Electro-acoustic Pitch Matching Experiments in Patients with Single-Sided Deafness and a Cochlear Implant Is there a need for adjustment of the default frequency allocation tables?

Publication date: Available online 24 October 2016
Source:Hearing Research
Author(s): Jeroen P.M. Peters, Edwin Bennink, Wilko Grolman, Gijsbert A. van Zanten
Patients with single-sided deafness (SSD) and a cochlear implant (CI) can compare the pitch of stimulated electrodes and acoustic tones. A pitch mismatch may negatively bear on the fusion of the signals from the two ears, which may limit auditory performance. We aimed to explore this mismatch, correlate it to performance, and finally to discuss its possible clinical consequences.Ten patients with SSD and a CI (Cochlear Ltd.) compared the pitch of electrical and acoustic stimuli. Patients had to choose one of two acoustic stimuli, with the pitch closest to the pitch of the electrical stimulus at electrodes 3, 7, 11, 15, and 19. The difference between the two acoustic stimuli iteratively decreased from 2 octaves to 1/8 octave, resulting in a “pitch match” per electrode. Furthermore, we computed the insertion angle of the CI electrode array based on high-resolution computed-tomography scans. Consequently, we created frequency-place maps. The difference between our pitch matches and two references (the spiral ganglion map and the default frequency allocation by Cochlear Ltd.) was defined as “mismatch”.We observed large intra- and intersubject variability. Following the tonotopic organization of the cochlea, we observed that the pitch matches decreased with increasing insertion angle. The pitch-matched frequencies were on average 2.0 and 1.3 octaves lower than the spiral ganglion map and the default frequency allocation, respectively. There was no significant correlation between performance (consonant-vowel-consonant phoneme recognition score) and mismatch (R² = 0.06, P>0.1).Given the methodological considerations, and the insignificant correlation between mismatch and performance, pitch matching results must not necessarily lead to a change in clinical fitting strategies.



from #Audiology via xlomafota13 on Inoreader http://ift.tt/2eEnlp8
via IFTTT

Startling A Spider

Jumping spiders, a favorite of ours around this time of this year on the occasion of Halloween, were thought to be primarily visual creatures. And why would they not be? These spiders have four pairs of eyes giving them near 360-degree vision and even the ability to see ultraviolet light, some say. A recent, and accidental, discovery now tells us that these animals can also hear airborne sounds from as far away as 10 feet.

Tweet

from #Audiology via xlomafota13 on Inoreader http://ift.tt/2dPwgUG
via IFTTT

Long-Term Noise Exposures: A Brief Review

Publication date: Available online 22 October 2016
Source:Hearing Research
Author(s): Rickie Davis




from #Audiology via xlomafota13 on Inoreader http://ift.tt/2eFSuX1
via IFTTT

Long-Term Noise Exposures: A Brief Review

Publication date: Available online 22 October 2016
Source:Hearing Research
Author(s): Rickie Davis




from #Audiology via ola Kala on Inoreader http://ift.tt/2eFSuX1
via IFTTT

Long-Term Noise Exposures: A Brief Review

Publication date: Available online 22 October 2016
Source:Hearing Research
Author(s): Rickie Davis




from #Audiology via ola Kala on Inoreader http://ift.tt/2eFSuX1
via IFTTT

'Yarning up with Koori kids' - hearing the voices of Australian urban Indigenous children about their health and well-being.

'Yarning up with Koori kids' - hearing the voices of Australian urban Indigenous children about their health and well-being.

Ethn Health. 2016 Oct 21;:1-17

Authors: Priest N, Thompson L, Mackean T, Baker A, Waters E

Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Australian Indigenous children experience some of the most substantial health inequalities globally. In this context, research regarding their health and well-being has overemphasised physical illnesses with limited exploration of a diverse range of dimensions and determinants, particularly those based on Indigenous holistic understandings of health and well-being. This deficit-based approach has thus missed many strengths and assets of Indigenous children. This research aimed to gain insight into the perspectives of Indigenous children about their health and well-being in an urban setting in Australia. It joins a limited international literature examining views and experiences of non-majority children.
DESIGN: Participatory and qualitative child-friendly research methods were utilised. The project was developed in partnership with Indigenous community organisations and members. Photo-elicitation activities and focus groups were conducted with 31 Indigenous children aged 8-12 years. Qualitative data were analysed thematically, combining focus group and interview data.
RESULTS: It was evident an urban Indigenous child perspective of health and well-being includes rich understandings of the interconnectedness of physical, social-emotional and cultural dimensions of holism, as well as the integral importance of family and community relationships. The study also found that specific worries regarding loss of loved ones and racism were highly salient in Indigenous children's lives.
CONCLUSION: The overwhelming conclusion to be drawn from this research is that Indigenous children in urban areas need ongoing recognition of both their agency and resilience in the face of adversity, within a wider context of historical and contemporary racialisation and racism.

PMID: 27764969 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

from #Audiology via xlomafota13 on Inoreader http://ift.tt/2eglk3b
via IFTTT

Spectral Ripple Discrimination in Normal-Hearing Infants.

Objectives: Spectral resolution is a correlate of open-set speech understanding in postlingually deaf adults and prelingually deaf children who use cochlear implants (CIs). To apply measures of spectral resolution to assess device efficacy in younger CI users, it is necessary to understand how spectral resolution develops in normal-hearing children. In this study, spectral ripple discrimination (SRD) was used to measure listeners' sensitivity to a shift in phase of the spectral envelope of a broadband noise. Both resolution of peak to peak location (frequency resolution) and peak to trough intensity (across-channel intensity resolution) are required for SRD. Design: SRD was measured as the highest ripple density (in ripples per octave) for which a listener could discriminate a 90[degrees] shift in phase of the sinusoidally-modulated amplitude spectrum. A 2 x 3 between-subjects design was used to assess the effects of age (7-month-old infants versus adults) and ripple peak/trough "depth" (10, 13, and 20 dB) on SRD in normal-hearing listeners (experiment 1). In experiment 2, SRD thresholds in the same age groups were compared using a task in which ripple starting phases were randomized across trials to obscure within-channel intensity cues. In experiment 3, the randomized starting phase method was used to measure SRD as a function of age (3-month-old infants, 7-month-old infants, and young adults) and ripple depth (10 and 20 dB in repeated measures design). Results: In experiment 1, there was a significant interaction between age and ripple depth. The infant SRDs were significantly poorer than the adult SRDs at 10 and 13 dB ripple depths but adult-like at 20 dB depth. This result is consistent with immature across-channel intensity resolution. In contrast, the trajectory of SRD as a function of depth was steeper for infants than adults suggesting that frequency resolution was better in infants than adults. However, in experiment 2 infant performance was significantly poorer than adults at 20 dB depth suggesting that variability of infants' use of within-channel intensity cues, rather than better frequency resolution, explained the results of experiment 1. In experiment 3, age effects were seen with both groups of infants showing poorer SRD than adults but, unlike experiment 1, no significant interaction between age and depth was seen. Conclusions: Measurement of SRD thresholds in individual 3 to 7-month-old infants is feasible. Performance of normal-hearing infants on SRD may be limited by across-channel intensity resolution despite mature frequency resolution. These findings have significant implications for design and stimulus choice for applying SRD for testing infants with CIs. The high degree of variability in infant SRD can be somewhat reduced by obscuring within-channel cues. Copyright (C) 2016 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

from #Audiology via xlomafota13 on Inoreader http://ift.tt/2efWpwr
via IFTTT