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Moving at the Speed of Sound: Scientific Innovation in Auditory Research.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19737798 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Trends in Amplification)
Source: Trends in Amplification - September 6, 2009 Category: Audiology Authors: Limb C Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Filtering to Match Hearing Aid Insertion Gain to Individual Ear Acoustics.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article describes how such a filter can be generated using the windowing method, and the principle is demonstrated in a real ear.The approach requires communication between the real-ear measurement and hearing aid programming software.A finite impulse response filter with group delay just over 2 ms matched insertion gain to target values within the acceptable tolerance defined by British Society of Audiology guidelines. PMID: 19713209 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Trends in Amplification)
Source: Trends in Amplification - August 25, 2009 Category: Audiology Authors: Bell SL Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

The Effects of Bilateral Electric and Bimodal Electric-Acoustic Stimulation on Language Development.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study evaluated one aspect of treatment that might be modified, that having to do with bilateral implants and bimodal stimulation. A total of 58 children with at least one implant were tested at 42 months of age on four language measures spanning a continuum from basic to generative in nature. When children were grouped by the kind of stimulation they had at 42 months (one implant, bilateral implants, or bimodal stimulation), no differences across groups were observed. This was true even when groups were constrained to only children who had at least 12 months to acclimatize to their stimulation configuration. However,...
Source: Trends in Amplification - August 25, 2009 Category: Audiology Authors: Nittrouer S, Chapman C Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Effects of high-rate pulse trains on electrode discrimination in cochlear implant users.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Overcoming issues related to abnormally high neural synchrony in response to electrical stimulation is one aspect in improving hearing with a cochlear implant. Desynchronization of electrical stimuli have shown benefits in neural encoding of electrical signals and improvements in psychophysical tasks. In the present study, 10 participants with either CII or HiRes 90k Advanced Bionics devices were tested for the effects of desynchronizing constant-amplitude high-rate (5,000 Hz) pulse trains on electrode discrimination of sinusoidal stimuli (1,000 Hz). When averaged across the sinusoidal dynamic range, overall improvemen...
Source: Trends in Amplification - May 31, 2009 Category: Audiology Authors: Runge-Samuelson CL Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Frequency-lowering devices for managing high-frequency hearing loss: a review.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Frequency-lowering technology has been around for decades. The primary aim--namely, that of providing high-frequency information to those with severe high-frequency hearing loss--addresses a clinical need most conventional hearing devices are still unable to provide. Early studies with frequency-lowering technology reported mostly unfavorable results, and the devices never gained clinical popularity. However, as hearing aid (HA) technology becomes ever more sophisticated, it is appropriate to reconsider whether frequency-lowering HAs should be an amplification choice in those with high-frequency hearing loss. Recent re...
Source: Trends in Amplification - May 31, 2009 Category: Audiology Authors: Simpson A Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Two ears and two (or more?) devices: a pediatric case study of bilateral profound hearing loss.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Advances in technology and expanding candidacy guidelines have motivated many clinics to consider children with precipitously sloping high-frequency hearing loss as candidates for cochlear implants (CIs). A case study is presented of a pediatric CI patient whose hearing thresholds were preserved within 10 dB of preimplant levels (125-750 Hz) after receiving a fully inserted 31.5-mm electrode array at one ear. The primary goal of this study was to explore the possible benefit of using both a hearing aid (HA) and a CI at one ear while using a HA at the opposite ear. The authors find that although the use of bilateral hea...
Source: Trends in Amplification - May 31, 2009 Category: Audiology Authors: Uchanski RM, Davidson LS, Quadrizius S, Reeder R, Cadieux J, Kettel J, Chole RA Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Soft cochlear implantation: rationale for the surgical approach.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Recent advances in cochlear implant technology have focused renewed attention on the preservation of residual hearing. The focus on preservation of residual hearing is driven by the concept of electroacoustic stimulation. This option depends on the insertion of a short cochlear implant electrode into the basal region of the cochlea while preserving native function in the apical region. The desire to preserve residual hearing has led to the development of the soft-surgery cochlear implantation technique. Here, the authors evaluate its various components. Avoiding entry of blood into the cochlea and the use of hyaluronat...
Source: Trends in Amplification - May 31, 2009 Category: Audiology Authors: Friedland DR, Runge-Samuelson C Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

User Evaluation of a Communication System That Automatically Generates Captions to Improve Telephone Communication.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study examined the subjective benefit obtained from automatically generated captions during telephone-speech comprehension in the presence of babble noise. Short stories were presented by telephone either with or without captions that were generated offline by an automatic speech recognition (ASR) system. To simulate online ASR, the word accuracy (WA) level of the captions was 60% or 70% and the text was presented delayed to the speech. After each test, the hearing impaired participants (n = 20) completed the NASA-Task Load Index and several rating scales evaluating the support from the captions. Participants indicate...
Source: Trends in Amplification - January 5, 2009 Category: Audiology Authors: Zekveld AA, Kramer S, Kessens J, Vlaming M, Houtgast T Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Review of the Literature on Temporal Resolution in Listeners With Cochlear Hearing Impairment : A Critical Assessment of the Role of Suprathreshold Deficits.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
A critical review of studies of temporal resolution in listeners with cochlear hearing impairment is presented with the aim of assessing evidence for suprathreshold deficits. Particular attention is paid to the roles of variables-such as stimulus audibility, overall stimulus level, and participant's age-which may complicate the interpretation of experimental findings in comparing the performance of hearing-impaired (HI) and normal-hearing (NH) listeners. On certain temporal tasks (e.g., gap detection), the performance of HI listeners appears to be degraded relative to that of NH listeners when compared at equal SPL (so...
Source: Trends in Amplification - December 11, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Reed CM, Braida L, Zurek P Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Evaluating the benefit of hearing AIDS in solving the cocktail party problem.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The benefit of wearing hearing aids in multitalker, reverberant listening environments was evaluated in a study of speech-on-speech masking with two groups of listeners with hearing loss (younger/older). Listeners selectively attended a known spatial location in two room conditions (low/high reverberation) and identified target speech in the presence of two competing talkers that were either colocated or symmetrically spatially separated from the target. The amount of spatial release from masking (SRM) with bilateral aids was similar to that when listening unaided at or near an equivalent sensation level and was negati...
Source: Trends in Amplification - November 19, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Marrone N, Mason CR, Kidd G Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Selective Attention in Normal and Impaired Hearing.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article reviews how normal- hearing listeners cope in such settings, especially how they focus attention on a source of interest. Results of experiments with normal-hearing listeners suggest that the ability to selectively attend depends on the ability to analyze the acoustic scene and to form perceptual auditory objects properly. Unfortunately, sound features important for auditory object formation may not be robustly encoded in the auditory periphery of HL listeners. In turn, impaired auditory object formation may interfere with the ability to filter out competing sound sources. Peripheral degradations are also like...
Source: Trends in Amplification - October 30, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Shinn-Cunningham BG, Best V Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Pitch Perception and Auditory Stream Segregation: Implications for Hearing Loss and Cochlear Implants.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article reviews some basic aspects of pitch coding in the normal auditory system and explores the implications for pitch perception in people with hearing impairments and cochlear implants. Data from normal-hearing listeners suggest that the low-frequency, low-numbered harmonics within complex tones are of prime importance in pitch perception and in the perceptual segregation of competing sounds. The poorer frequency selectivity experienced by many hearing-impaired listeners leads to less access to individual harmonics, and the coding schemes currently employed in cochlear implants provide little or no representation ...
Source: Trends in Amplification - October 30, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Oxenham AJ Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Time-Frequency Masking for Speech Separation and Its Potential for Hearing Aid Design.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article introduces the T-F masking concept and reviews T-F masking algorithms that separate target speech from either monaural or binaural mixtures, as well as microphone-array recordings. The review emphasizes techniques that are promising for hearing aid design. This article also surveys recent studies that evaluate the perceptual effects of T-F masking techniques, particularly their effectiveness in improving human speech recognition in noise. An assessment is made of the potential benefits of T-F masking methods for the hearing impaired in light of the processing constraints of hearing aids. Finally, several issue...
Source: Trends in Amplification - October 30, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Wang D Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Reorganization of the adult auditory system: perceptual and physiological evidence from monaural fitting of hearing AIDS.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Changes in the sensory environment modify our sensory experience and may result in experience-related or learning-induced reorganization within the central nervous system. Hearing aids change the sensory environment by stimulating a deprived auditory system; therefore, they may be capable of inducing changes within the central auditory system. Examples of studies that have shown hearing aid induced perceptual and/or physiological changes in the adult human auditory system are discussed. Evidence in the perceptual domain is provided by studies that have investigated (a) speech perception, (b) intensity discrimination, a...
Source: Trends in Amplification - August 13, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Munro KJ Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Using Therapeutic Sound With Progressive Audiologic Tinnitus Management.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article focuses on therapeutic sound, which can involve three objectives: (a) producing a sense of relief from tinnitus-associated stress (using soothing sound); (b) passively diverting attention away from tinnitus by reducing contrast between tinnitus and the acoustic environment (using background sound); and (c) actively diverting attention away from tinnitus (using interesting sound). Each of these goals can be accomplished using three different types of sound-broadly categorized as environmental sound, music, and speech-resulting in nine combinations of uses of sound and types of sound to manage tinnitus. The auth...
Source: Trends in Amplification - July 29, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Henry JA, Zaugg TL, Myers PJ, Schechter MA Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Treatments for Tinnitus.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The various forms of treatment for tinnitus that have been tested in properly controlled trials can be classified as pharmacological, acoustic-physical, and psychological. In clinical trials, no pharmacological agent has been shown to have lasting effect on the presence or severity of tinnitus, although there are promising signs in an animal model. Acoustic devices do not seem to influence tinnitus, although appropriately fitted hearing aids may slightly reduce its prominence. Of physical treatments, cortical implantation may hold some promise of being effective for tinnitus suppression in selected cases. A psychologic...
Source: Trends in Amplification - July 17, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Noble W Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Somatosensory Pulsatile Tinnitus Syndrome: Somatic Testing Identifies a Pulsatile Tinnitus Subtype That Implicates the Somatosensory System.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
A new tinnitus syndrome is described: high-pitched, cardiac-synchronous tinnitus, whose pulsations are suppressed by strong contractions or compressions of the neck and jaw muscles (somatic testing). 14 cases, 6 non-lateralized and 8 unilateral, are reported. In the non-lateralized cases, onset was bilateral. In the one intermittent case, while her tinnitus was absent her pulsatile tinnitus could be induced by somatic testing. No etiology was found from physical examination, imaging, or ancillary testing. Because these cases of pulsatile tinnitus can be both induced and suppressed by activation of the somatosensory sys...
Source: Trends in Amplification - July 16, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Levine RA, Nam EC, Melcher J Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

The Role of Audiologic Evaluation in Progressive Audiologic Tinnitus Management.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article provides an overview of PATM and focuses on the procedures that make up the Level 2 Audiologic Evaluation. The evaluation is conducted to assess the potential need for medical, audiologic (hearing loss, tinnitus, hyperacusis), and/or mental health services. The Tinnitus Handicap Inventory, Hearing Handicap Inventory, and Tinnitus and Hearing Survey are used to differentiate effects of tinnitus and hearing loss. If indicated, patients are interviewed with the Tinnitus-Impact Screening Interview. Patients requiring amplification receive hearing aids. Often, management of hearing loss at Level 2 addresses any pro...
Source: Trends in Amplification - July 15, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Henry JA, Zaugg TL, Myers PJ, Schechter MA Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Treatment of Tinnitus With a Customized, Dynamic Acoustic Neural Stimulus: Underlying Principles and Clinical Efficacy.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article describes the underlying principles behind this approach. It also summarizes evidence for clinical efficacy from controlled clinical studies and from a private practice clinical setting, where it has been shown to provide consistently positive outcomes for patients meeting suitability criteria. PMID: 18614554 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Trends in Amplification)
Source: Trends in Amplification - July 9, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Hanley PJ, Davis PB Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Tinnitus Outcomes Assessment.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Over the past two decades, recognition has grown that measures for evaluating treatment outcomes must be designed specifically to have high responsiveness. With that in mind, four major types of tinnitus measures are reviewed, including psychoacoustic measures, self-report questionnaires concerning functional effects of tinnitus, various rating scales, and global outcome measures. Nine commonly used tinnitus questionnaires, developed in the period 1980-2000, are reviewed. Because of many similarities between tinnitus and pain, comparisons between pain and tinnitus measures are discussed, and recommendations that have b...
Source: Trends in Amplification - July 3, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Meikle MB, Stewart BJ, Griest SE, Henry JA Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Stuart gatehouse: a brief life.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article describes his life and career. PMID: 18567587 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Trends in Amplification)
Source: Trends in Amplification - June 1, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Akeroyd MA Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Stuart gatehouse: a personal appreciation.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Stuart Gatehouse worked in the MRC Institute of Hearing Research Scottish Section for 29 years until his untimely death in 2007. The former director records a personal appreciation but also an explanation, for those who did not know him well, of the mixture of qualities that made him an outstanding applied scientist. PMID: 18567588 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Trends in Amplification)
Source: Trends in Amplification - June 1, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Haggard M Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Stuart gatehouse: the international perspective.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The international contributions of Stuart Gatehouse are reviewed in three areas: as a scientist, as an advisor to health policy makers, and as a participant in international conferences. He was able, as no other auditory scientist of his time, to bridge the gap between scientific and clinical research. His ability to apply sound scientific principles to issues of clinical importance was most apparent in his work in three main areas of his research: acclimatization to amplified speech, auditory disability and hearing aid benefit, and candidature for linear and nonlinear signal processing. PMID: 18567589 [PubMed - in...
Source: Trends in Amplification - June 1, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Van Tasell DJ, Levitt H Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Reorganization of the adult auditory system: perceptual and physiological evidence from monaural fitting of hearing AIDS.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Changes in the sensory environment modify our sensory experience and may result in experience-related or learning-induced reorganization within the central nervous system. Hearing aids change the sensory environment by stimulating a deprived auditory system; therefore, they may be capable of inducing changes within the central auditory system. Examples of studies that have shown hearing aid induced perceptual and/or physiological changes in the adult human auditory system are discussed. Evidence in the perceptual domain is provided by studies that have investigated (a) speech perception, (b) intensity discrimination, a...
Source: Trends in Amplification - June 1, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Munro KJ Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

The choice of compression speed in hearing AIDS: theoretical and practical considerations and the role of individual differences.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article describes the distinction between, and relative merits of, slow and fast compression systems. A study of Gatehouse and coworkers leads to the following conclusions: (a) The benefit from compression is greatest among individuals who experience a wide range of sound levels within short periods of time, (b) slow compression generally leads to higher listening comfort than fast compression, (c) the benefit from fast compression varies across individuals, and those with high cognitive ability are able to benefit from fast compression to take advantage of temporal dips in a background sound. It is argued that listen...
Source: Trends in Amplification - June 1, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Moore BC Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Auditory reality and self-assessment of hearing.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Analyses are made of three problem areas in the realm of hearing disorder and its management, all of which are cogently informed by self-assessment: (a) prosthetic technology and the auditory ecology, (b) dimensions of benefit from amplification, and (c) dimensions of disability. Technology and ecology addresses the matter of "fitness for purpose" of different prosthetic schemes, moderated by people's hearing and listening environments (ecologies) and by what they bring to the task of hearing and listening. Dimensions of benefit covers what is achievable with prevailing technology, and also what people are aware of and...
Source: Trends in Amplification - June 1, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Noble W Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

A Multicenter Trial of an Assess-and-Fit Hearing Aid Service Using Open Canal Fittings and Comply Ear Tips.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Large potential benefits have been suggested for an assess-and-fit approach to hearing health care, particularly using open canal fittings. However, the clinical effectiveness has not previously been evaluated, nor has the efficiency of this approach in a National Health Service setting. These two outcomes were measured in a variety of clinical settings in the United Kingdom. Twelve services in England and Wales participated, and 540 people with hearing problems, not previously referred for assessment, were included. Of these, 68% (n = 369) were suitable and had hearing aids fitted to NAL NL1 during the assess-and-fit ...
Source: Trends in Amplification - June 1, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Smith P, Mack A, Davis A Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

The design of a project to assess bilateral versus unilateral hearing aid fitting.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Binaural hearing provides advantages over monaural in several ways, particularly in difficult listening situations. For a person with bilateral hearing loss, the bilateral fitting of hearing aids thus seems like a natural choice. However, surprisingly few studies have been reported in which the additional benefit of bilateral versus unilateral hearing aid use has been investigated based on real-life experiences. Therefore, a project has been designed to address this issue and to find tools to identify people for whom the drawbacks would outweigh the advantages of bilateral fitting. A project following this design is li...
Source: Trends in Amplification - June 1, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Arlinger S, Gatehouse S, Kiessling J, Naylor G, Verschuure H, Wouters J Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

The effects of cueing temporal and spatial attention on word recognition in a complex listening task in hearing-impaired listeners.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In a complex listening situation such as a multiperson conversation, the demands on an individual's attention are considerable: There will often be many sounds occurring simultaneously, with continual changes in source and direction. A laboratory analog of this was designed to measure the benefit that helping attention (by visual cueing) would have on word identification. These words were presented unpredictably but were sometimes cued with a temporal cue or a temporal-and-spatial cue. Two groups of hearing-impaired, older-adult listeners participated, 57 unaided and 19 aided. There was a small effect of cueing: The cu...
Source: Trends in Amplification - June 1, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Gatehouse S, Akeroyd MA Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Unilateral and Mild Bilateral Hearing Loss in Children: Past and Current Perspectives.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Since the early 1980s, audiologists have become increasingly aware of the potential effect of even mild degrees of hearing loss on the psychoeducational and psychosocial outcomes of children. This review describes some of the key research findings during the past several decades that have led us to our current thinking about unilateral and mild bilateral hearing loss in children. The first section addresses unilateral hearing loss. This is followed by a review of the literature on mild bilateral hearing loss. Specifically, the issues addressed include the significance of permanent mild degrees of hearing loss on childr...
Source: Trends in Amplification - February 14, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Tharpe AM Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Causation of Permanent Unilateral and Mild Bilateral Hearing Loss in Children.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Children with permanent unilateral or mild bilateral hearing loss have been a focus of concern by audiologists, educators, and physicians for at least 2 decades. These children are known to be at risk for psychoeducational difficulties. However, despite this concern, little has been learned about the causative factors of these hearing losses and how those factors might be contributing to child development. This review of known causes of permanent unilateral and mild bilateral hearing loss in children is meant to draw attention to the importance of the search for etiologic factors. That is, the identification of the hea...
Source: Trends in Amplification - February 14, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Tharpe AM, Sladen DP Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Hearing Screening and Diagnostic Evaluation of Children With Unilateral and Mild Bilateral Hearing Loss.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
More than 90% of newborns in the United States are now being screened for hearing loss. A large fraction of cases of unilateral hearing loss and mild bilateral hearing loss are not currently identified through newborn hearing screening. This is of concern because a preponderance of research has demonstrated that unilateral hearing loss and mild bilateral hearing loss can lead to developmental delays and educational problems for some children. To help address this probable underidentification of unilateral hearing loss and mild bilateral hearing loss among infants and children, the Centers for Disease Control and Preven...
Source: Trends in Amplification - February 14, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Ross DS, Holstrum WJ, Gaffney M, Green D, Oyler RF, Gravel JS Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Early Intervention for Children With Unilateral and Mild Bilateral Degrees of Hearing Loss.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article presents suggestions for intervention and future research that were developed by participants of the 2005 National Workshop on Mild and Unilateral Hearing Loss. PMID: 18270177 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Trends in Amplification)
Source: Trends in Amplification - February 14, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Holstrum WJ, Gaffney M, Gravel JS, Oyler RF, Ross DS Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Amplification Considerations for Children With Minimal or Mild Bilateral Hearing Loss and Unilateral Hearing Loss.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Children with minimal or mild bilateral hearing loss and unilateral hearing loss are at higher risk for academic, speech-language, and social-emotional difficulties than their normal hearing peers. The choice to fit infants with moderate or greater degrees of bilateral hearing loss has been standard practice for most clinicians, but for those with minimal or mild bilateral hearing loss or unilateral hearing loss, the fitting of hearing technology must be based on limited data. Evidence does not yet exist to support all the management decisions that an audiologist must make upon identifying an infant with minimal or mil...
Source: Trends in Amplification - February 14, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: McKay S, Gravel JS, Tharpe AM Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Instructions to Authors.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 18270179 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Trends in Amplification)
Source: Trends in Amplification - February 14, 2008 Category: Audiology Authors: Authors. Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Hearing assistive technology considerations for older individuals with dual sensory loss.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article focuses on the current state of the science related to audiologic rehabilitation of individuals with dual sensory impairment, with an emphasis on considerations for provision of appropriate hearing assistive technology for this population. A substantial increase in the number of older adults is predicted in the coming years, many of whom will have significant age-related impairments in hearing and vision. Thus, hearing care professionals will be called on increasingly to attend to the special needs of people with dual sensory impairments to ensure maximal quality of life and independence for these individuals....
Source: Trends in Amplification - December 1, 2007 Category: Audiology Authors: Kricos PB Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Introduction to Dual Sensory Loss Issue.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 18003864 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Trends in Amplification)
Source: Trends in Amplification - November 16, 2007 Category: Audiology Authors: Marcus Bernstein C Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Dual Sensory Loss: Overview of Problems, Visual Assessment, and Rehabilitation.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article provides an overview of some of the problems and possible solutions surrounding the neglected issue of combined vision and hearing deficits. The subject is treated by considering each subpopulation, ranging from those who have no residual vision or hearing to those with mild coexisting vision and hearing losses. An attempt is made to relate the different types of visual deficit to the likely problems encountered in real-life activities, such as communication and travel, among individuals who also have a hearing impairment. The assessment and appropriate referral of patients with these combined deficits is disc...
Source: Trends in Amplification - November 16, 2007 Category: Audiology Authors: Brabyn JA, Schneck ME, Haegerstrom-Portnoy G, Lott LA Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Implications of Deafblindness on Visual Assessment Procedures: Considerations for Audiologists, Ophthalmologists, and Interpreters.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Visual assessment of deaf persons presents a challenge to the ophthalmologist and the optometrist. At the time they want to measure visual function, the interpreter uses visual communication, competing for the patient's attention. Important rules of good assessment of visual functioning include taking turns and giving the interpreter sufficient time to convey the questions related to each test. This has implications for audiologists working with this population as well. Communication should be tailored to the varying needs of people who may have long-standing deafness and good sign language, may have lost their hearing...
Source: Trends in Amplification - November 16, 2007 Category: Audiology Authors: Hyvärinen L Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Auditory and Visual Lexical Neighborhoods in Audiovisual Speech Perception.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Much evidence suggests that the mental lexicon is organized into auditory neighborhoods, with words that are phonologically similar belonging to the same neighborhood. In this investigation, we considered the existence of visual neighborhoods. When a receiver watches someone speak a word, a neighborhood of homophenes (ie, words that look alike on the face, such as pat and bat) is activated. The simultaneous activation of a word's auditory and visual neighborhoods may, in part, account for why individuals recognize speech better in an auditory-visual condition than what would be predicted by their performance in auditio...
Source: Trends in Amplification - November 16, 2007 Category: Audiology Authors: Tye-Murray N, Sommers M, Spehar B Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

An Overview of Dual Sensory Impairment in Older Adults: Perspectives for Rehabilitation.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Dual sensory impairment (DSI) refers to the presence of both hearing loss and vision loss. The occurrence of DSI is particularly prevalent among the aging population, with studies showing between 9% and 21% of adults older than 70 years having some degree of DSI. Despite this, there is little direction regarding recommended clinical practice and rehabilitation of individuals with DSI. It is assumed that the problems encountered by individuals with DSI are considerably greater than the effects of vision impairment or hearing impairment alone, because when these two sensory impairments are combined, the individual is ser...
Source: Trends in Amplification - November 16, 2007 Category: Audiology Authors: Saunders GH, Echt KV Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Effect of Dual Sensory Loss on Auditory Localization: Implications for Intervention.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Our sensory systems are remarkable in several respects. They are extremely sensitive, they each perform more than one function, and they interact in a complementary way, thereby providing a high degree of redundancy that is particularly helpful should one or more sensory systems be impaired. In this article, the problem of dual hearing and vision loss is addressed. A brief description is provided on the use of auditory cues in vision loss, the use of visual cues in hearing loss, and the additional difficulties encountered when both sensory systems are impaired. A major focus of this article is the use of sound localiza...
Source: Trends in Amplification - November 16, 2007 Category: Audiology Authors: Simon HJ, Levitt H Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Psychosocial Adaptations to Dual Sensory Loss in Middle and Late Adulthood.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Concurrent losses of hearing and vision function, or dual sensory loss, affect a large number of individuals of all ages and particularly older adults. Dual sensory loss may present at any age as a result of genetic defect, accident, injury, disease, or environmental insult; however, most persons develop this condition as a result of age-related disease processes that rarely result in total deafness or blindness. This condition has wide-ranging implications for physical and psychological functioning and quality of life. In this article, we review the prevalence and causes of dual impairment and its effects on functioni...
Source: Trends in Amplification - November 16, 2007 Category: Audiology Authors: Brennan M, Bally SJ Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Vocal Emotion Recognition by Normal-Hearing Listeners and Cochlear Implant Users.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The present study investigated the ability of normal-hearing listeners and cochlear implant users to recognize vocal emotions. Sentences were produced by 1 male and 1 female talker according to 5 target emotions: angry, anxious, happy, sad, and neutral. Overall amplitude differences between the stimuli were either preserved or normalized. In experiment 1, vocal emotion recognition was measured in normal-hearing and cochlear implant listeners; cochlear implant subjects were tested using their clinically assigned processors. When overall amplitude cues were preserved, normal-hearing listeners achieved near-perfect perfor...
Source: Trends in Amplification - November 16, 2007 Category: Audiology Authors: Xin Luo , Fu QJ, Galvin JJ Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Advances in cochlear implant telemetry: evoked neural responses, electrical field imaging, and technical integrity.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article will review recent advances in the telemetry of the electrically evoked compound action potential that have made these measurements simple and routine procedures in most cases. The distribution of the electrical stimulus itself sampled by "electrical field imaging" reveals general patterns of current flow in the normal cochlea and gross abnormalities in individual patients; models have been developed to derive more subtle insights from an individual electrical field imaging. Finally, some thoughts are given to the extended application of telemetry, for example, in monitoring the neural responses or in combinat...
Source: Trends in Amplification - September 1, 2007 Category: Audiology Authors: Mens LH Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Binaural-bimodal fitting or bilateral implantation for managing severe to profound deafness: a review.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article addresses the question of whether better binaural hearing can be achieved with binaural/bimodal fitting (combining a cochlear implant and a hearing aid in opposite ears) or bilateral implantation. In the first part of this article, the rationale for providing binaural hearing is examined. In the second part, the literature on the relative efficacy of binaural/bimodal fitting and bilateral implantation is reviewed. Most studies on comparing either mode of bilateral stimulation with unilateral implantation reported some binaural benefits in some test conditions on average but revealed that some individuals benef...
Source: Trends in Amplification - September 1, 2007 Category: Audiology Authors: Ching TY, van Wanrooy E, Dillon H Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Perceptual learning and auditory training in cochlear implant recipients.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Learning electrically stimulated speech patterns can be a new and difficult experience for cochlear implant (CI) recipients. Recent studies have shown that most implant recipients at least partially adapt to these new patterns via passive, daily-listening experiences. Gradually introducing a speech processor parameter (eg, the degree of spectral mismatch) may provide for more complete and less stressful adaptation. Although the implant device restores hearing sensation and the continued use of the implant provides some degree of adaptation, active auditory rehabilitation may be necessary to maximize the benefit of impl...
Source: Trends in Amplification - September 1, 2007 Category: Audiology Authors: Fu QJ, Galvin JJ Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Adult aural rehabilitation: what is it and does it work?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Adult aural rehabilitation is here defined holistically as the reduction of hearing-loss-induced deficits of function, activity, participation, and quality of life through a combination of sensory management, instruction, perceptual training, and counseling. There is a tendency for audiologists to focus on sensory management, aural rehabilitation being seen as something done by someone else after the provision of hearing aids or cochlear implants. Effective sensory management may, by itself, lead to improved activity, participation, and quality of life, but there is no guarantee that these outcomes will be automatic or...
Source: Trends in Amplification - June 1, 2007 Category: Audiology Authors: Boothroyd A Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

Evidence for the use of hearing assistive technology by adults: the role of the FM system.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Hearing assistive technologies include listening, alerting, and/or signaling devices that use auditory, visual, and/or tactile modalities to augment communication and/or facilitate awareness of environmental sounds. The importance of hearing assistive technologies in the management of adults with hearing loss was recently acknowledged in an evidence-based clinical practice guideline developed by the American Academy of Audiology. Most currently available evidence for hearing assistive technology use by adults focuses on frequency-modulated (FM) technology. Previous research is reviewed that demonstrates the efficacy of...
Source: Trends in Amplification - June 1, 2007 Category: Audiology Authors: Chisolm TH, Noe CM, McArdle R, Abrams H Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals

An internet survey of individuals with hearing loss regarding assistive listening devices.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
An Internet survey of individuals with hearing loss was conducted to determine their use of assistive listening devices for face-to-face conversation and, while part of an audience, their satisfaction with assistive listening devices, their interest in the concept of a universal assistive listening device receiver, and their interest in receiving audiologic information and services through the Internet. The 423 respondents who used assistive listening devices found them to be of significant benefit across a range of listening situations. Most respondents were open to the idea of purchasing a personal device that could ...
Source: Trends in Amplification - June 1, 2007 Category: Audiology Authors: Harkins J, Tucker P Tags: Trends Amplif Source Type: journals