Evaluating Changes in Adult Cochlear Implant Users' Brain and Behavior Following Auditory Training.

Objectives: To describe the effects of two types of auditory training on both behavioral and physiological measures of auditory function in cochlear implant (CI) users, and to examine whether a relationship exists between the behavioral and objective outcome measures.

Design: This study involved two experiments, both of which used a within-subject design. Outcome measures included behavioral and cortical electrophysiological measures of auditory processing.

The association between electrode impedance and short-term outcomes in cochlear implant recipients of slim modiolar and slim straight electrode arrays.

Objectives: Electrode impedance measurements from cochlear implants (CI) reflect the status of the electrode array as well as the surrounding cochlear environment, and could provide a clinical index of functional changes with the CI. The goals of this study were to examine (1) the impact of electrode array type on electrode impedance, and (2) the relationship between electrode impedance and short-term hearing preservation and speech recognition outcomes.

Methods: Retrospective study of 115 adult hearing preservation CI recipients of a slim modiolar or slim straight array.

The Effect of Aging on Auditory Nerve Function: Insights from Intraoperative eCAP Recordings in Cochlear Implant Users.

Background: Advanced age is associated with poorer speech perception outcomes in cochlear implant (CI) users. In an effort to improve our understanding of the basis for this decline, this study focused on the contributions from peripheral auditory processing, using the electrically evoked compound action potential (eCAP).

Objectives: To investigate the effect of aging on intraoperative, suprathreshold eCAP responses (amplitude growth function [AGF] slopes, eCAP maximum amplitudes, and N1 latencies) across the electrode array, in a large cohort of recipients of newer generation devices, who met hearing preservation criteria.

Intraoperative Electrically Evoked Compound Action Potential Growth and Maximum Amplitudes in Hearing Preservation Cochlear Implant Recipients.

Background: Electrically evoked compound action potentials (eCAPs) obtained from cochlear implant (CI) recipients reflect responsiveness of the auditory nerve to electrical stimulation. The recent use of atraumatic electrode arrays and expansion of CI candidacy to listeners with greater residual hearing may lead to increased clinical utility of intraoperative eCAP recordings.

Objectives: To examine the effect of electrode array (slim modiolar versus slim straight) on suprathreshold intraoperative eCAP recordings in hearing preservation CI recipients.

Acoustic Change Complex Recorded in Hybrid Cochlear Implant Users.

Introduction: Expanding cochlear implant (CI) candidacy criteria and advances in electrode arrays and soft surgical techniques have increased the number of CI recipients who have residual low-frequency hearing. Objective measures such as obligatory cortical auditory-evoked potentials (CAEPs) may help clinicians make more tailored recommendations to recipients regarding optimal listening mode. As a step toward this goal, this study investigated how CAEPs measured from hybrid CI users differ in two listening modes: acoustic alone (A-alone) versus acoustic plus electric (A + E).

The Impact of Music Training and Working Memory on Speech Recognition in Older Age.

Purpose Music training has been proposed as a possible tool for auditory training in older adults, as it may improve both auditory and cognitive skills. However, the evidence to support such benefits is mixed. The goal of this study was to determine the differential effects of lifelong musical training and working memory on speech recognition in noise, in older adults.

The Effect of Aging on the Electrically Evoked Compound Action Potential.

Objectives: To examine the effect of aging on electrically evoked compound action potential (eCAP) growth functions and their relationship with speech recognition in noise in cochlear implant (CI) users.

Background: Aging typically leads to difficulty understanding speech in background noise. Previous research has explored cognitive and central auditory mechanisms contributing to these age-related changes.

The Effect of Musical Training and Working Memory in Adverse Listening Situations.

Objectives: Speech-in-noise (SIN) perception is essential for everyday communication. In most communication situations, the listener requires the ability to process simultaneous complex auditory signals to understand the target speech or target sound. As the listening situation becomes more difficult, the ability to distinguish between speech and noise becomes dependent on recruiting additional cognitive resources, such as working memory (WM).

Age-Related Changes in Temporal Resolution Revisited: Electrophysiological and Behavioral Findings From Cochlear Implant Users.

Objectives: The mechanisms underlying age-related changes in speech perception are still unclear, most likely multifactorial and often can be difficult to parse out from the effects of hearing loss. Age-related changes in temporal resolution (i.e.

Effects of Long-Term Musical Training on Cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials.

Objective: Evidence suggests that musicians, as a group, have superior frequency resolution abilities when compared with nonmusicians. It is possible to assess auditory discrimination using either behavioral or electrophysiologic methods. The purpose of this study was to determine if the acoustic change complex (ACC) is sensitive enough to reflect the differences in spectral processing exhibited by musicians and nonmusicians.

Binaural Interference and the Effects of Age and Hearing Loss.

Background: The existence of binaural interference, defined here as poorer speech recognition with both ears than with the better ear alone, is well documented. Studies have suggested that its prevalence may be higher in the elderly population. However, no study to date has explored binaural interference in groups of younger and older adults in conditions that favor binaural processing (i.

Impact of frequency compression on music perception.

Objective: To determine the effects of frequency compression on music perception, and the impact of previous music training and hearing status. It was hypothesized that lesser amounts of compression would be preferred, and that this pattern of preference would be more evident in the musically trained groups.

Design: A paired-comparison paradigm was used.