Manual switching between programs intended for specific real-life listening environments by adult cochlear implant users: do they use the intended program?

Objective: The aim of the current study was to investigate the use of manually and automatically switching programs in everyday day life by adult cochlear implant (CI) users.

Design: Participants were fitted with an automatically switching sound processor setting and 2 manual programs for 3-week study periods. They received an extensive counselling session.

Assessment of speech recognition abilities in quiet and in noise: a comparison between self-administered home testing and testing in the clinic for adult cochlear implant users.

Self speech recognition tests in quiet and noise at home are compared to the standard tests performed in the clinic. Potential effects of stimuli presentation modes (loudspeaker or audio cable) and assessment (clinician or self-assessment at home) on test results were investigated. Speech recognition in quiet was assessed using the standard Dutch test with monosyllabic words.

Is there evidence for the added value and correct use of manual and automatically switching multimemory hearing devices? A scoping review.

Objectives: To review literature on the use of manual and automatically switching multimemory devices by hearing aid and CI recipients, and to investigate if recipients appreciate and adequately use the ability to switch between programmes in various listening environments.

Design: Literature was searched using PubMed, Embase and ISI/Web of Science. Additional studies were identified by screening reference and citation lists, and by contacting experts.

Morphosyntactic correctness of written language production in adults with moderate to severe congenital hearing loss.

Objective: To examine whether moderate to severe congenital hearing loss (MSCHL) leads to persistent morphosyntactic problems in the written language production of adults, as it does in their spoken language production.

Design: Samples of written language in Dutch were analysed for morphosyntactic correctness and syntactic complexity.

Study Sample: 20 adults with MSCHL and 10 adults with normal hearing (NH).

The Development of Remote Speech Recognition Tests for Adult Cochlear Implant Users: The Effect of Presentation Mode of the Noise and a Reliable Method to Deliver Sound in Home Environments.

The number of cochlear implant (CI) users is increasing annually, resulting in an increase in the workload of implant centers in ongoing patient management and evaluation. Remote testing of speech recognition could be time-saving for both the implant centers as well as the patient. This study addresses two methodological challenges we encountered in the development of a remote speech recognition tool for adult CI users.

The Influence of Linguistic Proficiency on Masked Text Recognition Performance in Adults With and Without Congenital Hearing Impairment.

Objective: The authors first examined the influence of moderate to severe congenital hearing impairment (CHI) on the correctness of samples of elicited spoken language. Then, the authors used this measure as an indicator of linguistic proficiency and examined its effect on performance in language reception, independent of bottom-up auditory processing.

Design: In groups of adults with normal hearing (NH, n = 22), acquired hearing impairment (AHI, n = 22), and moderate to severe CHI (n = 21), the authors assessed linguistic proficiency by analyzing the morphosyntactic correctness of their spoken language production.

On the use of the distortion-sensitivity approach in examining the role of linguistic abilities in speech understanding in noise.

Purpose: Researchers have used the distortion-sensitivity approach in the psychoacoustical domain to investigate the role of auditory processing abilities in speech perception in noise (van Schijndel, Houtgast, & Festen, 2001; Goverts & Houtgast, 2010). In this study, the authors examined the potential applicability of the distortion-sensitivity approach for investigating the role of linguistic abilities in speech understanding in noise.

Method: The authors applied the distortion-sensitivity approach by measuring the processing of visually presented masked text in a condition with manipulated syntactic, lexical, and semantic cues and while using the Text Reception Threshold (George et al.