American Journal of Audiology最新文献

Purpose: Idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) is an otologic emergency with often unclear etiology. Vestibular migraine (VM) is a neurological disorder that may coexist with auditory symptoms and potentially affect hearing outcomes. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of VM in patients with idiopathic SSNHL and assess its impact on hearing recovery after treatment.

Method: Forty-three patients aged 20-71 years with idiopathic SSNHL were included. All underwent audiological evaluation and were assessed for VM using the Bárány Society criteria. Hearing recovery was evaluated based on Siegel criteria. Clinical features and hearing outcomes were compared between the VM and non-VM groups.

Results: VM was diagnosed in 10 (23.3%) patients and migraine in 14 (32.6%). The mean age was 52.5 ± 14.0 years in the VM group and 44.7 ± 14.6 in the non-VM group. No significant differences were found between groups in age, gender, comorbidities, or baseline/posttreatment hearing thresholds (p > .05). Treatment response was also similar (p = .197).

Conclusions: VM is relatively frequent in patients with idiopathic SSNHL, but does not significantly influence hearing severity or recovery. Further studies with larger samples are needed to clarify the relationship between VM and SSNHL.

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the prevalence and risk factors of leisure noise-induced tinnitus among school-aged children and adolescents in Southern Brazil.

Method: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted with sixth-grade students from 32 municipal schools in Itajaí, Santa Catarina, Brazil. Data were collected using a validated questionnaire from the Dangerous Decibels program, assessing demographics, hearing habits, noise exposure, and related symptoms, such as hearing loss and tinnitus. Statistical analyses included descriptive and multivariate methods, with a significance level set at 5%. The final sample included 1,835 participants (997 boys, 838 girls; M_age = 11.5 ± 0.8 years).

Results: The overall prevalence of leisure noise-induced tinnitus was 72.15%. Multivariate analysis revealed significant associations between tinnitus and male gender (boys were 1.47 times more likely to report tinnitus than girls), older age, and a higher number of noise-related risk behaviors. However, no significant associations were found between tinnitus and socioeconomic risk factors or prior knowledge about noise exposure risks.

Conclusions: These findings reveal the high prevalence of leisure noise-induced tinnitus in this population, with male gender, older age, and increased engagement in noise-related activities as key risk factors. These results emphasize the need for targeted prevention strategies and educational initiatives to protect the hearing health of children and adolescents.

Purpose: The relation between cardiovascular health and hearing loss (HL) is unclear. This study examined the association between changes in cardiovascular health and HL in a well-characterized cohort of older adults.

Method: The Seniors-ENRICA-2 study is a cohort study of community-dwelling individuals aged 65 years or older. A total of 980 participants were examined longitudinally. Changes in cardiovascular health were evaluated through the Life's Essential 8 (LE8), which contains eight metrics: diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, sleep health, body mass index, blood lipids, blood glucose, and blood pressure. HL was defined as pure-tone average (PTA) > 15 dB-aHL in the better ear for standard frequency (0.5, 1, and 2 kHz), speech frequency (0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz), and high frequency (3, 4, and 8 kHz). Analyses were performed with logistic regression models adjusted for the main confounders.

Results: Over a median follow-up of 2.38 (SD = 0.27) years and after adjustment for potential confounders, including sociodemographic factors, lifestyle characteristics, cognitive impairment, and comorbidities, an association was observed between an increase of ≥ 4% in the LE8 score and HL in speech frequency (OR [95% confidence interval] = 0.57 [0.37, 0.89]) and high-frequency PTA (0.56 [0.33, 0.96]). No association was observed for the standard PTA. Among all the metrics included, diet and physical activity showed greater impact on the association.

Conclusion: Greater adherence to behaviors and health factors such as those included in the LE8 score was associated with lower prevalence of HL in older adults.

Supplemental material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.31158406.

Purpose: This study examined the impact of music tempo and mode on hearing performance, hypothesizing that listening to happy music (fast tempo, major mode) would improve hearing performance in noise.

Method: Sixty-three normal-hearing subjects aged 18-35 years were included. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: happy music, sad music, or control (no music). The happy music group listened to fast-tempo music (> 120 beats per minute [bpm]) in the major mode, whereas the sad music group listened to slow-tempo music (< 80 bpm) in the minor mode. The control group did not listen to music. The Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) and the Audible Contrast Threshold (ACT) test were administered before and immediately after the music tracks. Speech reception thresholds under different HINT conditions (noise front, noise right, and noise left) and audible contrast thresholds from the ACT test were determined and compared.

Results: Both HINT and ACT test results differed significantly across groups depending on music tempo and mode. Post hoc analyses revealed a significant improvement in performance on the HINT noise front, HINT noise right, and ACT after listening to happy music. In contrast, a significant decline in the HINT noise-left performance was observed after listening to sad music.

Conclusions: The findings indicate that listening to fast-tempo music in the major mode can positively affect hearing performance in noise. Furthermore, the results highlight the potential importance of incorporating music and music-based programs into auditory-cognitive development and rehabilitation.

Purpose: The aim of this scoping review was to examine key elements of school-based hearing conservation programs (HCPs) for children and adolescents, with a focus on intervention program components, delivery strategies, outcome measures, and reported results. This review serves as a preliminary step in developing an HCP for children and adolescents.

Method: Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines, four bibliographic databases were searched to identify relevant articles. After screening titles, abstracts, and full texts against the eligibility criteria, seven studies were included in the review.

Results: The included studies addressed a range of themes, several of which were informed by health behavior theories. Most interventions were conducted in classroom settings by members of the research team. These interventions typically comprised one or two sessions of less than 60 min, using various delivery methods. Outcomes were assessed primarily through questionnaires, with study designs commonly following a pretest-intervention-posttest format; some studies also incorporated short-term follow-up assessments. Findings revealed that older students showed more resistance to behavior change.

Conclusions: Program effectiveness was strongly associated with multiple, repeated intervention sessions; various delivery modalities; and long-term follow-up. Moreover, early intervention is particularly important, as younger children demonstrate better long-term retention than adolescents.

Purpose: The benefits of digital signal-processing features, such as noise reduction (NR) and frequency compression (FC), differ among individuals. This study aimed to explore the impact of deactivating NR and FC on hearing aid (HA) benefit, acknowledging the complexity of interindividual variability.

Method: Thirty-two first-time HA users were assigned to three groups: a control group with no feature changes (n = 10, mean age [MA] = 68.40 years), an NR-off group (n = 11, MA = 65.82 years), and an FC-off group (n = 11, MA = 66.82 years). Two test sessions were separated by about 4 weeks of acclimatization. Session 1 included baseline assessments (cognition, speech understanding, subjective measures) using initial HA settings, followed by immediate speech understanding reassessment after group allocation. In Session 2, speech understanding and subjective outcomes were reassessed. Wilcoxon signed-ranks and Kruskal-Wallis tests examined within-group and between-groups differences.

Results: No significant effects of NR or FC on speech understanding or subjective measures were observed, but small trends emerged. Subjective improvements were most consistent in the control group. Tentative minor trends in subjective ratings suggested FC deactivation may be associated with declines in auditory-visual and psychosocial functioning and improvements in cognitive functioning, listening effort, and fatigue.

Conclusions: Exploratory patterns suggest FC may impact subjective outcomes differently, despite no significant effects being found. The findings further critically reflect the complexity of evaluating cognition-related HA benefit and emphasize the need for multidimensional research to guide individualized HA fitting.

Supplemental material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.31141591.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate factors related to hearing recovery in patients treated for idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL).

Method: This study included 36 participants (23 men, 13 women) diagnosed with unilateral SSNHL. The inclusion criteria required a confirmed diagnosis of unilateral SSNHL using standard pure-tone audiometry. Associated symptoms, such as new-onset dizziness and tinnitus in the affected ear, were recorded at the time of the initial audiometric evaluation. Information regarding treatment approaches and intensity was collected by chart review.

Results: Participants were classified into two groups based on posttreatment pure-tone averages (PTAs) and word recognition scores: recovery (n = 15) and nonrecovery (n = 21) groups. A logistic regression analysis identified that dizziness and pretreatment PTAs were the statistically significant factors associated with hearing recovery in this cohort.

Conclusions: It was found that the presence of dizziness and pretreatment PTAs were the significant factors associated with hearing recovery. The findings of this study indicate that patients presenting with vestibular symptoms and severe hearing loss should be considered at high risk for poor recovery.

Supplemental material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.31395753.

Purpose: This clinical focus article explores the role of interdisciplinary collaboration between audiologists and psychologists in managing hearing loss and cognitive decline as interconnected conditions. By employing the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework, the article systematically maps the roles and responsibilities of audiologists and psychologists to optimize patient outcomes.

Method: A structured methodology was used to align the ICF core set for hearing loss with interdisciplinary interventions, highlighting areas of individual and shared responsibility.

Results: Findings underscore the importance of an integrated care model, where audiologists focus on auditory rehabilitation and cognitive load reduction, while psychologists address the psychosocial and cognitive aspects of hearing loss.

Conclusion: A multidisciplinary approach that extends beyond audiology and psychology to include neurologists, occupational therapists, and general practitioners ensures comprehensive patient-centered care.

Purpose: Although some work has leveraged automated analyses of online communities to gain cochlear implant (CI) patient insights, there remains a gap in comparing human versus automated analysis of the nuanced, real-world experiences patients share outside clinical settings. This study characterizes experiences within the r/Cochlearimplants Reddit community and compares human to large language model (LLM) performance in annotating posts.

Method: Using reflexive thematic analysis, 996 publicly available r/Cochlearimplants posts (October 2024-June 2025) were manually coded and consolidated into themes. Three LLMs-OpenAI o3, Gemini 2.5 Pro, and Claude Sonnet 4-were prompted with the posts and human-generated codebook to perform post categorization. Model performance was evaluated against human coding using Cohen's kappa, percent agreement, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and time.

Results: Five themes emerged. Community engagement and support (N = 944, 94.8%) frequently involved eliciting advice (N = 721, 72.4%), seeking shared experiences (N = 249, 25.0%), and sharing negative experiences (N = 247, 24.8%). Other themes included the medical/surgical journey (N = 463, 46.5%), device/technical issues (N = 343, 34.4%), daily life/adjustments (N = 236, 23.7%), and media/outreach (7.2%, N = 72). OpenAI o3 and Gemini 2.5 Pro achieved the highest interrater reliability with human annotators (κ = .35 and κ = .34, respectively). OpenAI o3 had higher sensitivity (46.7%) but lower specificity (90.4%) than Gemini 2.5 Pro, which had the highest specificity (93.4%) but lower sensitivity (38.0%). Claude Sonnet 4 showed the lowest agreement (κ = .25) and PPV (30.9%). Compared to human annotation requiring 52 hr across all annotators, each LLM required less than 20 min.

Conclusions: Reddit posts revealed rich discourse across CI topics. LLMs demonstrated fair agreement with human coders and can quickly aid in large-scale qualitative analysis. Although careful model selection and human expertise remain essential for accurate interpretation, LLM annotation shows potential for real-time monitoring of patient concerns to inform counseling, rehabilitation strategies, and iterative device design.

Supplemental material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.31362847.

Purpose: Although age-related auditory changes are well recognized, limited studies have examined how aging affects middle ear mechanics, which can be assessed using wideband tympanometry (WBT). Unlike conventional tympanometry, WBT offers frequency-specific insights into middle ear acoustic transfer function. Ethnic differences in the anatomy of the external and middle ear such as canal length, ossicular dimensions, and stapes configuration may influence acoustic transmission. This study aimed to investigate the effect of aging on middle ear absorbance across frequencies using WBT.

Method: A nonexperimental, standard group comparison design was used to test 60 ears from older adults (50-70 years of age) and young adults (20-30 years of age) with clinically normal hearing. Wideband absorbance was measured using click stimuli (0.2-8 kHz) at 100 dB peSPL under both ambient and peak pressure. Data were analyzed using mixed repeated-measures analysis of variance to assess the main and interaction effects of group, gender, frequency, and pressure condition; independent t test for between-group comparisons at each frequency; and paired t test between pressure within-group comparisons.

Results: Both groups showed a similar wideband absorbance pattern. However, older adults exhibited a significantly higher absorbance at low frequencies (250-600 Hz) and a lower absorbance at high frequencies (2000-8000 Hz) compared to young adults. These differences indicate age-related alterations in middle ear mechanics, likely due to ossicular joint loosening and tissue degeneration. Pressure-related absorbance changes were more pronounced in younger adults at low to mid frequencies, suggesting that middle ear function in this group is more sensitive to pressure variations. Moreover, gender did not show a significant main effect on absorbance across frequencies.

Conclusions: WBT appears to be a sensitive tool to detect subtle age-related changes that may not be evident with conventional tympanometry. The findings offer insights into age-related middle ear changes and suggest possible modification that might be considered during hearing aid fitting in older adults. Additionally, it also suggests that gender may not be a significant factor in assessing middle ear transfer function.