Audiological Results with the SAMBA Audio Processor in Comparison to the Amadé for the Vibrant Soundbridge

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 164-172
Author(s):  
Denise Zimmermann ◽  
Susan Busch ◽  
Thomas Lenarz ◽  
Hannes Maier
Keyword(s):  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Bone Conduction ◽  
Free Field ◽  
Trial Period ◽  
Vibrant Soundbridge ◽  
Speech Processor ◽  
Level Of Satisfaction ◽  
Oldenburg Sentence Test ◽  
Flexible Adaptation

Background: Since its introduction in 1996, the Vibrant Soundbridge (VSB) has been upgraded with several improved generations of processors. As all systems are compatible, implanted patients can benefit from new technologies by upgrading to the newest processor type available. Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the performance of the new (current) SAMBA processor with the previous Amadé processor. Methods: Twenty subjects monaurally implanted with a VSB and the Amadé processor tested the new SAMBA processor for a trial period of 4 weeks. We measured air conduction and bone conduction thresholds, unaided thresholds, and aided free field thresholds with both devices. Speech performance in quiet using the Freiburg monosyllabic test at 65 dB SPL (S0) was compared. The speech intelligibility in noise was determined using the Oldenburg sentence test measured in different listening conditions (S0NVSB/S0Ncontra) and microphone settings (omni/directional vs. adaptive directivity). Results: Word recognition scores in quiet with the SAMBA were still significantly lower than with the Amadé after the 4 weeks trial period but improved over the following year. Speech intelligibility with the SAMBA was significantly better than with the Amadé in omnidirectional mode and comparable with the Amadé in directional mode. Hence, the adaptive directionality provides an advantage in difficult hearing situations such as noisy environments. The subjective benefit was evaluated using the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit and the Speech, Spatial and Qualities-C questionnaire. Results of the questionnaires demonstrate an overall higher level of satisfaction with the new SAMBA speech processor than with the older processor. Conclusion: The SAMBA enables similar speech perception in quiet but more flexible adaptation in acoustically challenging environments compared to the previous Amadé processor.

Long-term Outcomes of Clip Coupler Implantation in Patients with Unilateral Congenital Aural Atresia

2020 ◽  
Vol 129 (12) ◽  
pp. 1221-1228
Author(s):  
Chunli Zhao ◽  
Jinsong Yang ◽  
Yujie Liu ◽  
Mengdie Gao ◽  
Peiwei Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Bone Conduction ◽  
Free Field ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Aural Atresia ◽  
Long Term Follow Up ◽  
Congenital Aural Atresia

Objective: To evaluate the long-term safety and efficacy of the Clip coupler attached to the stapes head in patients with unilateral congenital aural atresia (CAA). Methods: This single-center retrospective study included 16 Mandarin-speaking patients who had unilateral microtia accompanied by CAA. All patients were divided into two groups: the short-term follow-up group (n = 9) and the long-term follow-up group (n = 7). The floating mass transducer of the Vibrant Soundbridge (VSB) was positioned in the stapes head by the Clip coupler. The safety of the VSB was investigated by comparing preoperative and postoperative bone-conduction (BC) thresholds as well as by complications. The effectiveness was evaluated by functional gain (FG), word recognition score (WRS), speech reception threshold (SRT) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Results: Pre- and post-operative BC thresholds were no different in all patients. And no complications developed. VSB-aided thresholds in the free-field had improved significantly in both short- and long-term follow-up groups. The improvements of WRS were observed in two groups. The monosyllabic VSB-aided WRS in the long-term follow-up group was significantly higher than that in the short-term follow-up group. When speech was from the impaired ear and noise presented to the side of normal ear (SVSBNCL), lower SNRs were found in two groups after VSB implantation. However, there was no statistical difference in aided SNR between the two groups at SVSBNCL status. Conclusions: Our results show that the FMT connected to the stapes head is a secure and useful device for patients with unilateral CHL/MHL, not only in terms of improved hearing thresholds, but also improved speech intelligibility in quiet and noisy environments.

Intraoperative Estimation of the Coupling Efficiency and Clinical Outcomes of the Vibrant Soundbridge Active Middle Ear Implant Using Auditory Brainstem Response Measurements

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 553-559 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ute Geiger ◽  
Andreas Radeloff ◽  
Rudolf Hagen ◽  
Mario Cebulla
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Brainstem Response ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Bone Conduction ◽  
Coupling Efficiency ◽  
Auditory Brainstem ◽  
Vibrant Soundbridge ◽  
Active Middle Ear Implant ◽  
Middle Ear Implant ◽  
Behavioral Thresholds ◽  
Brainstem Response

Purpose This study intraoperatively measured the coupling efficiency of the Vibrant Soundbridge (VSB), with the aim of avoiding revision surgery due to insufficient outcome. This method can also be used to test the integrity of the implant at the end of the implantation surgery and to evaluate aided thresholds. In addition, this method makes it possible to objectively test how well the VSB has been fitted, provide assistance in fitting handicapped patients or children, evaluate hearing degradation, or test for a drop in coupling efficiency before revision surgeries. In order to analyze the feasibility of these new VSB-aided auditory brainstem response (ABR) thresholds, they were compared to behavioral thresholds from the Vibrogram and the preoperative bone conduction thresholds. Method The study included 30 patients with mild-to-severe hearing loss implanted with a VSB (VORP503). Intraoperative ABR thresholds during the VSB implantation were recorded using a VSB-optimized chirp stimulus. The new method is compared to the bone conduction threshold of the study sample and the aided Vibrogram thresholds. Speech intelligibility results up to 24 months after surgery are also presented. Results A reliable correlation between the bone conduction thresholds and the intraoperative ABRs was found and was higher in comparison to the Vibrogram. Furthermore, speech intelligibility outcomes were stable over time. Conclusion ABR measurements can be used intraoperatively to estimate the coupling efficiency of the VSB and test the integrity of the implant at the end of surgery.

Evaluation of Speech Intelligibility through a Bone Conduction Stimulator

1989 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ted L. Langford ◽  
Ben T. Mozo ◽  
James H. Patterson ◽  
Jr.
Keyword(s):  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Bone Conduction

scholarly journals A Robust Dual-Microphone Generalized Sidelobe Canceller Using a Bone-Conduction Sensor for Speech Enhancement

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 1878
Author(s):  
Yi Zhou ◽  
Haiping Wang ◽  
Yijing Chu ◽  
Hongqing Liu
Keyword(s):  
Speech Enhancement ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Bone Conduction ◽  
Speech Quality ◽  
Generalized Sidelobe Canceller ◽  
Spatially Distributed ◽  
Interference Signals ◽  
Adaptive Noise ◽  
Adaptive Noise Canceller ◽  
Sidelobe Canceller

The use of multiple spatially distributed microphones allows performing spatial filtering along with conventional temporal filtering, which can better reject the interference signals, leading to an overall improvement of the speech quality. In this paper, we propose a novel dual-microphone generalized sidelobe canceller (GSC) algorithm assisted by a bone-conduction (BC) sensor for speech enhancement, which is named BC-assisted GSC (BCA-GSC) algorithm. The BC sensor is relatively insensitive to the ambient noise compared to the conventional air-conduction (AC) microphone. Hence, BC speech can be analyzed to generate very accurate voice activity detection (VAD), even in a high noise environment. The proposed algorithm incorporates the VAD information obtained by the BC speech into the adaptive blocking matrix (ABM) and adaptive noise canceller (ANC) in GSC. By using VAD to control ABM and combining VAD with signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) to control ANC, the proposed method could suppress interferences and improve the overall performance of GSC significantly. It is verified by experiments that the proposed GSC system not only improves speech quality remarkably but also boosts speech intelligibility.

An examination of the effects of broadband air-conduction masker on the speech intelligibility of speech-modulated bone-conduction ultrasound

2014 ◽  
Vol 317 ◽  
pp. 41-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tadashi Nishimura ◽  
Tadao Okayasu ◽  
Osamu Saito ◽  
Ryota Shimokura ◽  
Akinori Yamashita ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Bone Conduction ◽  
Air Conduction

scholarly journals Attitude of People towards Non-Government Organizations Intervention with Reference to Health Awareness: A Post Crisis Analysis in Swat-Pakistan

2021 ◽  
Vol VI (I) ◽  
pp. 86-95
Author(s):  
Shakeel Ahmad ◽  
Mansoor Ahmad ◽  
Asif Mehmood
Keyword(s):  
Nutrition Education ◽  
Total Population ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Health Awareness ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Government Organizations ◽  
Birth Attendants ◽  
Level Of Satisfaction ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
The Government

This study conducted with the objective to measure the pre and post NGOs intervention regarding health awareness and people level of satisfaction. The sample size for this study was selected 230 from the total population of 450. The study concluded that NGOs intervention significantly lunching campaign against tobacco control, HIV/AIDS, immunization awareness, dengue virus awareness. In addition, there was an increase in health hygiene and nutrition education, training of traditional birth attendants and health worker trainings with new technologies. The government and NGOs extend their projects that are focusing on communicable diseases that ultimately lead to the control of various lives threatening disease. Preventive health efforts must be initiated by both public and private agencies at the community level. Health and hygiene-related material must be included in the textbooks of private and public school at all level.

scholarly journals Launching of a cochlear implant program at the Cracow Otolaryngology Clinic

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Maciej Wiatr ◽  
Kazimierz Niemczyk ◽  
Jacek Składzień ◽  
Agnieszka Wiatr
Keyword(s):  
Cochlear Implant ◽  
Inner Ear ◽  
Bone Conduction ◽  
Acoustic Trauma ◽  
Sensory Cells ◽  
Hearing Disorders ◽  
Speech Processor ◽  
External Part ◽  
The Right ◽  
Specialist Center

Introduction: It is estimated that hearing impediment affects approximately 12% of the population. Some forms of hearing disorders can be successfully treated conservatively, while in others surgery plays a key role. Often, therapeutic methods are exhausted and the patient faces the decision about the need for acoustic organ prosthesis. Depending on the causes of anomalies, apparatus for air conduction, bone conduction or cochlear implants are used. A cochlear implant replaces the damaged sensory cells of the inner ear. It constitutes an electronic prosthesis of the acoustic organ, composed of two parts. The internal part (implanted in the inner ear) consists of an implant and electrodes, which conduct electrical signals to the cochlea. The external part consists of a microphone, a speech processor, and a transmitter. Care report: A 70-year-old patient with deep hearing loss in the right ear and deafness of the left ear. During the interview, the patient denied mechanical injuries of the head and neck, acoustic trauma, inflammation or otorrhea. Based on the conducted tests, qualification otolaryngology, audiology, and otoneurology, radiology, surdologopedy and psychology were performed for cochlear implant insertion. The patient was qualified for cochlear implantation in the left ear under general anesthesia. The surgical team was composed of dr hab. Maciej Wiatr, prof. dr hab. Kazimierz Niemczyk, prof. dr hab. Jacek Składzień, MD Agnieszka Wiatr with anesthetic monitoring under the supervision of MD Renata Witkowska. The patient was discharged home on day 7 after surgery in good general and local condition. Simultaneous rehabilitation was started at the Center for Daily Rehabilitation of Hearing and Speech at the Specialist Center of Diagnosis and Rehabilitation for Children and Adolescents with Hearing Disabilities of the Polish Association of the Deaf in Cracow.

scholarly journals Hearing Rehabilitation through Bone-Conducted Sound Stimulation: Preliminary Results

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (01) ◽  
pp. 012-017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fayez Bahmad Jr ◽  
Carolina Cardoso ◽  
Fernanda Caldas ◽  
Monique Barreto ◽  
Anacléia Hilgenberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Speech Perception ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Subcutaneous Tissue ◽  
Bone Conduction ◽  
Free Field ◽  
Pure Tone Audiometry ◽  
Skin Impedance ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Before And After

Introduction The bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) is a bone conduction system that transmits the sound directly to the inner ear by surpassing the skin impedance and the subcutaneous tissue. It is indicated for patients with mixed, conductive and unilateral sensorineural hearing loss who did not benefit from conventional hearing aids (HAs). Although the benefits from BAHA are well demonstrated internationally, this field still lacks studies in Brazil. Objective To assess the auditory rehabilitation process in BAHA users through audiological, speech perception and tinnitus aspects. Methods Individuals with hearing loss were assessed before and after the implantation. The participants were subjected to pure tone audiometry in free field, functional gain audiometry, speech perception tests, tinnitus handicap inventory (THI) in open format, and to the visual analog scale (VAS). Results It was found that the participants benefited from the use of BAHA. The difference in the performance of the participants before and after the BAHA surgery was significant in terms of hearing acuity. There was no statistically significant difference in the speech perception tests. The tinnitus assessment showed that 80% of the participants scored slight tinnitus severity in THI after using a BAHA. Eighty percent of the participants classified their tinnitus as absent to mild in the VAS after the surgery. Conclusion Based on the results of the current study, we can conclude that the participants improved both the auditory perception and the tinnitus handicap.

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