İnkomplet partisyon tip II bulunan unilateral ve bimodal koklear implant kullanıcılarının konuşma, uzaysal algı ve işitme kalitesinin değerlendirilmesi

Evaluation of the speech, spatial and qualities of hearing in unilateral and bimodal cochlear implant users with incomplete partition type II Objective: The aim of this study was to perform a scale-based assessment of the hearing abilities of cochlear implant users with IP type II malformation and normal cochlea, including discrimination, orientation, and positioning of speech and environmental sounds in their environment. Material and Methods: A total of 30 cochlear implant users, 15 participants with IP-II inner ear anomalies and 15 participants with normal cochlea, aged 18-55 years were included in this study. All participants included in the study are unilateral CI and bimodal users. Participants were assessed using the Speech, Spatial, and Hearing Qualities Scale (SSQ). Results: When cochlear implant users with IP-II malformations and cochlear implant users with normal cochlea individually scored auditory abilities, the results were similar. It was observed that bimodal listeners tended to have all subdomains and overall SSQ scores compared to use of unilateral CI. Conclusion: It is very important to benefit from the advantages of binaural hearing in hearing sounds. It is thought that the use of scales as well as routine audiological evaluation batteries in the follow-up processes of cochlear implant users will be beneficial for audiologists. Keywords: Cochlear implant, speech perception, spatial perception, hearing quality

Auditory Tests for Characterizing Hearing Deficits in Listeners With Various Hearing Abilities: The BEAR Test Battery

The Better hEAring Rehabilitation (BEAR) project aims to provide a new clinical profiling tool—a test battery—for hearing loss characterization. Although the loss of sensitivity can be efficiently measured using pure-tone audiometry, the assessment of supra-threshold hearing deficits remains a challenge. In contrast to the classical “attenuation-distortion” model, the proposed BEAR approach is based on the hypothesis that the hearing abilities of a given listener can be characterized along two dimensions, reflecting independent types of perceptual deficits (distortions). A data-driven approach provided evidence for the existence of different auditory profiles with different degrees of distortions. Ten tests were included in a test battery, based on their clinical feasibility, time efficiency, and related evidence from the literature. The tests were divided into six categories: audibility, speech perception, binaural processing abilities, loudness perception, spectro-temporal modulation sensitivity, and spectro-temporal resolution. Seventy-five listeners with symmetric, mild-to-severe sensorineural hearing loss were selected from a clinical population. The analysis of the results showed interrelations among outcomes related to high-frequency processing and outcome measures related to low-frequency processing abilities. The results showed the ability of the tests to reveal differences among individuals and their potential use in clinical settings.

An ensonified bubble curtain blocks 4 species of invasive carp in a laboratory flume but also deters other fish, while sound alone is less effective overall and does not target carp

Four species of invasive carp from Asia are advancing up the Mississippi River through its locks and dams and threatening to damage to its ecosystems. It has been hypothesized that sensory stimuli could be projected into locks to block the movement of these carp. Sound has garnered attention because carp are hearing specialists, so they might be targetable. A recent study demonstrated that when a broadband cyclic sound was projected into an air curtain to create an ensonified bubble curtain (EBC), it was especially effective at blocking bighead and common carp and less effective at blocking a native species that lacked hearing specializations, while sound alone was generally less effective. However, whether an EBC might be similarly and uniquely effective at blocking all species of carp, and what its effects might be on other fishes in general, has not yet been addressed. To answer these questions, this study examined the responses of 10 species of fishes including 4 carps, 2 native hearing specialists, and 4 native non-specialists in a darkened laboratory flume while either a cyclic sound was played on its own or projected into an air curtain. The EBC blocked all 4 carps 9297% of the time without habituation, but 5 native fish were also partially blocked. In contrast, sound alone only blocked 2 carps and affected the other fishes in ways not related to their hearing abilities. An EBC appears well suited to blocking carp invasions, especially if native fish movement is a secondary concern.

The Relationship Between Self-Perceived Hearing Ability and Binaural Speech-in-Noise Performance in Adults With Normal Pure-Tone Hearing

Purpose This study examined the relationship between self-perceived hearing abilities and binaural speech-in-noise performance in young to middle-age adults with normal pure-tone hearing. Method Sixty-six adults with normal hearing (thresholds ≤ 25 dB HL at 250–8000 Hz) participated. Self-perceived hearing abilities were assessed using the Adult Auditory Performance Scale (AAPS). The AAPS provides a single global score of self-perceived hearing abilities and individual subscale scores for six listening conditions, namely, Quiet, Ideal, Noise, Multiple Inputs, Auditory Memory, and Auditory Attention. Binaural speech-in-noise performance was measured with the Listening in Spatialized Noise–Sentences Test (LiSN-S). Results Results revealed significant correlations between the AAPS and the LiSN-S. Listeners who scored higher on the AAPS (greater self-perceived hearing difficulty) performed poorer on the LiSN-S. The strongest correlations were observed between the AAPS Noise subscale score and the LiSN-S low- and high-cue conditions. Age was significantly correlated with both pure-tone hearing and the LiSN-S spatial advantage, with older participants exhibiting poorer thresholds and smaller spatial advantages. Pure-tone hearing was also significantly correlated with binaural speech-in-noise performance. Listeners with poorer thresholds performed poorer across multiple LiSN-S conditions. Linear regression revealed that a significant amount of the variance in LiSN-S performance was accounted for by pure-tone hearing as well as the AAPS global score and Noise subscale score. Conclusions Results demonstrate a clear relationship between an individual's self-perceived hearing ability and their binaural speech-in-noise performance. In addition, minimal threshold elevation within the normal range and age (i.e., middle adulthood) had a negative impact on binaural speech-in-noise performance. The results support the inclusion of speech-in-noise testing for all patients, even those whose pure-tone hearing falls within the traditional normal range.

Lack of Association between Audiogram and Hearing Disability Measures in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia: What Audiogram Does Not Tell You

(1) Introduction: The validity of self-reported hearing disability measures has been assessed using their correlation with the pure-tone average (PTA) hearing loss for non-cognitively impaired adults. However, for people with cognitive impairment, factors in addition to the PTA can play a role in their self-reported difficulties. Patients with cognitive impairment may experience more hearing difficulties due to their brain processing sounds abnormally, irrespective of PTA. (2) Methods: Three groups of hearing aid users who had normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment and dementia were recruited. Self-reported hearing abilities were assessed with the modified Amsterdam inventory for auditory disability (mAIAD) and the speech, spatial and qualities of hearing scale (SSQ). (3) Results: The SSQ and mAIAD scores were highly correlated with each other for all three groups. However, a correlation with objective PTA was found in the normal cognition but not the cognitively impaired groups. Self-reported hearing scores were associated with cognitive scores for the dementia group (4) Discussion: In people with combined cognitive and hearing impairment, PTA alone may be a poor predictor of hearing abilities. Subjective hearing questionnaires together with hearing tests may provide a better understanding of their hearing difficulties.

In-air hearing in Hawaiian monk seals: implications for understanding the auditory biology of Monachinae seals

The auditory biology of Monachinae seals is poorly understood. Limited audiometric data and certain anatomical features suggest that these seals may have reduced sensitivity to airborne sounds compared to related species. Here, we describe the in-air hearing abilities of a Hawaiian monk seal (Neomonachus schauinslandi) trained to participate in a psychophysical paradigm. We report absolute (unmasked) thresholds for narrowband signals measured in quiet conditions across the range of hearing and masked thresholds measured in the presence of octave-band noise at two frequencies. The behavioral audiogram indicates a functional hearing range from 0.1 to 33 kHz and poor sensitivity, with detection thresholds above 40 dB re 20 µPa. Critical ratio measurements are elevated compared to those of other seals. The apparently reduced terrestrial hearing ability of this individual—considered with available auditory data for a northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris)—suggests that hearing in Monachinae seals differs from that of the highly sensitive Phocinae seals. Exploration of phylogenetic relationships and anatomical traits support this claim. This work advances understanding of the evolution of hearing in amphibious marine mammals and provides updated information that can be used for management and conservation of endangered Hawaiian monk seals.

Hearing from the ocean and into the river: the evolution of the inner ear of Platanistoidea (Cetacea: Odontoceti)

The inner ear of the two higher clades of modern cetaceans (Neoceti) is highly adapted for hearing infrasonic (mysticetes) or ultrasonic (odontocetes) frequencies. Within odontocetes, Platanistoidea comprises a single extant riverine representative, Platanista gangetica, and a diversity of mainly extinct marine species from the late Oligocene onward. Recent studies drawing on features including the disparate tympanoperiotic have not yet provided a consensus phylogenetic hypothesis for platanistoids. Further, cochlear morphology and evolutionary patterns have never been reported. Here, we describe for the first time the inner ear morphology of late Oligocene–early Miocene extinct marine platanistoids and their evolutionary patterns. We initially hypothesized that extinct marine platanistoids lacked a specialized inner ear like P. gangetica and thus, their morphology and inferred hearing abilities were more similar to those of pelagic odontocetes. Our results reveal there is no “typical” platanistoid cochlear type, as the group displays a disparate range of cochlear anatomies, but all are consistent with high-frequency hearing. Stem odontocete Prosqualodon australis and platanistoid Otekaikea huata present a tympanal recess in their cochlea, of yet uncertain function in the hearing mechanism in cetaceans. The more basal morphology of Aondelphis talen indicates it had lower high-frequency hearing than other platanistoids. Finally, Platanista has the most derived cochlear morphology, adding to evidence that it is an outlier within the group and consistent with a >9-Myr-long separation from its sister genus Zarhachis. The evolution of a singular sound production morphology within Platanistidae may have facilitated the survival of Platanista to the present day.