Hearing loss and its relation to longitudinal changes in white matter microstructure in older adults: The Rotterdam Study.

Hearing loss is considered a potentially modifiable risk factor for dementia. The sensory deprivation theory postulates that hearing loss adversely affects cognition in older adults through structural brain changes, but longitudinal studies are scarce. To find evidence for a possible detrimental effect of hearing loss on white matter microstructure, we carried out a longitudinal study in the population-based Rotterdam Study.

Deep learning predicted perceived age is a reliable approach for analysis of facial ageing: A proof of principle study.

Background: Perceived age (PA) has been associated with mortality, genetic variants linked to ageing and several age-related morbidities. However, estimating PA in large datasets is laborious and costly to generate, limiting its practical applicability.

Objectives: To determine if estimating PA using deep learning-based algorithms results in the same associations with morbidities and genetic variants as human-estimated perceived age.

On the Feasibility of Using Behavioral Listening Effort Test Methods to Evaluate Auditory Performance in Cochlear Implant Users.

Realistic outcome measures that reflect everyday hearing challenges are needed to assess hearing aid and cochlear implant (CI) fitting. Literature suggests that listening effort measures may be more sensitive to differences between hearing-device settings than established speech intelligibility measures when speech intelligibility is near maximum. Which method provides the most effective measurement of listening effort for this purpose is currently unclear.

Implementation of Newborn Hearing Screening in Albania.

Newborn hearing screening (NHS) was implemented in Albania in four maternity hospitals in 2018 and 2019. Implementation outcome, screening outcome, and screening quality measures were evaluated. Infants were first screened by midwives and nurses before discharge from the maternity hospital and returned for follow-up screening.

Analysis of Rotterdam Study cohorts confirms a previously identified in-frame deletion as a prevalent genetic factor in phenotypically variable adult-onset hearing loss (DFNA21) in the Netherlands.

Background: A 12-nucleotide in-frame deletion was recently identified as a relatively common and highly penetrant cause of autosomal dominant non-syndromic sensorineural hearing loss, type DFNA21, in the Netherlands. The associated hearing phenotype is variable. The allele frequency (AF) of 0.

Modelling the cost-effectiveness of a newborn hearing screening programme; usability and pitfalls.

Objective: The EUSCREEN project concerns the study of European vision and hearing screening programmes. Part of the project was the development of a cost-effectiveness model to analyse such programmes. We describe the development and usability of an online tool to enable stakeholders to design, analyse or modify a newborn hearing screening (NHS) programme.

Younger facial looks are associate with a lower likelihood of several age-related morbidities in the middle-aged to elderly.

Background: Looking older for one's chronological age is associated with a higher mortality rate. Yet it remains unclear how perceived facial age relates to morbidity and the degree to which facial ageing reflects systemic ageing of the human body.

Objectives: To investigate the association between ΔPA and age-related morbidities of different organ systems, where ΔPA represents the difference between perceived age (PA) and chronological age.

Association of Carotid Atherosclerosis With Hearing Loss: A Cross-sectional Analysis of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study.

Objective: To describe the association between midlife carotid atherosclerosis and late-life hearing loss among participants in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study.

Design, Setting, And Participants: For this cross-sectional study and temporal analysis of a cohort within the ongoing ARIC prospective cohort study, participants were recruited from 4 communities in the US. The analysis evaluated information on mean carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), from visit 1 (1987-1989) to visit 4 (1994-1996), carotid plaque presence at visit 4, and audiometric data from visit 6 (2016-2017).

The Cross-Sectional Association Between Tinnitus and Actigraphy-Estimated Sleep in a Population-Based Cohort of Middle-Aged and Elderly Persons.

Objectives: Tinnitus is a common and burdensome disease, often accompanied by complaints of poor sleep. However, associations of tinnitus with objective estimates of sleep remain unclear, particularly in the general population. We assessed these associations in a population-based cohort of middle-aged and elderly persons.

Impact of Expanding Eligibility Criteria for Cochlear Implantation - Dynamic Modeling Study.

Objectives: Eligibility criteria for cochlear implantation (CI) are shifting due to technological and surgical improvements. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of further expanding unilateral CI criteria in those with severe hearing loss (HL) (61-80 dBHL) in terms of number of CI recipients, costs, quality of life, and cost-effectiveness.

Methods: A dynamic population-based Markov model was constructed mimicking the Dutch population in three age categories over a period of 20 years.

Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions in Screening for Early Stages of High-frequency Hearing Loss in Adolescents.

Objective: Adolescents may be at risk of noise-induced hearing loss due to recreational sound. The aim of this study was to examine the role of distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) in screening for early stages of high-frequency loss such as can be observed in noise-induced hearing loss.

Setting And Design: This cross-sectional study was embedded within Generation R, an ongoing prospective birth cohort study in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Listening Effort in Cochlear Implant Users: The Effect of Speech Intelligibility, Noise Reduction Processing, and Working Memory Capacity on the Pupil Dilation Response.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of speech recognition performance, working memory capacity (WMC), and a noise reduction algorithm (NRA) on listening effort as measured with pupillometry in cochlear implant (CI) users while listening to speech in noise.

Method: Speech recognition and pupil responses (peak dilation, peak latency, and release of dilation) were measured during a speech recognition task at three speech-to-noise ratios (SNRs) with an NRA in both on and off conditions. WMC was measured with a reading span task.

[Formula: see text]Are multidisciplinary neurodevelopmental profiles of children born very preterm at age 2 relevant to their long-term development? A preliminary study.

To identify distinctive multidisciplinary neurodevelopmental profiles of relatively healthy children born very preterm (VPT) and describe the longitudinal course of these profiles up to age 10. At 2 years of corrected age, 84 children born VPT underwent standardized testing for cognitive, language, speech, motor, behavioral, and auditory nerve function. These data were submitted to factor and cluster analysis.

The Effect of Hearing Aid Use on the Association Between Hearing Loss and Brain Structure in Older Adults.

Objectives: Recent studies have shown an association between poorer hearing thresholds and smaller brain tissue volumes in older adults. Several underlying causal mechanisms have been opted, with a sensory deprivation hypothesis as one of the most prominent. If hearing deprivation would lead to less brain volume, hearing aids could be hypothesized to moderate this pathway by restoration of hearing.

Language lateralization in very preterm children: associating dichotic listening to interhemispheric connectivity and language performance.

Background: Language difficulties of very preterm (VPT) children might be related to weaker cerebral hemispheric lateralization of language. Language lateralization refers to the development of an expert region for language processing in the left hemisphere during the first years of life. Children born VPT might not develop such a dominant left hemisphere for language processing.

Macrolide-associated ototoxicity: a cross-sectional and longitudinal study to assess the association of macrolide use with tinnitus and hearing loss.

Background: Macrolides are widely prescribed antibiotics for many different indications. However, there are concerns about adverse effects such as ototoxicity.

Objectives: To investigate whether macrolide use is associated with tinnitus and hearing loss in the general population.

Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Associations Between Tinnitus and Mental Health in a Population-Based Sample of Middle-aged and Elderly Persons.

Importance: Tinnitus is a common disorder, but its impact on daily life varies widely in population-based samples. It is unclear whether this interference in daily life is associated with mental health problems that are commonly detected in clinical populations.

Objective: To investigate the association of tinnitus and its interference in daily life with symptoms of depression and anxiety and poor sleep quality in a population-based sample of middle-aged and elderly persons in a cross-sectional analysis and during a 4-year follow-up.

Tinnitus and Its Central Correlates: A Neuroimaging Study in a Large Aging Population.

Objectives: To elucidate the association between tinnitus and brain tissue volumes and white matter microstructural integrity.

Design: Two thousand six hundred sixteen participants (mean age, 65.7 years [SD: 7.

Assessment of hearing screening programmes across 47 countries or regions III: provision of childhood hearing screening after the newborn period.

Objective: To inventory provision and features of childhood hearing screening after the newborn period (CHS), primarily in Europe.

Design: From each participating country or region, experts provided information through an extensive questionnaire: implementation year, age at screening, test method, pass criteria, screening location, screener profession, and quality indicators: coverage, referral, follow-up and detection rates, supplemented by literature sources.

Study Sample: Forty-two European countries or regions, plus Russia, Malawi, Rwanda, India, and China.

Assessment of hearing screening programmes across 47 countries or regions I: provision of newborn hearing screening.

Objectives: Newborn hearing screening (NHS) varies regarding number and type of tests, location, age, professionals and funding. We compared the provision of existing screening programmes.

Design: A questionnaire containing nine domains: demography, administration, existing screening, coverage, tests, diagnosis, treatment, cost and adverse effects, was presented to hearing screening experts.

Assessment of hearing screening programmes across 47 countries or regions II: coverage, referral, follow-up and detection rates from newborn hearing screening.

Objectives: To assess the performance of newborn hearing screening (NHS) programmes, through selected quality measures and their relationship to protocol design.

Design: NHS coverage, referral, follow-up and detection rates were aggregated. Referral rates were compared to age at screening step 1, number of steps, and test method: OAE or aABR.

A smartphone application to objectively monitor music listening habits in adolescents : Personal listening device usage and the accuracy of self-reported listening habits.

Background: Listening to music through personal listening devices (PLDs) has become more prevalent during last decades. The aim of this study was to evaluate music listening habits through PLDs in adolescents with a smartphone application, and to assess the accuracy of self-reported listening habits.

Methods: This study was embedded in the Generation R Study, a population-based prospective birth cohort in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.