. Risk management measures could be recommended based on the exposure risk rating or the kurtosis-adjusted action levels (e.g., the lower and upper action levels were 80 and 85 dB(A), respectively).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The kurtosis and its adjustment for noise levels can be used to develop an occupational health risk management framework for industrial noise. More human studies are needed to verify the risk management framework.</p>","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":"196-209"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11637571/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142141860","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":"Evaluating Changes in Adult Cochlear Implant Users' Brain and Behavior Following Auditory Training.","authors":"Eun Kyung Jeon, Virginia Driscoll, Bruna S Mussoi, Rachel Scheperle, Emily Guthe, Kate Gfeller, Paul J Abbas, Carolyn J Brown","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001569","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001569","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>To describe the effects of two types of auditory training on both behavioral and physiological measures of auditory function in cochlear implant (CI) users, and to examine whether a relationship exists between the behavioral and objective outcome measures.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>This study involved two experiments, both of which used a within-subject design. Outcome measures included behavioral and cortical electrophysiological measures of auditory processing. In Experiment I, 8 CI users participated in a music-based auditory training. The training program included both short training sessions completed in the laboratory as well as a set of 12 training sessions that participants completed at home over the course of a month. As part of the training program, study participants listened to a range of different musical stimuli and were asked to discriminate stimuli that differed in pitch or timbre and to identify melodic changes. Performance was assessed before training and at three intervals during and after training was completed. In Experiment II, 20 CI users participated in a more focused auditory training task: the detection of spectral ripple modulation depth. Training consisted of a single 40-minute session that took place in the laboratory under the supervision of the investigators. Behavioral and physiologic measures of spectral ripple modulation depth detection were obtained immediately pre- and post-training. Data from both experiments were analyzed using mixed linear regressions, paired t tests, correlations, and descriptive statistics.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In Experiment I, there was a significant improvement in behavioral measures of pitch discrimination after the study participants completed the laboratory and home-based training sessions. There was no significant effect of training on electrophysiologic measures of the auditory N1-P2 onset response and acoustic change complex (ACC). There were no significant relationships between electrophysiologic measures and behavioral outcomes after the month-long training. In Experiment II, there was no significant effect of training on the ACC, although there was a small but significant improvement in behavioral spectral ripple modulation depth thresholds after the short-term training.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study demonstrates that auditory training improves spectral cue perception in CI users, with significant perceptual gains observed despite cortical electrophysiological responses like the ACC not reliably predicting training benefits across short- and long-term interventions. Future research should further explore individual factors that may lead to greater benefit from auditory training, in addition to optimization of training protocols and outcome measures, as well as demonstrate the generalizability of these findings.</p>","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":"150-162"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11649490/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141753429","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":"Touch Helps Hearing: Evidence From Continuous Audio-Tactile Stimulation.","authors":"Xueying Fu, Fren T Y Smulders, Lars Riecke","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001566","DOIUrl":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001566","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Identifying target sounds in challenging environments is crucial for daily experiences. It is important to note that it can be enhanced by nonauditory stimuli, for example, through lip-reading in an ongoing conversation. However, how tactile stimuli affect auditory processing is still relatively unclear. Recent studies have shown that brief tactile stimuli can reliably facilitate auditory perception, while studies using longer-lasting audio-tactile stimulation yielded conflicting results. This study aimed to investigate the impact of ongoing pulsating tactile stimulation on basic auditory processing.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>In experiment 1, the electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded while 24 participants performed a loudness-discrimination task on a 4-Hz modulated tone-in-noise and received either in-phase, anti-phase, or no 4-Hz electrotactile stimulation above the median nerve. In experiment 2, another 24 participants were presented with the same tactile stimulation as before, but performed a tone-in-noise detection task while their selective auditory attention was manipulated.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We found that in-phase tactile stimulation enhanced EEG responses to the tone, whereas anti-phase tactile stimulation suppressed these responses. No corresponding tactile effects on loudness-discrimination performance were observed in experiment 1. Using a yes/no paradigm in experiment 2, we found that in-phase tactile stimulation, but not anti-phase tactile stimulation, improved detection thresholds. Selective attention also improved thresholds but did not modulate the observed benefit from in-phase tactile stimulation.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our study highlights that ongoing in-phase tactile input can enhance basic auditory processing as reflected in scalp EEG and detection thresholds. This might have implications for the development of hearing enhancement technologies and interventions.</p>","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":"46 1","pages":"184-195"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11637573/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142839743","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":"Impact of High- and Low-Pass Acoustic Filtering on Audiovisual Speech Redundancy and Benefit in Children.","authors":"Kaylah Lalonde, Grace Dwyer, Adam Bosen, Abby Pitts","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001622","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/AUD.0000000000001622","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Objectives: &lt;/strong&gt;To investigate the influence of frequency-specific audibility on audiovisual benefit in children, this study examined the impact of high- and low-pass acoustic filtering on auditory-only and audiovisual word and sentence recognition in children with typical hearing. Previous studies show that visual speech provides greater access to consonant place of articulation than other consonant features and that low-pass filtering has a strong impact on perception on acoustic consonant place of articulation. This suggests visual speech may be particularly useful when acoustic speech is low-pass filtered because it provides complementary information about consonant place of articulation. Therefore, we hypothesized that audiovisual benefit would be greater for low-pass filtered words than high-pass filtered speech. We assessed whether this pattern of results would translate to sentence recognition.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Design: &lt;/strong&gt;Children with typical hearing completed auditory-only and audiovisual tests of consonant-vowel-consonant word and sentence recognition across conditions differing in acoustic frequency content: a low-pass filtered condition in which children could only access acoustic content below 2 kHz and a high-pass filtered condition in which children could only access acoustic content above 2 kHz. They also completed a visual-only test of consonant-vowel-consonant word recognition. We analyzed word, consonant, and keyword-in-sentence recognition and consonant feature (place, voice/manner of articulation) transmission accuracy across modalities and filter conditions using binomial general linear mixed models. To assess the degree to which visual speech is complementary versus redundant with acoustic speech, we calculated the proportion of auditory-only target and response consonant pairs that we can tell apart using only visual speech and compared these values between high-pass and low-pass filter conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Results: &lt;/strong&gt;In auditory-only conditions, recognition accuracy was lower for low-pass filtered consonants and consonant features than high-pass filtered consonants and consonant features, especially consonant place of articulation. In visual-only conditions, recognition accuracy was greater for consonant place of articulation than consonant voice/manner of articulation. In addition, auditory consonants in the low-pass filtered condition were more likely to be substituted for visually distinct consonants, meaning that there was more opportunity to use visual cues to supplement missing auditory information in the low-pass filtered condition. Audiovisual benefit for isolated whole words was greater for low-pass filtered speech than high-pass filtered speech. No difference in audiovisual benefit between filter conditions was observed for phonemes, features, or words-in-sentences. Ceiling effects limit the interpretation of these nonsignificant interactions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusions: &lt;/strong&gt;F","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142959003","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":"Hyperacusis and Tinnitus in Vestibular Migraine Patients.","authors":"Elisheba Haro-Hernandez, Patricia Perez-Carpena, Federica Di Berardino, Jose Antonio Lopez-Escamez","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001632","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/AUD.0000000000001632","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>To estimate the prevalence of tinnitus and hyperacusis in patients with vestibular migraine (VM), and to define the association with hearing loss, anxiety, and depression.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>A cross-sectional, multicenter study including 51 adult patients with definite or probable VM, defined according to the Barany Society diagnostic criteria. Audiological examinations were performed by pure tones extended to high frequencies to assess hearing thresholds. Psychoacoustic (pitch, masking level, and residual inhibition) and psychometric assessment of tinnitus was performed in all patients that reported tinnitus with the following questionnaires: Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI), Hypersensitivity to Sound Questionnaire and Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale. Correlation and regression analyses were used to assess the relationship between THI scores hyperacusis, anxiety, and depression in patients with VM.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Forty-five of 50 VM patients (90%) were females; 38 out of 50 (75%) patients reported tinnitus. In our series, the most common frequency (pitch) for tinnitus was 8000 Hz. Tinnitus was not associated with hearing loss in patients with VM and the hearing thresholds were similar in VM patients with or without tinnitus. Hyperacusis was reported in 35 (60%) individuals, and in patients with tinnitus, the THI scores were associated with higher scores in Hypersensitivity to Sound Questionnaire, and anxiety and depression subscales of Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale. There were differences in the distribution of hearing loss in patients with hyperacusis, however both groups did not exceed the normal hearing threshold (17.18 ± 13.43 patients with hyperacusis and 11.66 ± 5.41, p = 0.023 in patients without hyperacusis).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Tinnitus is a common symptom in patients with VM and it is not related to hearing loss in the standard audiogram. Hyperacusis was associated with tinnitus, anxiety, and depression, but it was not associated with hearing thresholds.</p>","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142958988","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 Age on the Bone-Conduction Amplitude-Modulated cVEMP Temporal Modulation Transfer Function.","authors":"Raghav H Jha, Erin G Piker, Christopher G Clinard","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001614","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/AUD.0000000000001614","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMPs) reflect saccular stimulation that results in an inhibitory muscle reflex recorded over the sternocleidomastoid muscle. These responses are utilized to study basic vestibular functions and are also applied clinically. Traditionally, cVEMPs have utilized transient stimuli such as clicks and tonebursts to evoke onset responses. Recently, amplitude-modulated tones have been used to elicit cVEMPs (AMcVEMPs). These AMcVEMP responses can provide information about the magnitude, phase synchrony, and nonlinearities from the vestibulo-collic reflexes that cannot be captured using other existing testing techniques. Although temporal modulation transfer functions (TMTFs) of AMcVEMPs for young, healthy adults have been established using different analysis techniques, there is currently no information regarding the effects of age on these responses. Thus, the current study aimed to examine the effects of age on AMcVEMPs across a broad range of modulation frequencies (MFs) using various AMcVEMP metrics including amplitude, signal to noise ratio (SNR), and phase coherence (PC).</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>The study included 16 (aged 20 to 39 years) young, 17 (aged 40 to 59 years) mid-age, and 16 (60 to 75 years) older adults with no history of neurological, vestibular, or middle-ear complaints. The stimuli consisted of amplitude-modulated tones with a carrier frequency of 500 Hz and 10 MFs ranging from 11 to 397 Hz. These stimuli were presented using a B81 transducer at 123 dB FL. AMcVEMPs were recorded from the sternocleidomastoid muscle (ipsilateral to the stimulating mastoid) using surface electrodes. Response analysis was performed using an FFT-based approach with analyses including amplitude, SNR, and PC.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>AMcVEMP waveforms exhibited periodicity corresponding to the stimulus MF, consistent with previous observations. Furthermore, significant age-related degradation in AMcVEMP amplitude, SNR, and PC measures were observed across a broad range of MFs. While AMcVEMPs were elicited across a wide range of MFs (11 to 263 Hz) for young adults, in mid-age and older adults, these metrics were robust only across a narrower range of MFs, resulting in a reduced TMTF. In addition, the MF eliciting the most robust AMcVEMP varied across different AMcVEMP analysis metrics and age groups.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>A significant decline in the AMcVEMP response is seen as an effect of aging; however, the effect of aging is not uniform across measures or across MFs. The TMTF of AMcVEMP gets flatter, and the overall range is reduced as an effect of aging. Results from this study enhance our understanding of age-related changes in the vestibular system. Expansion of AMcVEMP to clinical populations may lead to a deeper understanding of the pathophysiology of vestibular disorders.</p>","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142900546","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":"Association of Occupational Noise Exposure and Extended High-Frequency Hearing Loss in Young Workers With Normal Hearing.","authors":"Panqi Xue, Wulan Zhao, Xiangjing Gao, Fang Wei, Fei Xu, Hongwei Xie, Hangze Mao, Hua Zou, Wei Qiu","doi":"10.1097/AUD.0000000000001618","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/AUD.0000000000001618","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Studies on the relationship between occupational noise exposure and extended high-frequency (EHF) hearing loss are limited. This study investigated the relationship between occupational noise exposure and EHF hearing loss in workers exposed to noise as measured by sound pressure level, exposure duration, and kurtosis to help provide a basis for early detection and prevention of hearing loss in noise-exposed workers.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 602 participants with 472 noise-exposed workers and 130 non-noise-exposed controls. General demographic characteristics, noise exposure data, and hearing thresholds at conventional frequencies (0.25 to 8 kHz) and EHF (9 to 16 kHz) were collected and analyzed. Linear mixed-effects model analyses between hearing thresholds of EHF and noise exposure indicators including the 8-h equivalent continuous A-weighted sound pressure level (LAeq,8h), cumulative noise exposure (CNE), and kurtosis-adjusted CNE (CNE-K) were conducted.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Among the 602 participants included in the analysis, 472 individuals (78.4%) were occupationally exposed to noise exposures ≥75 dBA. Significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed in sex, exposure duration, LAeq,8h, CNE, and CNE-K between the noise-exposed group and the nonexposed group. The mean hearing thresholds for all tested extended high frequencies ranging from 9 to 16 kHz were significantly higher in the noise-exposed group than in the nonexposed group (p < 0.05). The mean hearing thresholds of subjects in different groups of LAeq,8h exposures were generally stable with little variance in the conventional frequencies (0.25 to 8 kHz) but differed in the EHF range. Moreover, EHF hearing loss appeared to be most prominent in the subjects exposed to noise with 80 dBA < LAeq,8h ≤ 85 dBA. After the combination of the sound pressure level, exposure duration, and kurtosis by using the noise exposure indicators CNE and CNE-K, the subjects at the different noise exposures showed significant differences in hearing thresholds at EHF (p < 0.05). Linear mixed-effected model analyses showed that the CNE-K was the best to indicate noise-induced hearing loss among the three noise exposure indicators at EHF.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The results indicate that the EHF hearing threshold testing is more sensitive to identifying early occupational noise-induced hearing loss than conventional audiometry. The CNE-K, an indicator combining noise energy, exposure duration, and kurtosis, is a more comprehensive and effective method for assessing the risk of EHF hearing loss due to occupational noise exposure.</p>","PeriodicalId":55172,"journal":{"name":"Ear and Hearing","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142900543","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}