Wideband Acoustic Absorbance in Otosclerosis: Does Stapedotomy Restore Normal Tympanic Cavity Function?

 Otosclerosis is characterized by the fixation of the stapes to the oval window, thereby impairing acoustic signal absorbance. A commonly used surgical technique for improving hearing in cases of otosclerosis is stapedotomy. However, it is unclear whether this surgery restores all the physical characteristics of the tympano-ossicular system.

Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emission Component Behavior as a Function of Primary Frequency Ratio and Primary Level.

Objectives: Distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) are composed of distortion and reflection components. Much is known about the influence of the stimulus frequency ratio (f 2 /f 1 ) on the overall/composite DPOAE level. However, the influence of f 2 /f 1 on individual DPOAE components is not as well examined.

Frequency-Following Response (FFR) in Military Pilots.

 Good hearing in pilots, including central auditory skills, is critical for flight safety and the prevention of aircraft accidents. Pure tone audiometry alone may not be enough to assess hearing in the members of this population who, in addition to high noise levels, routinely face speech recognition tasks in non-ideal conditions.  To characterize the frequency-following response (FFR) of a group of military pilots compared with a control group.

Cortical auditory-evoked potential as a biomarker of central auditory maturation in term and preterm infants during the first 3 months.

Objectives: To analyze central auditory maturation in term and preterm infants during the first 3 months of life by comparing the latency and amplitude of cortical auditory-evoked potential at different frequencies.

Methods: In this study, 17 term and 18 preterm infants were examined; all had tested positive on the neonatal hearing screening test. Cortical auditory potential was investigated during the first and third months of life.

Masking level difference among brazilian military personnel: a comparison between pilots and non-pilots.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to investigate auditory habits and binaural interaction among pilot and non-pilot military personnel from the Brazilian Air Force.

Design: A cross-sectional study using (1) an auditory habits questionnaire to outline the groups auditory profile and (2) the masking level difference test (MLD, Auditec, Saint Louis®) to evaluate and compare the groups.

Study Sample: Forty military male personnel aged between 30-40 years old, all with normal hearing, comprising 20 pilots in the study group (SG), and 20 non-pilots, not exposed to noise, in the control group (CG).

Cochlear tuning estimates from level ratio functions of distortion product otoacoustic emissions.

Distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) levels plotted as a function of stimulus frequency ratio demonstrate a bandpass shape. This bandpass shape is narrower at higher frequencies compared to lower frequencies and thus has been thought to be related to cochlear mechanical tuning. However, the frequency- and level-dependence of these functions above 8 kHz is largely unknown.

Frequency-following response (FFR) with speech stimulus in normal-hearing young adults.

Purpose: Analyze the slope, latency and amplitude values of the waveforms V, A, C, D, E, F and O from Frequency-following Response (FFR) with speech stimulus in normal-hearing adults based on a recent international reference study.

Method: Eleven normal-hearing adults aged 18-30 years, without hearing complaints, were evaluated in this study using an Intelligent Hearing Systems device. The speech stimulus /da/ was presented to the right ear via insertion phone and the responses were captured by electrodes placed on the vertex, right mastoid bone, and forehead (ground).

Automated analysis of bone-conduction cortical auditory evoked potential in normal-hearing neonates.

Introduction: The cortical auditory evoked potential allows the possibility of objectively evaluating the entire auditory system, which is desirable in the pediatric population. Bone conduction auditory stimulation is recommended in the differential diagnosis of conductive hearing loss. However, there are not many studies of cortical auditory evoked potential using bone conduction.

Otoacoustic emissions in neonates exposed to smoke during pregnancy.

Introduction: The toxic substances present in cigarette smoke can damage cochlea hair cells. This effect has been investigated by measuring otoacoustic emissions.

Objective: To investigate the impact of stimuli on otoacoustic emissions, comparing neonates with and without exposure to cigarette smoke during pregnancy.

Cortical auditory evoked potential in assessment of neonates: a study about minimum level of responses in term and preterm newborns.

Introduction: The study of the threshold level of cortical auditory response in adults has been investigated in previous studies. Due to maturational issues, little is known about these responses in neonates. Technological advances with automatic analysis devices now allow investigation in specific populations.

Auditory processing abilities in prematurely born children.

Unlabelled: Aim To compare the performance in temporal auditory ordering and resolution tests and the latency and amplitude in the records of middle latency auditory evoked potential and P3 of prematurely born children with the performance of full-term children undergoing the same assessment protocol.

Study Design: Cross-sectional observational study.

Subjects: Fifty-two children, aged 8 to 10 years, participated in the study and were divided into two groups: study group: 16 prematurely born children, and control group: 36 born full-term, at low risk for developmental alteration and without scholastic or hearing difficulties.

Automated cortical auditory evoked potentials threshold estimation in neonates.

Introduction: The evaluation of cortical auditory evoked potential has been the focus of scientific studies in infants. Some authors have reported that automated response detection is effective in exploring these potentials in infants, but few have reported their efficacy in the search for thresholds.

Objective: To analyze the latency, amplitude and thresholds of cortical auditory evoked potential using an automatic response detection device in a neonatal population.

Wideband acoustic absorbance in children with Down syndrome.

Introduction: Tympanometry is currently the most frequently used tool for assessing the status of the middle ear, commonly assessed using a single 226Hz tone. However, the use of the Acoustic Immittance Measures with a wideband stimulus is a promising high-resolution evaluation, especially in individuals known to have middle ear alterations, such as Down syndrome patients.

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the acoustic absorbance measurements in children with Down syndrome.

Acoustic absorbance measurements in neonates exposed to smoking during pregnancy.

Objective: To analyze acoustic absorbance using wideband tympanometry in neonates exposed to passive smoking during pregnancy.

Method: A study comprising 54 neonates in the control group (CG - unexposed) and 19 in the study group (SG - exposed) was carried out. Subjects were submitted to the wideband tympanometry test and subsequent analysis of absorbance of 17 frequencies.

Effect of passive smoking on auditory temporal resolution in children.

Objective: To determine the effect of passive smoking on auditory temporal resolution in primary school children, based on the hypothesis that individuals who are exposed to smoking exhibit impaired performance.

Design: Auditory temporal resolution was evaluated using the Gaps In Noise (GIN) test. Exposure to passive smoking was assessed by measuring nicotine metabolite (cotinine) excreted in the first urine of the day.

Assessment of hearing threshold in adults with hearing loss using an automated system of cortical auditory evoked potential detection.

Introduction: The use of hearing aids by individuals with hearing loss brings a better quality of life. Access to and benefit from these devices may be compromised in patients who present difficulties or limitations in traditional behavioral audiological evaluation, such as newborns and small children, individuals with auditory neuropathy spectrum, autism, and intellectual deficits, and in adults and the elderly with dementia. These populations (or individuals) are unable to undergo a behavioral assessment, and generate a growing demand for objective methods to assess hearing.

Efferent inhibition of otoacoustic emissions in preterm neonates.

Introduction: Abnormalities in auditory function of newborns may occur not only because of preterm birth, but also from the use of medications and from diseases related to prematurity.

Objective: To analyze the inhibitory effect from stimulation of the olivocochlear efferent system on transient evoked otoacoustic emissions in preterm neonates, comparing these data with those from full-term neonates.

Methods: This was a prospective, cross-sectional, contemporary cohort study with 125 neonates, pooled into two groups: full-term (72 full-term neonates, 36 females and 36 males, born at 37-41 weeks of gestational age); and preterm (53 neonates, 28 males and 25 females, born at ≤36 weeks of gestational age, evaluated at the corrected gestational age of 37-41 weeks).

Distortion-product otoacoustic emission growth curves in neonates.

Background: The recording of otoacoustic emissions (OAE) enabled us to prove that the cochlea is able not only to receive sounds but also to produce acoustic energy. Through the use of distortion-product otoacoustic emission measurements, the growth of the response was seen according to the intensity of the sound stimulus presented (growth curve).

Objective: to determine the thresholds for the emergence of distortion-product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE) on frequencies of 2000 and 4000 Hz with a stimulus varying from 20 to 65 dB SPL, and to establish the slope values obtained in the growth curves.

Cortical Auditory Evoked Potential: evaluation of speech detection in adult hearing aid users.

Purpose: To analyze the presence of auditory cortical potential and its correlation with psychoacoustic detection of speech sounds as well as the latency of the P1, N1 e P2 components presented in free field in hearing impaired adults with and without amplification.

Methods: We evaluated 22 adults with moderate to severe symmetrical bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, regular users of bilateral hearing aids. Speech sounds of low (/m/), medium (/g/) and high (/t/) frequencies were presented in sound field in decreasing intensities of 75, 65 and of 55 dBSPL in free field with and without hearing aids.

Maternal smoking during pregnancy: impact on otoacoustic emissions in neonates.

Objectives: To determine the effect of maternal smoking during pregnancy on transient evoked otoacoustic emissions levels in neonates.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study investigating neonates in the maternity ward of a university hospital in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. A total of 418 term neonates without prenatal or perinatal complications were evaluated.

Contralateral suppression of linear and nonlinear transient evoked otoacoustic emissions in neonates at risk for hearing loss.

Unlabelled: To investigate the transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE) contralateral suppression in neonates at risk for hearing loss, 55 neonates at risk for hearing loss (risk group) and 72 full-term neonates not at such risk (control group) were bilaterally tested. In all neonates, the TEOAE were recorded in two stimulation modes (linear and nonlinear clicks), with and without contralateral acoustic stimulation. Findings revealed significant contralateral suppression of otoacoustic emissions in both groups, but the amount of TEOAE contralateral suppression was reduced for at risk group (p=0.

[Characteristics of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions in newborn hearing screening program].

Background: Otoacoustic emissions (OAE) are considered the main instrument of the Newborn Hearing Screening Program (NHSP).

Aim: To analyze the OAE of newborns evaluated in the NHSP.

Method: Transient evoked OAE recordings were captured in 1000 infants.

[Changes in transient evoked otoacoustic emissions contralateral suppression in infants].

Background: It has been suggested that the function of the medial olivocochlear system (MOCS) can be evaluated by the suppression effect of the transient evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE). The competitive noise has an inhibitory effect on the functioning of the outer hair-cell, reducing the level of otoacoustic emissions. Despite the fact that there is no postnatal growth of the cochlea, middle ear growth and auditory processing development continue after birth.

Contralateral suppression of otoacoustic emissions in neonates.

The effect of contralateral acoustic stimulation on transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) was used to investigate the activity of the medial olivocochlear bundle in neonates. TEOAEs were bilaterally recorded, with and without contralateral noise, in 120 full-term neonates without risk for hearing loss. Otoacoustic emission recordings were carried out using the Otodynamic ILO88 system quickscreener non-linear mode, and the contralateral stimulation was presented at 60 dB SPL delivered by CD player.