Visual Temporal Acuity Is Related to Auditory Speech Perception Abilities in Cochlear Implant Users.

Objectives: Despite significant improvements in speech perception abilities following cochlear implantation, many prelingually deafened cochlear implant (CI) recipients continue to rely heavily on visual information to develop speech and language. Increased reliance on visual cues for understanding spoken language could lead to the development of unique audiovisual integration and visual-only processing abilities in these individuals. Brain imaging studies have demonstrated that good CI performers, as indexed by auditory-only speech perception abilities, have different patterns of visual cortex activation in response to visual and auditory stimuli as compared with poor CI performers. However, no studies have examined whether speech perception performance is related to any type of visual processing abilities following cochlear implantation. The purpose of the present study was to provide a preliminary examination of the relationship between clinical, auditory-only speech perception tests, and visual temporal acuity in prelingually deafened adult CI users. It was hypothesized that prelingually deafened CI users, who exhibit better (i.e., more acute) visual temporal processing abilities would demonstrate better auditory-only speech perception performance than those with poorer visual temporal acuity. Design: Ten prelingually deafened adult CI users were recruited for this study. Participants completed a visual temporal order judgment task to quantify visual temporal acuity. To assess auditory-only speech perception abilities, participants completed the consonant-nucleus-consonant word recognition test and the AzBio sentence recognition test. Results were analyzed using two-tailed partial Pearson correlations, Spearman's rho correlations, and independent samples t tests. Results: Visual temporal acuity was significantly correlated with auditory-only word and sentence recognition abilities. In addition, proficient CI users, as assessed via auditory-only speech perception performance, demonstrated significantly better visual temporal acuity than nonproficient CI users. Conclusions: These findings provide the first behavioral evidence that visual temporal acuity is related to post implantation CI proficiency as indexed by auditory-only speech perception performance. These preliminary data bring to light the possible future role of visual temporal acuity in predicting CI outcomes before implantation, as well as the possible utility of visual training methods in improving CI outcomes. Copyright (C) 2016 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Smartphone-Based Hearing Screening at Primary Health Care Clinics.

Objective: To evaluate the performance of smartphone-based hearing screening with the hearScreen(TM) application in terms of sensitivity, specificity, referral rates, and time efficiency at two primary health care clinics. Design: Nonprobability purposive sampling was used at both clinics. A total of 1236 participants (mean age: 37.8 +/- SD 17.9 and range 3 to 97 years; 71.3% female) were included in the final analysis. Participants were screened using the hearScreen(TM) application following a two-step screening protocol and diagnostic pure-tone audiometry to confirm hearing status. Results: Sensitivity and specificity for smartphone screening was 81.7 and 83.1%, respectively, with a positive and negative predictive value of 87.6 and 75.6%, respectively. Sex [[chi]2(1, N = 126) = 0.304, p > 0.05] and race [[chi]2(1, N = 126) = 0.169, p > 0.05)] had no significant effect on screening outcome for children while for adults age (p

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Visual Temporal Acuity Is Related to Auditory Speech Perception Abilities in Cochlear Implant Users.

Objectives: Despite significant improvements in speech perception abilities following cochlear implantation, many prelingually deafened cochlear implant (CI) recipients continue to rely heavily on visual information to develop speech and language. Increased reliance on visual cues for understanding spoken language could lead to the development of unique audiovisual integration and visual-only processing abilities in these individuals. Brain imaging studies have demonstrated that good CI performers, as indexed by auditory-only speech perception abilities, have different patterns of visual cortex activation in response to visual and auditory stimuli as compared with poor CI performers. However, no studies have examined whether speech perception performance is related to any type of visual processing abilities following cochlear implantation. The purpose of the present study was to provide a preliminary examination of the relationship between clinical, auditory-only speech perception tests, and visual temporal acuity in prelingually deafened adult CI users. It was hypothesized that prelingually deafened CI users, who exhibit better (i.e., more acute) visual temporal processing abilities would demonstrate better auditory-only speech perception performance than those with poorer visual temporal acuity. Design: Ten prelingually deafened adult CI users were recruited for this study. Participants completed a visual temporal order judgment task to quantify visual temporal acuity. To assess auditory-only speech perception abilities, participants completed the consonant-nucleus-consonant word recognition test and the AzBio sentence recognition test. Results were analyzed using two-tailed partial Pearson correlations, Spearman's rho correlations, and independent samples t tests. Results: Visual temporal acuity was significantly correlated with auditory-only word and sentence recognition abilities. In addition, proficient CI users, as assessed via auditory-only speech perception performance, demonstrated significantly better visual temporal acuity than nonproficient CI users. Conclusions: These findings provide the first behavioral evidence that visual temporal acuity is related to post implantation CI proficiency as indexed by auditory-only speech perception performance. These preliminary data bring to light the possible future role of visual temporal acuity in predicting CI outcomes before implantation, as well as the possible utility of visual training methods in improving CI outcomes. Copyright (C) 2016 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Smartphone-Based Hearing Screening at Primary Health Care Clinics.

Objective: To evaluate the performance of smartphone-based hearing screening with the hearScreen(TM) application in terms of sensitivity, specificity, referral rates, and time efficiency at two primary health care clinics. Design: Nonprobability purposive sampling was used at both clinics. A total of 1236 participants (mean age: 37.8 +/- SD 17.9 and range 3 to 97 years; 71.3% female) were included in the final analysis. Participants were screened using the hearScreen(TM) application following a two-step screening protocol and diagnostic pure-tone audiometry to confirm hearing status. Results: Sensitivity and specificity for smartphone screening was 81.7 and 83.1%, respectively, with a positive and negative predictive value of 87.6 and 75.6%, respectively. Sex [[chi]2(1, N = 126) = 0.304, p > 0.05] and race [[chi]2(1, N = 126) = 0.169, p > 0.05)] had no significant effect on screening outcome for children while for adults age (p

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Visual Temporal Acuity Is Related to Auditory Speech Perception Abilities in Cochlear Implant Users.

Objectives: Despite significant improvements in speech perception abilities following cochlear implantation, many prelingually deafened cochlear implant (CI) recipients continue to rely heavily on visual information to develop speech and language. Increased reliance on visual cues for understanding spoken language could lead to the development of unique audiovisual integration and visual-only processing abilities in these individuals. Brain imaging studies have demonstrated that good CI performers, as indexed by auditory-only speech perception abilities, have different patterns of visual cortex activation in response to visual and auditory stimuli as compared with poor CI performers. However, no studies have examined whether speech perception performance is related to any type of visual processing abilities following cochlear implantation. The purpose of the present study was to provide a preliminary examination of the relationship between clinical, auditory-only speech perception tests, and visual temporal acuity in prelingually deafened adult CI users. It was hypothesized that prelingually deafened CI users, who exhibit better (i.e., more acute) visual temporal processing abilities would demonstrate better auditory-only speech perception performance than those with poorer visual temporal acuity. Design: Ten prelingually deafened adult CI users were recruited for this study. Participants completed a visual temporal order judgment task to quantify visual temporal acuity. To assess auditory-only speech perception abilities, participants completed the consonant-nucleus-consonant word recognition test and the AzBio sentence recognition test. Results were analyzed using two-tailed partial Pearson correlations, Spearman's rho correlations, and independent samples t tests. Results: Visual temporal acuity was significantly correlated with auditory-only word and sentence recognition abilities. In addition, proficient CI users, as assessed via auditory-only speech perception performance, demonstrated significantly better visual temporal acuity than nonproficient CI users. Conclusions: These findings provide the first behavioral evidence that visual temporal acuity is related to post implantation CI proficiency as indexed by auditory-only speech perception performance. These preliminary data bring to light the possible future role of visual temporal acuity in predicting CI outcomes before implantation, as well as the possible utility of visual training methods in improving CI outcomes. Copyright (C) 2016 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Midbrain Synchrony to Envelope Structure Supports Behavioral Sensitivity to Single-Formant Vowel-Like Sounds in Noise

Abstract

Vowels make a strong contribution to speech perception under natural conditions. Vowels are encoded in the auditory nerve primarily through neural synchrony to temporal fine structure and to envelope fluctuations rather than through average discharge rate. Neural synchrony is thought to contribute less to vowel coding in central auditory nuclei, consistent with more limited synchronization to fine structure and the emergence of average-rate coding of envelope fluctuations. However, this hypothesis is largely unexplored, especially in background noise. The present study examined coding mechanisms at the level of the midbrain that support behavioral sensitivity to simple vowel-like sounds using neurophysiological recordings and matched behavioral experiments in the budgerigar. Stimuli were harmonic tone complexes with energy concentrated at one spectral peak, or formant frequency, presented in quiet and in noise. Behavioral thresholds for formant-frequency discrimination decreased with increasing amplitude of stimulus envelope fluctuations, increased in noise, and were similar between budgerigars and humans. Multiunit recordings in awake birds showed that the midbrain encodes vowel-like sounds both through response synchrony to envelope structure and through average rate. Whereas neural discrimination thresholds based on either coding scheme were sufficient to support behavioral thresholds in quiet, only synchrony-based neural thresholds could account for behavioral thresholds in background noise. These results reveal an incomplete transformation to average-rate coding of vowel-like sounds in the midbrain. Model simulations suggest that this transformation emerges due to modulation tuning, which is shared between birds and mammals. Furthermore, the results underscore the behavioral relevance of envelope synchrony in the midbrain for detection of small differences in vowel formant frequency under real-world listening conditions.

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Effects of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) on the Cochlear Nucleus in Cats Deafened as Neonates

Publication date: Available online 20 October 2016
Source:Hearing Research
Author(s): Cherian K. Kandathil, Olga Stakhovskaya, Patricia A. Leake




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