Creating a health informatics data resource for hearing health research.

Background: The National Institute of Health and Social Care Research (NIHR) Health Informatics Collaborative (HIC) for Hearing Health has been established in the UK to curate routinely collected hearing health data to address research questions. This study defines priority research areas, outlines its aims, governance structure and demonstrates how hearing health data have been integrated into a common data model using pure tone audiometry (PTA) as a case study.

Methods: After identifying key research aims in hearing health, the governance structure for the NIHR HIC for Hearing Health is described.

Divergent effects of listening demands and evaluative threat on listening effort in online and laboratory settings.

Objective: Listening effort (LE) varies as a function of listening demands, motivation and resource availability, among other things. Motivation is posited to have a greater influence on listening effort under high, compared to low, listening demands.

Methods: To test this prediction, we manipulated the listening demands of a speech recognition task using tone vocoders to create moderate and high listening demand conditions.

Relationship between self-reported listening and communication difficulties and executive function: a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction: Listening and communication difficulties can limit people's participation in activity and adversely affect their quality of life. Hearing, as well as listening and communication difficulties, can be measured either by using behavioural tests or self-report measures, and the outcomes are not always closely linked. The association between behaviourally measured and self-reported hearing is strong, whereas the association between behavioural and self-reported measures of listening and communication difficulties is much weaker, suggesting they assess different aspects of listening.

A review of auditory processing and cognitive change during normal ageing, and the implications for setting hearing aids for older adults.

Throughout our adult lives there is a decline in peripheral hearing, auditory processing and elements of cognition that support listening ability. Audiometry provides no information about the status of auditory processing and cognition, and older adults often struggle with complex listening situations, such as speech in noise perception, even if their peripheral hearing appears normal. Hearing aids can address some aspects of peripheral hearing impairment and improve signal-to-noise ratios.

Sex differences and the effect of female sex hormones on auditory function: a systematic review.

Aims: First, to discuss sex differences in auditory function between women and men, and whether cyclic fluctuations in levels of female sex hormones (i.e., estradiol and progesterone) affect auditory function in pre-menopausal and post-menopausal women.

A set of closely related methyltransferases for site-specific tailoring of anthraquinone pigments.

Modification of the polyketide anthraquinone AQ-256 in the entomopathogenic Photorhabdus luminescens involves several O-methylations, but the biosynthetic gene cluster antA-I lacks corresponding tailoring enzymes. We here describe the identification of five putative, highly homologous O-methyltransferases encoded in the genome of P. luminescens.

Acoustic reflexes: should we be paying more attention?

Objective: The clinical audiology test battery often involves playing physically simple sounds with questionable ecological value to the listener. In this technical report, we revisit how valid this approach is using an automated, involuntary auditory response; the acoustic reflex threshold (ART).

Design: The ART was estimated four times in each individual in a quasi-random ordering of task conditions.

Did Changes to Adult Hearing Aid Pathways Due to COVID-19 Affect Patient Outcomes? A Service Evaluation.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine whether changes to adult hearing aid provision during COVID-19 affected patient outcomes or service efficiency.

Design: A service evaluation compared three cohorts: patients who had hearing aid provision prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (the conventional pathway); patients who had hearing aid provision during the initial national lockdown (remote fittings); and patients who had hearing aid provision during the gradual reopening phase (a blended service with both face-to-face and remote service provision). Outcomes measured the effectiveness and efficiency of the service, using the Glasgow Hearing Aid Benefit/Difference Profiles (GHABP/DP) and number of follow-up appointments required.

The Effectiveness of Unilateral Cochlear Implantation on Performance-Based and Patient-Reported Outcome Measures in Finnish Recipients.

Understanding speech is essential for adequate social interaction, and its functioning affects health, wellbeing, and quality of life (QoL). Untreated hearing loss (HL) is associated with reduced social activity, depression and cognitive decline. Severe and profound HL is routinely rehabilitated with cochlear implantation.

Quantifying the Effects of Motivation on Listening Effort: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Motivation influences the amount of listening effort (LE) exerted or experienced under challenging conditions, such as in high-noise environments. This systematic review and meta-analysis is the first to quantify the effects of motivation on LE. The review was pre-registered in PROSPERO, and performed in accordance with PRISMA guidelines.

Biosynthesis of Antibacterial Iron-Chelating Tropolones in as Response to Glycopeptide-Producing Streptomycetes.

The soil microbiome comprises numerous filamentous fungi and bacteria that mutually react and challenge each other by the production of bioactive secondary metabolites. Herein, we show in liquid co-cultures that the presence of filamentous Streptomycetes producing antifungal glycopeptide antibiotics induces the production of the antibacterial and iron-chelating tropolones anhydrosepedonin () and antibiotic C () in the mold . Additionally, the biosynthesis of the related polyketide tripyrnidone () was induced, whose novel tricyclic scaffold we elucidated by NMR and HRESIMS data.

Clinical Trials and Outcome Measures in Adults With Hearing Loss.

Clinical trials are designed to evaluate interventions that prevent, diagnose or treat a health condition and provide the evidence base for improving practice in health care. Many health professionals, including those working within or allied to hearing health, are expected to conduct or contribute to clinical trials. Recent systematic reviews of clinical trials reveal a dearth of high quality evidence in almost all areas of hearing health practice.

Cogmed Training Does Not Generalize to Real-World Benefits for Adult Hearing Aid Users: Results of a Blinded, Active-Controlled Randomized Trial.

Objectives: Performance on working memory tasks is positively associated with speech-in-noise perception performance, particularly where auditory inputs are degraded. It is suggested that interventions designed to improve working memory capacity may improve domain-general working memory performance for people with hearing loss, to benefit their real-world listening. We examined whether a 5-week training program that primarily targets the storage component of working memory (Cogmed RM, adaptive) could improve cognition, speech-in-noise perception and self-reported hearing in a randomized controlled trial of adult hearing aid users with mild to moderate hearing loss, compared with an active control (Cogmed RM, nonadaptive) group of adults from the same population.

Financial reward has differential effects on behavioural and self-report measures of listening effort.

Objectives: To investigate the effects of listening demands and motivation on listening effort (LE) in a novel speech recognition task.

Design: We manipulated listening demands and motivation using vocoded speech and financial reward, respectively, and measured task performance (correct response rate) and indices of LE (response times (RTs), subjective ratings of LE and likelihood of giving up). Effects of inter-individual differences in cognitive skills and personality on task performance and LE were also assessed within the context of the Cognitive Energetics Theory (CET).

Reproducibility in Cognitive Hearing Research: Theoretical Considerations and Their Practical Application in Multi-Lab Studies.

In this article, we consider the issue of reproducibility within the field of cognitive hearing science. First, we examine how retest reliability can provide useful information for the generality of results and intervention effectiveness. Second, we provide an overview of retest reliability coefficients within three areas of cognitive hearing science (cognition, speech perception, and self-reported measures of communication) and show how the reporting of these coefficients differs between fields.

Effects of Cognitive Load on Pure-Tone Audiometry Thresholds in Younger and Older Adults.

Objectives: Cognitive load (CL) impairs listeners' ability to comprehend sentences, recognize words, and identify speech sounds. Recent findings suggest that this effect originates in a disruption of low-level perception of acoustic details. Here, we attempted to quantify such a disruption by measuring the effect of CL (a two-back task) on pure-tone audiometry (PTA) thresholds.

Promoter Activation in Δhfq Mutants as an Efficient Tool for Specialized Metabolite Production Enabling Direct Bioactivity Testing.

Natural products (NPs) from microorganisms have been important sources for discovering new therapeutic and chemical entities. While their corresponding biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) can be easily identified by gene-sequence-similarity-based bioinformatics strategies, the actual access to these NPs for structure elucidation and bioactivity testing remains difficult. Deletion of the gene encoding the RNA chaperone, Hfq, results in strains losing the production of most NPs.

Visual Inhibition Measures Predict Speech-in-Noise Perception Only in People With Low Levels of Education.

Inhibition-the ability to suppress goal-irrelevant information-is thought to be an important cognitive skill in many situations, including speech-in-noise (SiN) listening. Both inhibition and SiN perception are thought to worsen with age, but attempts to connect age-related declines in these two abilities have produced mixed results even though a clear positive relationship has generally been hypothesized. We suggest that these inconsistencies may occur because listener-based demographic variables such as educational attainment modulate the relationship between inhibition and SiN perception.

Correction: Velvet domain protein VosA represses the zinc cluster transcription factor SclB regulatory network for Aspergillus nidulans asexual development, oxidative stress response and secondary metabolism.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.

Velvet domain protein VosA represses the zinc cluster transcription factor SclB regulatory network for Aspergillus nidulans asexual development, oxidative stress response and secondary metabolism.

The NF-κB-like velvet domain protein VosA (viability of spores) binds to more than 1,500 promoter sequences in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans. VosA inhibits premature induction of the developmental activator gene brlA, which promotes asexual spore formation in response to environmental cues as light. VosA represses a novel genetic network controlled by the sclB gene.

Hearing in Real-Life Environments (HERE): Structure and Reliability of a Questionnaire on Perceived Hearing for Older Adults.

Objectives: The ability to hear in a variety of social situations and environments is vital for social participation and a high quality of life. One way to assess hearing ability is by means of self-report questionnaire. For questionnaires to be useful, their measurement properties, based on careful validation, have to be known.

The Association Between Cognitive Performance and Speech-in-Noise Perception for Adult Listeners: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis.

Published studies assessing the association between cognitive performance and speech-in-noise (SiN) perception examine different aspects of each, test different listeners, and often report quite variable associations. By examining the published evidence base using a systematic approach, we aim to identify robust patterns across studies and highlight any remaining gaps in knowledge. We limit our assessment to adult unaided listeners with audiometric profiles ranging from normal hearing to moderate hearing loss.

LuxS-dependent AI-2 production is not involved in global regulation of natural product biosynthesis in and .

The Gram-negative bacteria and are known to produce a variety of different natural products (NP). These compounds play different roles since the bacteria live in symbiosis with nematodes and are pathogenic to insect larvae in the soil. Thus, a fine tuned regulatory system controlling NP biosynthesis is indispensable.

Different Measures of Auditory and Visual Stroop Interference and Their Relationship to Speech Intelligibility in Noise.

Inhibition-the ability to suppress goal-irrelevant information-is thought to be an important cognitive skill in many situations, including speech-in-noise (SiN) perception. One way to measure inhibition is by means of Stroop tasks, in which one stimulus dimension must be named while a second, more prepotent dimension is ignored. The to-be-ignored dimension may be relevant or irrelevant to the target dimension, and the inhibition measure-Stroop interference (SI)-is calculated as the reaction time difference between the relevant and irrelevant conditions.