Journal of the American Academy of Audiology最新文献

Background: The Masseter Vestibular-Evoked Myogenic Potential (mVEMP) test evaluates the vestibulo-masseteric reflex neural pathway between the sound-stimulated saccule hair cells and the motor neurons of the trigeminal nerve.

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the contribution of mVEMP to the conclusive diagnosis of recurrent vestibulopathy patients that were diagnosed with Possible Ménière's disease.

Methods: The study includes 20 healthy individuals aged 18-40 years and 20 patients that were diagnosed with possible Ménière's disease according to the American Academy of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS, 1995) Guidelines for the Definition of Ménière's Disease. In addition to the AAO-HNS, 1995 criteria, the presence of aural signs on the affected side was questioned according to the Meniere's criteria updated in 2015. mVEMP records were obtained by using surface electrodes placed on masseter muscles. Latency and amplitude values and asymmetry ratios of mVEMP waves were used for statistical analysis.

Results: Asymmetry ratios were 15.9±9.7% for the control group, and 60.61±45.52 for the experimental group, this difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). The absolute latency and amplitude results were not statistically different between groups (p>0.05).

Conclusion: As Murofishi (2001) stated in the literature, cervical VEMP/ocular VEMP latencies were not affected in peripheral pathologies, and in our study, no difference was observed between the groups in mVEMP latencies. The findings of our study showed that asymmetry ratio and absence of waves should be used in the clinical evaluation of Possible Meniere's disease. We conclude that mVEMP can be used to determine the lateralization of vestibular disorders and to support the presence of a vestibular pathology. mVEMP can contribute to the vestibular test battery.

Background: There have been conflicting results on the effect of auditory stimulation on the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) with some studies indicating suppression, enhancement, or no effect. No studies to date have assessed the effect of sound source location on VOR gain or the relationship between spatial hearing ability and VOR gain.

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to determine if VOR gain was affected by moving the location of the sound source within participants and to determine if these effects were related to spatial hearing ability.

Research design: A between subjects repeated measures experimental design was utilized.

Study sample: Two groups of participants (adult and child) with normal otologic, vestibular, and neurologic function. 22 adults (20 female and 2 male; average age = 23 years) and 16 children (9 female and 7 male; average age = 7.5 years) were included in data analysis.

Data collection and analysis: VOR gain was measured using rotational chair stimulation in the following auditory conditions: silent, insert earphones, external loudspeaker at 0° azimuth rotating with participant, and external stationary speaker. Localization ability was measured using root mean square (RMS) error.

Results: Results indicated a significant effect for sound source location on VOR gain and VOR difference gain in both groups. RMS error was positively correlated for the moving and fixed sound source locations for both adults and children.

Conclusion: VOR gain was significantly affected by location of the sound source. Findings suggest the presence and location of an auditory stimulus during rotational testing can alter results during the assessment.

Background: In literature, the cognitive performance results of normal hearing individuals with tinnitus are inconsistent. It also differs in the control of other factors that may affect cognition.

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the differences in attention and memory performance between normal-hearing individuals with chronic subjective tinnitus and age-sex-education-matched healthy controls.

Study sample: Normal-hearing individuals with subjective chronic tinnitus between 18-55 years of age, who have normal cognitive abilities [tinnitus group, n=30] and age-sex matched normal hearing individuals without tinnitus who have normal cognitive abilities [control group, n=30] were included in this study.

Data collection: The Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test (MoCA-TR) measured participants' general cognitive screening, and depressive symptoms were measured by Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) was used to determine the tinnitus handicap levels. Attention performance was evaluated with Stroop Test-TBAG Form, and short-term and working memory performances were evaluated with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R)-Digit Span Test.

Results: The tinnitus and control groups' depressive symptom scores were similar concerning the BDI (p=0.90). There was no statistically significant difference between both groups according to the completion time of the five sections of the Stroop Test, the number of errors and corrections of the Stroop 5 test, and the (WAIS-R)-Digit Span Test scores (p>0.05).

Conclusions: In our study, the Stroop Test and Digit Span Test performances of individuals with tinnitus and normal hearing were similar to the control group. Despite previous studies claiming an effect of tinnitus on cognition, our contrary findings are discussed in the light of other demographic, audiological, and psychological measurement variables, especially hearing loss.

Background:  Saccadometry is an advanced ocular motor test battery that allows for the functional evaluation of the varied brain regions and circuits involved in the generation of fast, purposeful, and accurate saccadic eye movements. The test battery is composed of prosaccade (PS) and antisaccade (AS) tests that progressively increase cognitive demand. Existing saccadometry protocols qualitatively describe trends across the lifespan, but have not been widely adopted by clinicians.

Purpose:  The aims of this study are to design an efficient and simplified clinical saccadometry protocol using video oculography (VOG) equipment and establish associated evaluative standards across the lifespan.

Study sample:  Data were reported on 273 adults ages 18 to 69 years.

Results:  Evaluative data on four measures: directional error rate (DE), latency (Lat), peak velocity (Vel), and accuracy (Acc) during PS and AS measurements were provided. Age-group differences were found in Lat (p < 0.01) and Vel (p = 0.04) during PS and age-group differences were found in DE (p = 0.04), Lat (p < 0.01) and Vel (p < 0.01) during AS. Gender differences were found in DE (p = 0.01) and Lat (p < 0.01) during AS.

Conclusions:  This study established a standardized and time-efficient protocol with evaluative standards for individuals ages 18 to 69 years old to enable the use of saccadometry as an objective measure in the clinic. Saccadometry allows clinicians to look beyond the traditional saccade test and evaluate complex oculomotor and cognitive functions that will better help clinicians differentiate between peripheral and central diagnoses.

Background: Misophonia is a decreased tolerance of certain sounds related to eating noises, lip smacking, sniffing, breathing, clicking sounds, and tapping. While several validated self-report misophonia questionnaires exist, none focus solely on the impact of misophonia on the patient's life. Additionally, there are no available validated pediatric self-report measures of misophonia. Therefore, a tool was needed to assess the impact of misophonia on both adult and pediatric patients.

Purpose: To evaluate the psychometric properties of the 8-item Misophonia Impact Questionnaire (MIQ).

Research design: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study.

Study sample: Patients who attended the Tinnitus and Hyperacusis Therapy Specialist Clinic (THTSC) in the UK seeking help for tinnitus, hyperacusis and/or misophonia (n = 256). A subsample of children aged 16 years or younger (n=15) was included for preliminary analyses of a version of the MIQ to be filled in by a parent (MIQ-P).

Data collection and analysis: Data were collected retrospectively from the records of patients held at the audiology department. These included demographic data, audiological measures and self-report questionnaires taken as part of routine care. Descriptive statistics and psychometric analyses were conducted. The MIQ was analyzed for item difficulty, factor structure, reliability, and construct validity.

Results: Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that a one-factor model for the MIQ gave an excellent fit and its estimated reliability was excellent, with Cronbach's α = 0.94. The total MIQ scores were highly correlated with scores for the Hyperacusis Impact Questionnaire (HIQ) and Sound Sensitivity Symptoms Questionnaire (SSSQ). MIQ scores were not significantly correlated with scores for the Tinnitus Impact Questionnaire (TIQ) or average hearing thresholds. Preliminary data from the sub-sample indicated excellent internal consistency for the MIQ-P, with Cronbach's α = 0.92.

Conclusions: The MIQ is a promising questionnaire for assessing the impact of misophonia. Future studies should focus on establishing test/re-test reliability, identifying clinically significant change in MIQ scores, defining the severity of misophonia impact categories, and further exploring the psychometric properties of the MIQ-P.

Background: The Dichotic Digits Test (DDT) evaluates central auditory nervous system (CANS) dysfunction. The DDT is widely used in audiology clinics worldwide because it is clinically efficient and has good sensitivity and specificity for CANS lesions. However, the DDT shows a strong ceiling effect, which can mitigate its ability to detect subtle CANS dysfunction.

Purpose: This study examines the effects of adding monaural and binaural speech-spectrum noise to the DDT in an effort to make the test more taxing to the CANS and thereby reduce the observed ceiling effect.

Research design: This was an experimental repeated measures study.

Study sample: The participants were 20 adults aged 18-50 years with normal, bilaterally symmetric peripheral hearing sensitivity.

Data collection and analysis: Each participant was administered one standard DDT test list (no noise added) and DDT test lists with binaural, monaural right, and monaural left noise added. For each of the noise-added conditions, lists were administered at two different signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), for a grand total of seven DDT test lists per participant, presented in randomized order. Monaural and binaural noise effects on DDT scoring indices (Right and Left Ear Percent Correct Scores, Combined Total Percent Correct Scores, and Dichotic Difference Scores), as well as noise effects on the Right Ear Advantage (REA) for speech, were examined. Mixed model analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were used to examine fixed effects and interactions of Noise Condition and Ear.

Results: Adding noise to the standard DDT systematically reduced Right and Left Ear Percent Correct Scores and Combined Total Percent Correct Scores. Statistically significant differences on all indices were found between monaural and binaural noise-added conditions, suggesting a possible advantage for binaural listening in noise.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that adding noise to tests of dichotic listening increases the difficulty of the task, and that further investigation of dichotic listening patterns in noise could potentially lead to more sensitive clinical evaluations of CANS integrity and function.

Background: Speech recognition in adult cochlear implant (CI) users is typically assessed using sentence materials with low talker variability. Little is known about the effects of talker variability on speech recognition in adult CI users, the factors underlying individual differences in speech recognition with high talker variability, or how sentence materials with high talker variability could be utilized clinically.

Purpose: To examine the effects of talker variability on sentence recognition in adult CI users, using sentences from the Perceptually Robust English Sentence Test Open-Set (PRESTO), and to examine the relation between working memory capacity and high-variability speech recognition.

Research design: Postlingually deafened adult CI users and normal-hearing (NH) listeners under CI simulation completed sentence recognition tests that contained varying levels of talker variability, including HINT (low-variability), AzBio (moderate-variability), and PRESTO sentences (high-variability). The tasks were completed in both quiet and multi-talker babble (MTB). For the adult CI users only, the relation between sentence recognition accuracy and working memory capacity was assessed.

Study sample: Twenty postlingually deafened adult CI users and 35 NH adults under 8-channel acoustic noise-vocoder simulations of CI hearing.

Results: In both CI and NH groups, performance decreased as a function of increased talker variability, with the best scores obtained on HINT (low-variability), then AzBio (moderate-variability), followed by PRESTO (high-variability) in quiet. In MTB, performance was significantly lower on PRESTO sentences, compared to HINT and AzBio sentences, which were not significantly different. Working memory capacity in the CI users was related to sentence recognition accuracy across all materials and conditions.

Conclusions: Findings from the current study suggest that the increased talker variability in the PRESTO sentence materials has a detrimental effect on speech recognition in both adult CI users and NH listeners under CI simulation, particularly when speech is further degraded by MTB. For adult CI users, working memory capacity contributes to speech recognition abilities. Sentence recognition testing with high-variability, multi-talker materials, as in PRESTO, provides robust assessment of speech recognition abilities for research and clinical application, generating a wide range of scores for evaluating individual differences without ceiling effects when compared to conventional low-variability sentences.

Background The CE-Chirp stimulus used in the ABR was developed to compensate for the cochlear wave delay. As a version of broadband CE-Chirp stimulus, the use of level-specific (LS) CE-Chirp stimuli, which are created with varying delay models suitable for the intensity levels at which the sound is transmitted, is becoming increasingly common. Purpose The aim of this study was to compare click auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) with LS CE-Chirp ABR thresholds in adults with sensorineural hearing loss. Research Design The research is a cross-sectional-analytical research. Study Sample Twenty-two adult patients (n = 44 ears) with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss were included in the study. Data Collection and Analysis Pure Tone Audiometry (PTA), click ABR and LS CE-Chirp ABR tests were performed on adult (13 male, 9 female) (42.86± 14.50 years) patients with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. Click ABR and LS CE-Chirp ABR thresholds were compared in terms of proximity to behavioral hearing thresholds of 2 kHz, 4 kHz, and 2-4 kHz averages. Results: Both types of ABR stimuli were able to identify with total hearing loss (n = 6). A statistically significant difference was found between LS CE-Chirp ABR thresholds (53.81±20.28 dB nHL) and click ABR thresholds (58.81±19.11 dB nHL) in the other ears (n = 38) with hearing loss (p=0.00). When both ears were evaluated together and the right and left ears were evaluated separately, no difference was found between LS CE-Chirp ABR thresholds and 4 kHz behavioral hearing thresholds (p: 0.66, p:0.80, p: 0.69, respectively). Conclusion: We determined that in adults with hearing loss, the LS CE-Chirp provides ABR thresholds closer to the behavioral hearing thresholds of 2 kHz, 4 kHz compared to the click stimulus. Notably, there was no difference between LS CE-Chirp ABR thresholds and the 4 kHz behavioral hearing thresholds. We concluded that the LS CE-Chirp stimulus can be used effectively in the estimation of behavioral hearing thresholds in adults with hearing loss Keywords: Auditory Brainstem Response, Hearing loss, Click, Level specific CE-Chirp.