Participant-generated Cochlear Implant Programs: Speech Recognition, Sound Quality, and Satisfaction.

Objective: To determine whether patient-derived programming of one's cochlear implant (CI) stimulation levels may affect performance outcomes.

Background: Increases in patient population, device complexity, outcome expectations, and clinician responsibility have demonstrated the necessity for improved clinical efficiency.

Methods: Eighteen postlingually deafened adult CI recipients (mean = 53 years; range, 24-83 years) participated in a repeated-measures, within-participant study designed to compare their baseline listening program to an experimental program they created.

Late Ebola virus relapse causing meningoencephalitis: a case report.

Background: There are thousands of survivors of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in west Africa. Ebola virus can persist in survivors for months in immune-privileged sites; however, viral relapse causing life-threatening and potentially transmissible disease has not been described. We report a case of late relapse in a patient who had been treated for severe Ebola virus disease with high viral load (peak cycle threshold value 13.

Sound Source Localization by Normal-Hearing Listeners, Hearing-Impaired Listeners and Cochlear Implant Listeners.

Objective: Our primary aim was to determine whether listeners in the following patient groups achieve localization accuracy within the 95th percentile of accuracy shown by younger or older normal-hearing (NH) listeners: (1) hearing impaired with bilateral hearing aids, (2) bimodal cochlear implant (CI), (3) bilateral CI, (4) hearing preservation CI, (5) single-sided deaf CI and (6) combined bilateral CI and bilateral hearing preservation.

Design: The listeners included 57 young NH listeners, 12 older NH listeners, 17 listeners fit with hearing aids, 8 bimodal CI listeners, 32 bilateral CI listeners, 8 hearing preservation CI listeners, 13 single-sided deaf CI listeners and 3 listeners with bilateral CIs and bilateral hearing preservation. Sound source localization was assessed in a sound-deadened room with 13 loudspeakers arrayed in a 180-degree arc.

Dual language versus English-only support for bilingual children with hearing loss who use cochlear implants and hearing aids.

Background: There is a critical need to understand better speech and language development in bilingual children learning two spoken languages who use cochlear implants (CIs) and hearing aids (HAs). The paucity of knowledge in this area poses a significant barrier to providing maximal communicative outcomes to a growing number of children who have a hearing loss (HL) and are learning multiple spoken languages. In fact, the number of bilingual individuals receiving CIs and HAs is rapidly increasing, and Hispanic children display a higher prevalence of HL than the general population of the United States.

Durability of Hearing Preservation after Cochlear Implantation with Conventional-Length Electrodes and Scala Tympani Insertion.

Objectives: To analyze factors that influence hearing preservation over time in cochlear implant recipients with conventional-length electrode arrays located entirely within the scala tympani.

Study Design: Case series with planned chart review.

Setting: Single tertiary academic referral center.

Incidence of and risk for post-traumatic stress disorder and depression in a representative sample of US Reserve and National Guard.

Purpose: We aim to determine the incidence rates (IR) of first-ever post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression in a population-based cohort of US Reserve and National Guard service members.

Methods: We used data from the US Reserve and National Guard Study (n = 2003) to annually investigate incident and recurrent PTSD and depression symptoms from 2010 to 2013. We estimated the IR and recurrence rate over 4 years and according to several sociodemographic and military characteristics.

The Effects of Acoustic Bandwidth on Simulated Bimodal Benefit in Children and Adults with Normal Hearing.

Objectives: The primary purpose of this study was to examine the effect of acoustic bandwidth on bimodal benefit for speech recognition in normal-hearing children with a cochlear implant (CI) simulation in one ear and low-pass filtered stimuli in the contralateral ear. The effect of acoustic bandwidth on bimodal benefit in children was compared with the pattern of adults with normal hearing. Our hypothesis was that children would require a wider acoustic bandwidth than adults to (1) derive bimodal benefit, and (2) obtain asymptotic bimodal benefit.

Gender, Position of Authority, and the Risk of Depression and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder among a National Sample of U.S. Reserve Component Personnel.

Background: Recent U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have seen dramatic increases in the proportion of women serving and the breadth of their occupational roles.

Hearing Preservation Outcomes With a Mid-Scala Electrode in Cochlear Implantation.

Objective: To evaluate hearing preservation (HP) outcomes in adult cochlear implant recipients with a mid-scala electrode.

Setting: Tertiary academic center.

Patients: Adult patients implanted with a mid-scala electrode between May 2013 and July 2015.

Identification and spontaneous immune targeting of an endogenous retrovirus K envelope protein in the Indian rhesus macaque model of human disease.

Background: Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are remnants of ancient retroviral infections that have invaded the germ line of both humans and non-human primates. Most ERVs are functionally crippled by deletions, mutations, and hypermethylation, leading to the view that they are inert genomic fossils. However, some ERVs can produce mRNA transcripts, functional viral proteins, and even non-infectious virus particles during certain developmental and pathological processes.

Method of Speech Stimulus Presentation Impacts Pediatric Speech Recognition: Monitored Live Voice Versus Recorded Speech.

Objective: To characterize the potential differences in speech understanding performance on word and sentence tests assessed using live voice and recorded speech measures for pediatric cochlear implant (CI) recipients.

Study Design: This clinical study used a combination of retrospective and prospective study designs exploring within-subject performance for recorded versus monitored-live-voice presentation methods on pediatric word and sentence measures.

Methods: Word and/or sentence recognition was obtained for 29 pediatric CI recipients using both recorded stimuli and monitored-live-voice (MLV) within a single-test session with a single experimenter for each session.

Initial Results With Image-guided Cochlear Implant Programming in Children.

Hypothesis: Image-guided cochlear implant (CI) programming can improve hearing outcomes for pediatric CI recipients.

Background: CIs have been highly successful for children with severe-to-profound hearing loss, offering potential for mainstreamed education and auditory-oral communication. Despite this, a significant number of recipients still experience poor speech understanding, language delay, and, even among the best performers, restoration to normal auditory fidelity is rare.

Speech Understanding in Children With Normal Hearing: Sound Field Normative Data for BabyBio, BKB-SIN, and QuickSIN.

Objective: The primary goal was to establish normative data for the Pediatric AzBio "BabyBio," QuickSIN, and BKB-SIN measures in the sound field for children with normal hearing.

Setting: Tertiary care hospital; cochlear implant (CI) program.

Patients: Forty-one children with normal hearing were recruited across four age groups (5-6, 7-8, 9-10, and 11-12 yr).

Results of Postoperative, CT-based, Electrode Deactivation on Hearing in Prelingually Deafened Adult Cochlear Implant Recipients.

Objective: To test the use of a novel, image-guided cochlear implant (CI) programming (IGCIP) technique on prelingually deafened, adult CI recipients.

Study Design: Prospective unblinded study.

Setting: Tertiary referral center.

Relationship Between Electrode-to-Modiolus Distance and Current Levels for Adults With Cochlear Implants.

Hypothesis: Electrode-to-modiolus distance is correlated with clinically programmed stimulation levels.

Background: Conventional wisdom has long supposed a significant relationship between cochlear implant (CI) stimulation levels and electrode-to-modiolus distance; however, to date, no such formal investigation has been completed. Thus, the purpose of this project was to investigate the relationship between stimulation levels and electrode-to-modiolus distance.

Anger and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Severity in a Trauma-Exposed Military Population: Differences by Trauma Context and Gender.

Studies have found a stronger association between anger and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) severity in military populations than in nonmilitary populations. Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain this difference: Military populations are more prone to anger than nonmilitary populations, and traumas experienced on deployment create more anger than nondeployment traumas. To examine these hypotheses, we evaluated the association between anger and PTSD severity among never-deployed military service members with nondeployment traumas (n = 226) and deployed service members with deployment traumas (n = 594) using linear regression.

[INCREMENT]9-Tetrahydrocannabinol discriminative stimulus effects of AM2201 and related aminoalkylindole analogs in rats.

The recent recreational use of synthetic cannabinoid ligands, collectively referred to as 'Spice', has raised concerns about their safety and possible differences in their biological effect(s) from marijuana/Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). AM2201, a highly efficacious, potent cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1R) agonist, is a recently detected compound in 'Spice' preparations. Furthermore, structural analogs of AM2201 are now being found in 'Spice'.

Sound Source Localization and Speech Understanding in Complex Listening Environments by Single-sided Deaf Listeners After Cochlear Implantation.

Objective: To assess improvements in sound source localization and speech understanding in complex listening environments after unilateral cochlear implantation for single-sided deafness (SSD).

Study Design: Nonrandomized, open, prospective case series.

Setting: Tertiary referral center.

Effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations, clipping regimen and differential day/night atmospheric warming on tissue nitrogen concentrations of a perennial pasture grass.

Forecasting the effects of climate change on nitrogen (N) cycling in pastures requires an understanding of changes in tissue N. We examined the effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration, atmospheric warming and simulated grazing (clipping frequency) on aboveground and belowground tissue N concentrations and C : N ratios of a C3 pasture grass. Phalaris aquatica L.

Impact of Intrascalar Electrode Location, Electrode Type, and Angular Insertion Depth on Residual Hearing in Cochlear Implant Patients: Preliminary Results.

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between intrascalar electrode location, electrode type (lateral wall, perimodiolar, and midscala), and angular insertion depth on residual hearing in cochlear implant (CI) recipients.

Setting: Tertiary academic hospital.

Patients: Adult CI patients with functional preoperative residual hearing with preoperative and postoperative CT scans.

A Within-Subject Comparison of Bimodal Hearing, Bilateral Cochlear Implantation, and Bilateral Cochlear Implantation With Bilateral Hearing Preservation: High-Performing Patients.

Objective: To compare speech understanding with bimodal hearing and bilateral cochlear implants (CIs).

Study Design: Within-subjects, repeated-measures.

Methods: Speech understanding was assessed in the following conditions: unilateral hearing aid (HA) in the non-implanted ear, unilateral CI, bimodal (CI + HA), and bilateral CI.

Pro-Environmental Values Matter in Competitive but Not Cooperative Commons Dilemmas.

The choice to conserve or be greedy in a commons dilemma may be influenced by the behavior of others and by pro-environmental values. Participants completed a measure of pro-environmental values one week before taking part in an Internet-based commons dilemma microworld consisting of a shared fishery with three computer-controlled virtual fishers whom participants believed to be real people. The three virtual fishers either behaved greedily (taking an unsustainable number of fish each season) or sustainably.