International Journal of Audiology最新文献

Objective: This study developed and validated the Cantonese integrated Digit-in-Noise Test (iDIN) for speech-in-noise measurement and hearing screening.

Design: The development of the Cantonese iDIN followed the International Collegium of Rehabilitative Audiology guidelines. Its psychometric properties, including normative data, psychometric function, test-retest reliability, and criterion validity, were established. Additionally, a preliminary comparison of the effectiveness of 2- and 3-digit SRTs in hearing screening was conducted.

Study sample: The sample included 40 young adults with normal hearing and 65 older adults, with and without hearing loss.

Results: Mean SRTs for 2-, 3-, and 5-digit with forward recall were -11.5 ± 1.3, -12.0 ± 1.0, and -11.3 ± 0.9 dB SNR in young adults, respectively. The slopes for the psychometric functions of these sequences were 20.26, 18.61, and 19.10 %/dB, respectively, and measurement errors were 0.80, 0.61, and 0.71 dB. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curves for the 2- and 3-digit SRTs were .941 and .974, indicating high discriminative ability in hearing screening.

Conclusions: The Cantonese iDIN shows robust psychometric properties. Despite the 3-digit test's slightly better screening performance, shorter test during associated with the 2-digit suggests its potential for hearing screening.

Objective: The current study aimed to explore (1) school-aged children's auditory and cognitive abilities and (2) their perceptions (self-reported and parents) of listening behaviours and symptoms following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI).

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Study sample: Twenty-one children aged 8 to 12 participated in this study. Eleven children with mTBI were diagnosed in the emergency department, and 10 were matched controls. They were assessed twice, in the acute (≤14 days) and chronic (≥3 months) stages post-injury, using six central auditory behavioural tests, a cognitive screening battery, and questionnaires. ANOVA and correlation analysis were performed.

Results: Group differences were present in three auditory tests as children with mTBI obtained poorer scores than controls (Pitch Pattern Sequence Tests - PPST: p = 0.037; Gap In Noise test - GIN threshold: p = 0.046; Duration Pattern Test - DPT: p = 0.053), but not for perceived listening behaviours and cognitive abilities. Correlations were found only between perceived listening behaviours and reported mTBI symptoms for parents (p =0.014) and children (p =0.002).

Conclusions: Auditory abilities, mostly those related to temporal processing, were affected following mTBI, independently of cognitive abilities. Better identification of auditory processing difficulties following mTBI will improve treatment and resource allocation for children.

Objective: Measurement of reference speech-recognition curves for a specific speech test in typical clinical testing environments and for different loudspeaker configurations.

Design: Speech-recognition scores were measured at four signal-to-noise ratios for five loudspeaker configurations in two anechoic rooms, and in four audiometric test rooms with low reverberation times.

Study sample: 240 young participants (aged 18-25 years) without hearing impairment participated in the measurements.

Results: Reference speech-recognition curves for speech and noise from the front (S₀N₀) were similar across rooms. Compared to S₀N₀, lower speech-recognition thresholds (SRTs) were observed for all other loudspeaker configurations in which speech and noise were spatially separated. This spatial release from masking was significantly reduced for the audiometric test rooms compared to the anechoic rooms. A binaural speech-intelligibility model was used to verify the influence of room acoustic properties and loudspeaker configuration on SRT.

Conclusions: Speech-recognition curves for spatially separated loudspeaker configurations depend on the room acoustic properties, even in audiometric test rooms with low reverberation times. This makes it more difficult to compare clinical measurements with reference speech-recognition curves, or even with data measured in a different test room. It is thus recommended to document the loudspeaker configuration and test room for each clinical measurement.

Objective: The aim of this study was to use Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) to capture how stigma-induced identity threat is experienced by adults with hearing loss and how they respond to such threats in daily life.

Design and study sample: Twenty adults with hearing loss from 53 to 88 years (mean age of 69.4 years) completed a range of demographic and stigma questionnaires in the laboratory and, over a two-week period, answered daily EMA surveys.

Results: A total of 633 EMA surveys were collected. Five participants reported 13 listening events in which they experienced stigma. These events were typically when conversing with family or friends who were aware of the adults' hearing loss.

Conclusions: The number of individual stigma experiences captured by EMA were low, when viewed across a large number of social interactions. However, as a group, a quarter of the participants in this study experienced stigma over a two-week period, typically from others close to them. This suggests that stigma experiences may be a regular occurrence for some adults with hearing loss.

Objective: The speech intelligibility index (SII) is used to quantify the audibility of the speech. This study examined the relationship between self-reported hearing aid (HA) outcomes and the difference in aided SII (SII_A) calculated from the initial fit (IF) gain and that prescribed as per the second generation of National Acoustic Laboratory Non-Linear (NAL-NL2).

Design: A prospective observational study.

Study sample: The study included 718 first-time and 253 experienced HA users. All users had a valid real-ear measurement (REM) at three input levels (55, 65 and 80 dB SPL).

Results: The gain provided by IF was lower than NAL-NL2 at 55 and 65 dB SPL. IF gain exhibited reduced compression than NAL-NL2 as input levels increased from 55 to 80 dB SPL. On average, the SII_A provided by IF was significantly lower than that for NAL-NL2 at all input levels. The difference in SII_A between IF and NAL-NL2 at 80 dB SPL input level with 0 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) turned out to be a predictor for self-reported outcome for first-time HA users.

Conclusion: The study suggests that an SIIA close to that provided by NAL-NL2 at high input levels would be preferred to obtain a better self-reported outcome. .

Objectives: Musicians who wear hearing aids are a unique subset of hearing-impaired individuals. There are a number of issues musicians experience with hearing aids, making effective hearing rehabilitation a challenge. Research suggests hearing aid satisfaction in musicians is lower partly due to their advanced listening skills, however, qualitative research addressing musicians who wear hearing aids for music is scarce. The current study aimed to record the barriers encountered by musicians who wear hearing aids when playing their instrument/singing, listening to recorded music and listening to live music.

Design: Professional musicians who wear hearing aids were interviewed. Participants were questioned about their experiences with hearing loss and hearing aids, with particular emphasis on experiences listening to recorded and live music, and playing or performing music with the hearing aids.

Study sample: Eight professional musicians were interviewed, using a semi-structured interview style, with a question and prompt guide.

Results: Thematic analysis revealed three main themes in the data: the musicians' journey, communication, and flexibility/adjustability.

Conclusions: The results have implications for future research into specific fitting parameters for hearing aids for musicians (particularly for music performance), the need for evidence-based rehabilitation programs for musicians with hearing loss, and the need for a glossary of terms to assist communication between Audiologists and musicians.

Objective: Young adults are at risk for hearing loss caused by exposure to loud music. Intervention at this stage provides opportunities to support lifelong hearing protection use. This study explores attitudes related to hearing, hearing loss, and hearing protection among university students.

Design: Qualitative interview design, supplemented by quantitative questionnaire data.

Study sample: 18 university students, aged 18-24 years.

Results: Students were uncertain about mechanisms of noise-induced hearing loss, did not feel vulnerable to permanent hearing damage from loud music, were unconvinced of hearing protection efficacy, and reported barriers to hearing protection use. Students emphasised the positive effects of loud music and reported an increased likelihood of using hearing protection were it used by peers. Music students appeared more aware of the negative effects of loud music exposure. Students reported conflicting attitudes regarding government regulation of hearing protection use.

Conclusion: Young adults require education about hearing protection from multiple, credible sources and need to understand the mechanisms behind noise-induced hearing loss in a way that makes it of high personal relevance.

Objective: We aimed to assess the association between occupational noise exposure and tinnitus. Further, to assess whether the association depends on hearing status.

Design: In this cross-sectional study, tinnitus (>1 h daily) was regressed on job exposure matrix (JEM)-based or self-reported occupational noise exposure, adjusted for confounders.

Study sample: The 14,945 participants (42% men, 20-59 years) attended a population-based study in Norway (HUNT4, 2017-2019).

Results: JEM-based noise exposure, assessed as equivalent continuous sound level normalised to 8-h working days (LEX 8 h), over the working career or as minimum 5 years ≥85 dB) was not associated with tinnitus. Years of exposure ≥80 dB (minimum one) was not associated with tinnitus. Self-reported high noise exposure (>15 h weekly ≥5 years) was associated with tinnitus overall and among persons with elevated hearing thresholds (prevalence ratio (PR) 1.3, 1.0-1.7), however not statistically significantly among persons with normal thresholds (PR 1.1, 0.8-1.5).

Conclusions: Our large study showed no association between JEM-based noise exposure and tinnitus. This may to some extent reflect successful use of hearing protection. High self-reported noise exposure was associated with tinnitus, but not among normal hearing persons. This supports that noise-induced tinnitus to a large extent depends on audiometric hearing loss.

Objective: To introduce the urban outdoor version of the Situated Phoneme (SiP) test and investigate its test-retest reliability.

Design: Phonemic discrimination scores in matched-spectrum real-world (MSRW) maskers from an urban outdoor environment were measured using a three-alternative forced choice test paradigm at different phoneme-to-noise ratios (PNR). Each measurement was repeated twice. Test-retest scores for the full 84-trial SiP-test, as well as for four types of contrasting phonemes, were analysed and compared to critical difference scores based on binomial confidence intervals.

Study sample: Seventy-two adult native speakers of Swedish (26-83 years) with symmetric hearing threshold levels ranging from normal hearing to severe sensorineural hearing loss.

Results: Test-retest scores did not differ significantly for the whole test, or for the subtests analysed. A lower amount of test-retest score difference than expected exceeded the bounds of the corresponding critical difference intervals.

Conclusions: The urban outdoor SiP-test has high test-retest reliability. This information can help audiologists to interpret test scores attained with the urban outdoor SiP-test.

Objective: There were two objectives of this current study. (1) To understand the impacts of hearing loss for late-deafened adults and the experiences of support received both from hearing healthcare providers and peers. (2) To understand the types of support needed during and after a cochlear implant.

Design: The study used mixed methods. A survey was posted to three cochlear implant social media groups and participants could self-select to participate in a semi-structured interview by leaving their email address.Study sample: Forty-four late-deafened adults who had also received at least one cochlear implant answered the survey and 16 people were interviewed.

Results: A key finding was that most late-deafened adults did not have access to support through the progression of deafness. They often felt alone, making it difficult to maintain their sense of self while reconciling with the hearing changes forced on them. When participants had positive role models who had experienced hearing loss, or mentors who had undergone cochlear implantation, it assisted them in navigating their changing hearing status. Thus, improved connection to peers sustained self-esteem and improved coping strategies.

Conclusions: The findings suggest hearing healthcare providers need to introduce a mentoring and support structure for connected care.