DigiSpan: Development and Evaluation of a Computer-Based, Adaptive Test of Short-Term Memory and Working Memory.

Purpose: This article describes DigiSpan, a new computer-controlled auditory test of forward and reverse digit span, designed to be administered by clinicians, and presents normative and test-retest reliability data for adults.

Method: DigiSpan mimics conventional live-voice tests in that it commences with trials that ascend in length until a stopping criterion is met, giving rise to a conventional scaled score. It then administers five additional adaptive trials, the length of which depends on the correctness of the response to the previous trial.

Masked speech recognition by 6-13-year-olds with early-childhood otitis media: effects of acoustic condition and otologic history.

Objective: To investigate speech recognition in school-age children with early-childhood otitis media (OM) in conditions with noise or speech maskers with or without interaural differences. To also investigate the effects of three otologic history factors.

Design: Using headphone presentation, speech recognition thresholds (SRTs) were measured with simple sentences.

Listening Preferences of New Adult Hearing Aid Users: A Registered, Double-Blind, Randomized, Mixed-Methods Clinical Trial of Initial Versus Real-Ear Fit.

Hearing aid verification with real-ear measurement (REM) is recommended in clinical practice. Improvements, over time, in accuracy of manufacturers' initial fit mean the benefit of routine REM for new adult users is unclear. This registered, double-blinded, randomized, mixed-methods clinical trial aimed to (i) determine whether new adult hearing aid users prefer initial or real-ear fit and (ii) investigate the reasons for preferences.

List Equivalency and Critical Differences of a Mandarin Bamford-Kowal-Bench Sentence in Babble Noise Test for Adults and Preschool Children With Normal Hearing.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the speech recognition equivalence of Mandarin Bamford-Kowal-Bench (BKB) sentence lists with adults and children with normal hearing.

Method: A total of 32 lists, each of nine sentences, were compiled from a corpus of BKB-like sentences with paired babble in Mandarin. Interlist equivalence, critical differences, and sensitivity of performance to signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were examined.

Toward a Real-World Technical Test Battery for Remote Microphone Systems Used with Hearing Prostheses.

Remote microphones (RMs) enable clearer reception of speech than would be normally achievable when relying on the acoustic sound field at the listener's ear (Hawkins, J Sp Hear Disord 49, 409-418, 1984). They are used in a wide range of environments, with one example being for children in educational settings. The international standards defining the assessment methods of the technical performance of RMs rely on free-field (anechoic) delivery, a rarely met acoustic scenario.

A review of auditory processing and cognitive change during normal ageing, and the implications for setting hearing aids for older adults.

Throughout our adult lives there is a decline in peripheral hearing, auditory processing and elements of cognition that support listening ability. Audiometry provides no information about the status of auditory processing and cognition, and older adults often struggle with complex listening situations, such as speech in noise perception, even if their peripheral hearing appears normal. Hearing aids can address some aspects of peripheral hearing impairment and improve signal-to-noise ratios.

Acoustic change complex for assessing speech discrimination in normal-hearing and hearing-impaired infants.

Objective: This study examined (1) the utility of a clinical system to record acoustic change complex (ACC, an event-related potential recorded by electroencephalography) for assessing speech discrimination in infants, and (2) the relationship between ACC and functional performance in real life.

Methods: Participants included 115 infants (43 normal-hearing, 72 hearing-impaired), aged 3-12 months. ACCs were recorded using [szs], [uiu], and a spectral rippled noise high-pass filtered at 2 kHz as stimuli.

Perceived Sound Quality of Hearing Aids With Varying Placements of Microphone and Receiver.

Purpose: Perceived sound quality was variously compared between either no aiding or aiding with three models of hearing aid that varied the microphone position around the pinna, depth of the receiver in the auditory meatus, degree of meatal occlusion, and processing sophistication. The hearing aids were modern designs and commercially available at the time of testing.

Method: Binaural recordings of multichannel spatially separated speech and music excerpts were made in a manikin, either open ear or aided.

The one-up one-down adaptive (staircase) procedure in speech-in-noise testing: Standard error of measurement and fluctuations in the track.

The one-up one-down adaptive (staircase or up-down) procedure is often used to estimate the speech recognition threshold (SRT) in speech-in-noise testing. This article provides a brief historical overview of the one-up one-down procedure in psychophysics, discussing the groundbreaking early work that is still relevant to clinical audiology and scientific research. Next, this article focuses on two aspects of the one-up one-down adaptive procedure: first, the standard error of measurement (SEM) and, second, the fluctuations in the track [i.

The development of the Language-Independent Speech in Noise and Reverberation test (LISiNaR) and evaluation in listeners with English as a second language.

Objective: Create a language-independent, ecologically valid auditory processing assessment and evaluate relative stimuli intelligibility in native and non-native English speakers.

Design: The Language-Independent Speech in Noise and Reverberation Test (LISiNaR) targets comprised consonant-vowel (CVCV) pseudo-words. Distractors comprised CVCVCVCV pseudo-words.

Do we need audiogram-based prescriptions? A systematic review.

Objective: Hearing aids are typically programmed using the individual's audiometric thresholds and verified using real-ear measures. Developments in technology have resulted in a new category of direct-to-consumer devices, which are not necessarily programmed using the individual's audiometric thresholds. This review aimed to identify whether programming hearing aids using the individual's validated audiogram-based prescription, and verified using real-ear measures, results in better outcomes for adults with hearing loss.

Development and Evaluation of a Language-Independent Test of Auditory Discrimination for Referrals for Cochlear Implant Candidacy Assessment.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to (1) develop a Language-independent Test of Auditory Discrimination (LIT-AD) between speech sounds so that people with hearing loss who derive limited speech perception benefits from hearing aids (HAs) may be identified for consideration of cochlear implantation and (2) examine the relationship between the scores for the new discrimination test and those of a standard sentence test for adults wearing either HAs or cochlear implants (CIs).

Design: The test measures the ability of the listener to correctly discriminate pairs of nonsense syllables, presented as sequential triplets in an odd-one-out format, implemented as a game-based software tool for self-administration using a tablet computer. Stage 1 included first a review of phonemic inventories in the 40 most common languages in the world to select the consonants and vowels.

Cost-Effectiveness of Screening Preschool Children for Hearing Loss in Australia.

Objectives: While all newborns in Australia are tested for congenital hearing loss through universal newborn hearing screening programs, some children will acquire hearing loss in their first five years of life. Delayed diagnosed or undiagnosed hearing loss in children can have substantial immediate- and long-term consequences. It can significantly reduce school readiness, language and communication development, social and emotional development, and mental health.

Comment on Ahmmed (2021): The Search for Evidence-Based Auditory Processing Disorder Diagnostic Criteria.

Ahmmed (2021) presented a study to advance the goal of an evidence-based diagnostic criteria for auditory processing disorder. We offer some cautions about the interpretation of these results, as well as suggestions for future strategies for developing evidence-based criteria for auditory processing disorder.

Is the outcome of fitting hearing aids to adults affected by whether an audiogram-based prescription formula is individually applied? A systematic review protocol.

Introduction: Hearing aids are typically programmed using the individual's audiometric thresholds. Developments in technology have resulted in a new category of direct-to-consumer devices, which are not programmed using the individual's audiometric thresholds. This review aims to identify whether programming hearing aids using the individual's audiogram-based prescription results in better outcomes for adults with hearing loss.

Separating the Causes of Listening Difficulties in Children.

Auditory processing disorder, defined here as a deficit in the way sounds are analyzed by the brain, has remained a controversial topic within audiology for decades. Some of the controversy concerns what it is called. More substantively, even its existence has been questioned.

Factor Analysis on Multiple Auditory Processing Assessment-2 and Listening in Spatialized Noise-Sentences Test in Children.

Introduction There is need for greater understanding of tests used in assessing all aspects of auditory processing disorder (APD). This is important so that specific deficits can be identified and later remediated with the smallest possible test battery. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) recommends five areas/domains for behavioral assessment: (a) temporal, (b) binaural (dichotic) separation/integration, (c) monaural low redundancy, (d) binaural interaction/localization/lateralization, and (e) auditory discrimination.

Does Probe-Tube Verification of Real-Ear Hearing Aid Amplification Characteristics Improve Outcomes in Adults? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

This systematic review, the first on this topic, aimed to investigate if probe-tube verification of real-ear hearing aid amplification characteristics improves outcomes in adults. The review was preregistered in the Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews and performed in accordance with the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. After assessing more than 1,420 records from seven databases, six experimental studies (published between 2012 and 2019) met the inclusion criteria; five were included in the meta-analyses.

Uptake of internet-delivered UK adult hearing assessment.

Objective: To evaluate uptake of the internet-based hearing test, with respect to the 11% of UK adults that have hearing loss but do not use hearing aids.

Design: Feasibility study in a primary care practice in the North of England.

Study Sample: Adults aged 50-74 years were sent postal invitations to complete an internet hearing test ( = 600).

The Relations Between Auditory Processing Scores and Cognitive, Listening and Reading Abilities.

Objectives: To investigate associations between auditory processing abilities, cognitive abilities, listening ability, and reading ability in children.

Design: This was a cross-sectional study involving 155 children (105 referred for auditory processing assessment and 50 with no reported listening concerns) aged between 7 and 13 years. Each child was assessed on auditory processing tests, cognitive tests, and a reading test.

Determining unilateral or bilateral hearing aid preference in adults: a prospective study.

Objective: Despite high rates of bilateral hearing aid fitting globally, a number of adults continue to reject one hearing aid. The current study aimed to identify a clinically suitable tool for determining, pre-fitting, which clients might prefer one hearing aid.

Unlabelled: Ninety-five new adult hearing aid candidates, aged 49-87 years, were assessed prior to a first hearing aid fitting.

Analysis of data from the International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids (IOI-HA) using Bayesian Item Response Theory.

Objective: IOI-HA response data are conventionally analysed assuming that the ordinal responses have interval-scale properties. This study critically considers this assumption and compares the conventional approach with a method using Item Response Theory (IRT).

Design: A Bayesian IRT analysis model was implemented and applied to several IOI-HA data sets.