Relationship between Behavioral Infant Speech Perception and Hearing Age for Children with Hearing Loss

(1) Background: Research has demonstrated that early intervention for children who are hard-of-hearing (CHH) facilitates improved language development. Early speech perception abilities may impact CHH outcomes and guide future intervention. The objective of this study was to examine the use of a conditioned head turn (CHT) task as a measure of speech discrimination in CHH using a clinically feasible protocol. (2) Methods: Speech perception was assessed for a consonant and vowel contrast among 57 CHH and 70 children with normal hearing (CNH) aged 5–17 months using a CHT paradigm. (3) Results: Regardless of hearing status, 74% of CHH and 77% of CNH could discriminate /a-i/, and 55% of CHH and 56% of CNH could discriminate /ba-da/. Regression models revealed that both CHH and CNH performed better on /ba-da/ at 70 dBA compared to 50 dBA. Performance by hearing age showed no speech perception differences for CNH and children with mild hearing loss for either contrast. However, children with hearing losses ≥ 41 dB HL performed significantly poorer than CNH for /a-i/. (4) Conclusions: This study demonstrates the clinical feasibility of assessing early speech perception in infants with hearing loss and replicates previous findings of speech perception abilities among CHH and CNH.

Depression, combined visual and hearing impairment (dual sensory impairment): a hidden multi-morbidity among the elderly in Residential Care in India

To report the prevalence of depression and its association with combined visual (VI) and hearing impairment (HI) in the elderly in residential care in India. Participants aged ≥ 60 years were recruited from 41 homes. Data on personal and sociodemographic information were obtained. Visual acuity was measured using the logMAR chart. Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) was used to assess depression, and the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly Screening (HHIE) was administered to assess hearing status. Data of all 867 eligible elderly participants were analysed. The mean age of the participants was 74.2 years (standard deviation: 8.2 years) and included 537 (61.9%) women and 117 (13.5%) participants who had no education. The prevalence of depression was 60.0% (95% CI: 45.2–73.4) in the elderly with combined VI and HI compared to 20.9% (95% CI:14.4–28.8) among those with VI only and 37.8% (95% CI: 26.6–46.5) among those with HI only. On multiple logistic regression analyses, depression was approximately 5 times higher among the participants with DSI after adjusting for other covariates. Six out of ten elderly with combined HI and VI had depression highlighting the need for screening and referral when elderly present with combined vision and hearing loss.

Hearing Status After Cartilage Augmented Type III Tympanoplasty: In Chronic Otitis Media Squamous Type

Introduction: Tympanoplasty is typically performed in conjunction with a canal wall down mastoidectomy in patient with Chronic Otitis Media Squamous. The results from experimental and clinical studies of the type III stapes columellar reconstruction have shown that interposing a disk of cartilage between the graft and the stapes head improves hearing in the lower frequencies by 5 to 10 dB. They hypothesize that the cartilage acts to increase the “effective” area of the graft that is coupled to the stapes, which leads to an increase in the middle ear gain of the reconstructed ear. Aims: To assess the hearing improvement after cartilage augmented Type III Tympanoplasty in chronic otitis media squamous disease. Methods: This study was conducted in 44 patients with Chronic Otitis Media squamous in the patients attending the department of Otorhinolaryngology in NGMC teaching hospital from November 2018 to March 2020. Canal Wall Down mastoidectomy with cartilage augmented type III Tympanoplasty and was done. Augmentation was done with thin 3-4 mm conchal cartilage interposed between stapes and Temporalis fascia graft. Results: There were 11(25%) male and 33(75%) female, with mean age of 29.48 years, ranging from minimum of 15 years to maximum 56 years. The preoperative mean A–B gap was 21.82 and postoperatively means AB gap was 12.20 dB with overall AB gap gain was 9.64 dB. Conclusion: Significant hearing improvement is seen in Canal Wall Down mastoidectomy Chronic Otitis Media squamous after cartilage augmented type III tympanoplasty.

Impact of Mild to Moderate U-shape Hearing Loss on Listening Effort in School-aged Children with Alport Syndrome

In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of mild to moderate U-shape hearing loss on listening effort in Alport syndrome (AS) children by pupillometry. Subjects were required to answer questions after listening to conversations that simulate real scenes in daily life. We recorded the accuracy rate and pupil data of two conditions: SNR = + 15 dB and SNR = -2 dB. A mixed effect model was established to analyze the influence of SNR, mid-frequency energy proportion and hearing status on the accuracy and pupil response. The results showed SNR had a main effect on the accuracy. The baseline pupil diameter of AS children was always smaller than normal hearing children. When analyzing the time window including the stages of listening to the conversation, listening to the question and thinking, SNR and the hearing status had main effect on mean pupil dilation. We concluded that AS children with hearing loss were often in a state of low arousal before auditory task. Both hearing status and task difficulty have impact on listening effort of AS children. The effort of AS children with U-shape hearing loss might come mainly from consequent cognitive processing (as a consequence of effortful listening) instead of passive listening during speech communication.

Speech Understanding in Modulated Noise and Speech Maskers as a Function of Cognitive Status in Older Adults

Objectives The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of different types of maskers on speech understanding as a function of cognitive status in older adults. The hypothesis tested was that individuals with a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or mild dementia would perform like their age- and hearing status–matched control counterparts in modulated noise but would perform more poorly in the presence of competing speech. Design Participants ( n = 39; age range: 55–77 years old) performed a speech-in-noise task and completed two cognitive screening tests and a measure of working memory. Sentences were presented in the presence of two types of maskers (i.e., speech envelope–modulated noise and two-talker, same-sex competing speech). Two analyses were undertaken: (a) a between-groups comparison of individuals diagnosed with MCI/dementia, individuals who failed both cognitive screeners (possible MCI), and age- and hearing status–matched neurologically healthy control individuals and (b) a mixed-model analysis of variance of speech perception performance as a function of working memory capacity. Results The between-groups comparison yielded significant group differences for speech understanding in both masking conditions, with the MCI/dementia group performing more poorly than the neurologically healthy controls and possible MCI groups. A single measure of working memory (Size Comparison Span [SICSPAN]) was correlated with performance on the speech perception task in the competing speech conditions. Conclusions Adults with a diagnosis of MCI or mild dementia performed more poorly on a speech perception task than their age- and hearing status–matched control counterparts in the presence of both maskers, with larger group mean differences when the target speech was presented in a two-talker masker. This suggests increased difficulty understanding speech in the presence of distracting backgrounds for people with MCI/dementia. Future studies should consider how to target this potentially vulnerable population as they may be experiencing increased difficulty communicating in challenging environments.