The (in)visibility of deafness: Identity, stigma, quality of life and the potential role of totally implantable cochlear implants.

Introduction: The disclosure of deafness is complex, given the historic and on-going stigma associated with being deaf. The aim of this study was to explore how identity, stigma, and quality of life may be impacted when using cochlear implants (CIs) and totally implantable cochlear implants (TICIs). The physical difference between these two assistive listening devices is significant, given many CI users opt to hide their sound processor behind hair or headwear, in contrast to TICIs (an emerging technology) whereby all components are implanted internally and thus invisible.

Speech understanding in noise for cochlear implant recipients using a spatial noise reduction setting in an off the ear sound processor with directional microphones.

Purpose: Cochlear implant (CI) recipients struggle to hear in competing background noise. ForwardFocus is a spatial noise reduction setting from Cochlear Ltd. (Sydney) that can simultaneously attenuate noise from multiple sources behind the listener.

Cochlear implant aesthetics and its impact on stigma, social interaction and quality of life: a mixed-methods study protocol.

Introduction: Awareness of the benefits of cochlear implants is low, and barriers such as fear of surgery and ongoing rehabilitation have been noted. Perceived stigma associated with hearing loss also plays a key role, with many adults not wanting to appear old or be identified as a person with a disability. In effect, a cochlear implant makes deafness visible.

Comparison of the management recommendations of the Kaiser Permanente neonatal early-onset sepsis risk calculator (SRC) with NICE guideline CG149 in infants ≥34 weeks' gestation who developed early-onset sepsis.

Objective: To compare the management recommendations of the Kaiser Permanente neonatal early-onset sepsis risk calculator (SRC) with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline CG149 in infants ≥34 weeks' gestation who developed early-onset sepsis (EOS).

Design: Retrospective multicentre study.

Setting: Five maternity services in South West of England and Wales.

Exploring the recruitment, ethical considerations, conduct and information dissemination of an audiology trial: a pretrial qualitative study (q-COACH).

Introduction: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs), while still considered the gold standard approach in medical research, can encounter impediments to their successful conduct and the dissemination of results. Pretrial qualitative research can usefully address some of these impediments, including recruitment and retention, ethical conduct, and preferred methods of dissemination. However, pretrial qualitative work is rarely undertaken in audiology.

Addressing clinical equipoise for hearing devices: the qualitative COACH (q-COACH) study protocol for Australian stakeholder involvement in the design of a randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: Hearing loss is a common chronic problem which can be effectively managed with hearing devices. At present, only a limited number of people with hearing loss use hearing aids (HAs) and cochlear implants (CIs) to improve hearing and sound quality and enhance quality of life. Clinical equipoise, by which we mean healthcare professional uncertainty about which treatment options are the most efficacious due to the lack of evidence-based information, can lead to inconsistent and poorly informed referral processes for hearing devices.

Controlled comparative clinical trial of hearing benefit outcomes for users of the Cochlear™ Nucleus 7 Sound Processor with mobile connectivity.

Objectives: To assess subjective benefits and objective speech recognition performance following a take-home trial with the new Cochlear™ Nucleus 7 Sound Processor (SP), in experienced users of compatible cochlear implants from Cochlear Limited.

Methods: A total of 37 adult participants were fitted with the Nucleus 7 SP and used the device for up to one year. Baseline speech recognition was assessed at the initial fitting session, using each participant's own SP, and Client Oriented Scale of Improvement (COSI) goals were identified.

Outcome of routine cerebrospinal fluid screening for enterovirus and human parechovirus infection among infants with sepsis-like illness or meningitis in Cornwall, UK.

Unlabelled: Enteroviruses (EV) and human parechoviruses (HPeV) are known and emerging cause of sepsis-like illnesses in infants; however, testing is not yet routine. We retrospectively evaluated the number of diagnosed EV/HPeV infections in children under the age of 5 years who presented with sepsis-like illness or meningitis in Cornwall, UK, before and after routine implementation of viral screening of cerebrospinal fluid samples. During the 4-year period prior to routine testing, we identified 20 cases of EV meningitis and no cases of HPeV.

Evaluating the stability of a freestanding Mast Climbing Work Platform.

Mast Climbing Work Platforms (MCWPs) are becoming more common at construction sites and are being used as an alternative to traditional scaffolding. Although their use is increasing, little to no published information exists on the potential safety hazards they could pose for workers. As a last line of defense, a personal fall-arrest system can be used to save a worker in a fall incident from the platform.

Oscillatory profiles of positive, negative and neutral feedback stimuli during adaptive decision making.

The electrophysiological response to positive and negative feedback during reinforcement learning has been well documented over the past two decades, yet, little is known about the neural response to uninformative events that often follow our actions. To address this issue, we recorded the electroencephalograph (EEG) during a time-estimation task using both informative (positive and negative) and uninformative (neutral) feedback. In the time-frequency domain, uninformative feedback elicited significantly less induced beta-gamma activity than informative feedback.

Clinical evaluation of the Nucleus 6 cochlear implant system: performance improvements with SmartSound iQ.

Objective: This paper provides a detailed description of the Nucleus 6 system, and clinically evaluates user performance compared to the previous Nucleus 5 system in cochlear implant recipients. Additionally, it clinically evaluates a range of Nucleus 6 and Nucleus 5 programs to determine the performance benefits provided by new input processing technologies available in SmartSound iQ.

Design: Speech understanding tests were used to clinically validate the default Nucleus 6 program, by comparing performance outcomes against up to five custom Nucleus 5 or Nucleus 6 programs in a range of listening environments.

Gravimetric wear analysis and particulate characterization of bilateral facet-augmentation system--PercuDyn™.

Dynamic stabilization systems are emerging as an alternative to fusion instrumentation. However, cyclic loading and micro-motion at various interfaces may produce wear debris leading to adverse tissue reactions such as osteolysis. Ten million cycles of wear test was performed for PercuDyn™ in axial rotation and the wear profile and the wear rate was mapped.

Mechanical and structural characteristics of the new BONE-LOK cortical-cancellous internal fixation device.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the structural and mechanical characteristics of a new and unique titanium cortical-cancellous helical compression anchor with BONE-LOK (Triage Medical, Inc., Irvine, CA) technology for compressive internal fixation of fractures and osteotomies. This device provides fixation through the use of a distal helical anchor and a proximal retentive collar that are united by an axially movable pin (U.