Active listening modulates the spatial hearing experience: a multicentric study.

Although flexible and portable virtual reality technologies have simplified measuring participants' perception of acoustic space, their clinical adoption remains limited, often lacking ecological fidelity. In clinical practice, participants are typically instructed to remain still when testing sound localization, whereas head movements are crucial in daily life. Additionally, assessing spatial hearing extends beyond measuring accuracy to include meta-cognitive evaluations like perceived effort and confidence, which are rarely adopted.

Emergent veno-arterial extra-corporeal membrane oxygenator support for refractory acute myocarditis in paediatric patients.

Acute myocarditis leading to severe heart failure in paediatric patients is an uncommon but potentially life-threatening condition. The prompt implant of mechanical circulatory devices such as veno-arterial extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation remains the best treatment option to restore an adequate perfusion and improve patient survival in case of refractory cardiogenic shock cases. While few reports describe the in-hospital course of this dramatic disease, with an in-hospital mortality under veno-arterial extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation support around 30%, our study aims to analyse both short- and long-term outcomes after extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation implant.

Factors correlated with hearing aids adherence in older adults: a prospective controlled study.

Objective: To investigate which factors influence the adherence to hearing aid (HA) use in elderly patients with moderate-to-severe hearing loss.

Methods: This observational, prospective, single-centre study enrolled patients with moderate-to-severe hearing loss. They were evaluated before and 1 year after having either one or two HAs fitted.

Hearing Loss in Baraitser-Winter Syndrome: Case Reports and Review of the Literature.

: Baraitser-Winter Syndrome (BRWS) is a rare autosomal dominant condition associated with hearing loss (HL). In the literature, two types of this condition are reported, Baraitser-Winter type 1 (BRWS1) and type 2 (BRWS2) produced by specific pathogenetic variants of two different genes, ACTB for BRWS1 and ACTG1 for BRWS2. In addition to syndromic BRWS2, some pathogenic variants in ACTG1 are associated also to another pathologic entity, the "Autosomal dominant non-syndromic hearing loss 20/26".

Do Different Types of Microphones Affect Listening Effort in Cochlear Implant Recipients? A Pupillometry Study.

Background: It is known that subjects with a cochlear implant (CI) need to exert more listening effort to achieve adequate speech recognition compared to normal hearing subjects. One tool for assessing listening effort is pupillometry. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of adaptive directional microphones in reducing listening effort for CI recipients.

A regional-based newborn hearing screening program: the Emilia-Romagna model after ten years of legislation.

Background: Hearing loss, occurring in 1-3/1,000 newborns in the well-babies population, is one of the most common congenital diseases, and hearing screening at birth still represents the only means for its early detection. Since 2011 the Emilia Romagna Regional Health Agency has recommended Newborn Hearing Screening for all babies at its birth points and for newborns moving to the region. The aims of this study are to analyze the results of this regional-based Newborn Hearing Screening program and to discuss the impact of the legislative endorsement on the organization.

An innovative method for trans-impedance matrix interpretation in hearing pathologies discrimination.

Trans-impedance measurement is a novel methodology for assessing the positioning of a cochlear implant (CI). This study proposes an innovative use of trans-impedance measurements to characterize specific hearing pathologies by means of the trans-impedance matrix (TIM) quantitative analysis. Three indices are used: Shannon Entropy, the Exponential Decay constant and Spatial Correlation.

Attention to Speech and Music in Young Children with Bilateral Cochlear Implants: A Pupillometry Study.

Early bilateral cochlear implants (CIs) may enhance attention to speech, and reduce cognitive load in noisy environments. However, it is sometimes difficult to measure speech perception and listening effort, especially in very young children. Behavioral measures cannot always be obtained in young/uncooperative children, whereas objective measures are either difficult to assess or do not reliably correlate with behavioral measures.

Auditory evaluation of infants born to COVID19 positive mothers.

Unlabelled: COVID-19 infection can cause a wide spectrum of symptoms. The audio-vestibular system can also be involved, but there is still debate about this so findings need to be considered carefully. Furthermore, mother to fetus intrauterine transmission of COVID-19 infection in pregnant women is controversial.

Cochlear Implant in Patients with Intralabyrinthine Schwannoma without Tumor Removal.

(1) Background: Schwannomas of the vestibulocochlear nerve are benign, slow-growing tumors, arising from the Schwann cells. When they originate from neural elements within the vestibule or cochlea, they are defined as intralabyrinthine schwannomas (ILSs). Cochlear implant (CI) has been reported as a feasible solution for hearing restoration in these patients.

Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Listening Effort in Young Children with Cochlear Implants.

Very early bilateral implantation is thought to significantly reduce the attentional effort required to acquire spoken language, and consequently offer a profound improvement in quality of life. Despite the early intervention, however, auditory and communicative outcomes in children with cochlear implants remain poorer than in hearing children. The distorted auditory input via the cochlear implants requires more auditory attention resulting in increased listening effort and fatigue.

Analysis of a Cooperation and Interventional Model in Humanitarian Medicine.

Every year, around 15 million children, in developing countries, die or develop life-long disabilities because of congenital cardiac diseases. In this report we measure the effect of a pediatric cardiac surgery humanitarian project on the health of the individual and on the potential influence this has on the countries economy and its growing health services. We collected and analyzed data from the Italian NGO, Mission Bambini's database, including all congenital cardiac missions undertaken in Cambodia between 2012 and 2019.

Audiological Performance of ADHEAR Systems in Simulated Conductive Hearing Loss: A Case Series with a Review of the Existing Literature.

A new non-invasive adhesive bone conduction hearing device (ABCD) has been proposed as an alternative solution for reversible bilateral conductive hearing loss in recurrent or long-lasting forms of otitis media with effusion (OME) in children that cannot undergo surgical treatment. Our aim was to assess the effectiveness of ABCD in children with OME. Twelve normal-hearing Italian-speaking volunteers, in whom a conductive hearing loss was simulated, participated in the study.

An alternative valve for mitral valve replacement in young children: using an NO-REACT® INJECTABLE BIOPULMONIC™ prosthesis as a mitral valve replacement in a 14-month-old child.

Mitral valve replacement in infants is challenging and there are limited alternative valves available. Since the Boston group published their first report on alternative valves for mitral valve replacement in infants, there has been a growth in the literature on the topic, mostly based on the use of a stented bovine jugular vein graft (Melody® valve). The challenges of the Melody valve are firstly in its length of 28 mm unexpanded, which has the potential to cause left ventricular outflow tract obstruction, and secondly, the valve needs mechanical dilatation, which is laborious.

Evaluation of the efficacy of hearing aids in older adults: a multiparametric longitudinal study protocol.

Background: Prevalence of hearing loss increases with age. Its estimated prevalence is 40-50 % in people over 75 years of age. Recent studies agree that declinein hearing threshold contribute to deterioration in sociality, sensitivity, cognition, and quality of life for elderly subjects.

Mid- to long-term follow-up of pulmonary valve replacement with BioIntegral injectable valve.

Objectives: Chronic pulmonary valve (PV) regurgitation is a common late sequela after repair of congenital heart diseases like tetralogy of Fallot or pulmonary stenosis, leading to right ventricular dilatation and failure and increased late morbidity and mortality. Timely reoperation may lead to a complete right ventricular recovery. An injectable PV allows pulmonary valve replacement, with or without cardiopulmonary bypass, under direct observation, thereby minimizing the impact of surgery on cardiac function.

Next generation sequencing study in a cohort of Italian patients with syndromic hearing loss.

Hearing loss (HL), one of the most common congenital disorder, affects about one child in 1000. Among the genetic forms of HL, ∼30% of the cases are associated with other signs or symptoms, leading to Syndromic Hearing Loss (SHL) with about 700 different forms described so far. In this report, we refer the clinical and molecular data of 38 Italian SHL unrelated patients, and their relatives, affected by the most common syndromes associated with HL (i.

Who misses the newborn hearing screening? Five years' experience in Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region (Italy).

Introduction: Permanent hearing impairment is the most common sensory disorder in newborns. The Universal Newborn Hearing Screening (UNHS) is widely adopted as a cost-effective procedure to achieve early identification and treatment of congenital hearing impairment, with the final goal of an improved linguistic and cognitive outcome for hearing impaired children. The Italian Ministry of Health has recently comprised UNHS in the Essential Level of Health Assistance.

Genomic Studies in a Large Cohort of Hearing Impaired Italian Patients Revealed Several New Alleles, a Rare Case of Uniparental Disomy (UPD) and the Importance to Search for Copy Number Variations.

Hereditary hearing loss (HHL) is a common disorder characterized by a huge genetic heterogeneity. The definition of a correct molecular diagnosis is essential for proper genetic counseling, recurrence risk estimation, and therapeutic options. From 20 to 40% of patients carry mutations in gene, thus, in more than half of cases it is necessary to look for causative variants in the other genes so far identified (~100).

Uncommon Post-Meningitis Hearing Threshold Improvement: A Case Report.

Bacterial meningitis may cause inner ear fibrosis and progressive cochlear ossification with irreversible profound hearing loss (HL). Recognition of potential ossification is essential for effective management. We present a clinical case of a 4 year old boy who developed a progressive HL starting 3 weeks after meningitis.