Evidence for a Right-Ear Advantage in Newborn Hearing Screening Results.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of ear asymmetry, order of testing, and gender on transient-evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) pass rates and response levels in newborn hearing screening. The screening results of 879 newborns, of whom 387 (study group) passed screening successfully in only one ear in the first TEOAE screening, but passed screening successfully in both ears thereafter, and 492 (control group) who passed screening successfully in both ears in the first TEOAE, were retrospectively examined for pass rates and TEOAE characteristics. Results indicated a right-ear advantage, as manifested by significantly higher pass rates in the right ear (61% and 39% for right and left ears, respectively) in the study group, and in 1.

Asymmetric interaural generalization of learning gains in a speech-in-noise identification task.

The pattern of generalization of learning gains to untrained conditions in adult human perceptual skill learning has been used as an effective behavioral probe for studying the functional organization of the learning system. Learning gains were previously reported to generalize symmetrically between the ears for tonal stimuli. However, given the open question concerning the specialization of the hemispheres in the processing of speech sounds, it is not clear whether symmetrical interaural generalization will follow training on such stimuli.

Delay in auditory behaviour and preverbal vocalization in infants with unilateral hearing loss.

Aim: To evaluate the impact of unilateral hearing loss (UHL) on early aural/oral communication skills of infants by comparing performance to infants with bilateral normal hearing (BNH).

Method: Thirty-four infants with UHL (median age 9.4mo, 25th-75th centile 7.

Hearing with Two Ears: Evidence for Cortical Binaural Interaction during Auditory Processing.

Background: Integration of information presented to the two ears has been shown to manifest in binaural interaction components (BICs) that occur along the ascending auditory pathways. In humans, BICs have been studied predominantly at the brainstem and thalamocortical levels; however, understanding of higher cortically driven mechanisms of binaural hearing is limited.

Purpose: To explore whether BICs are evident in auditory event-related potentials (AERPs) during the advanced perceptual and postperceptual stages of cortical processing.

Pain in cochlear implant recipients: an uncommon, yet serious, consequence of cochlear implantation.

Objectives/hypothesis: We describe pain around the receiver/stimulator [RS] presenting months to years after implantation.

Study Design: A retrospective chart review.

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of all cochlear implant recipients complaining of pain around their RS through the years 2009 through 2013, with a follow-up of at least 6 months.

Universal neonatal cytomegalovirus screening using saliva - report of clinical experience.

Objectives: To analyze the results of a neonatal universal screen for congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) using saliva real-time polymerase chain reaction (rt-PCR).

Study Design: During one year (15/5/2011-15/5/2012), saliva was collected from 9845 infants (97% of 10,137 newborns). Viral DNA was extracted by Magna-Pure LC (Roche) and was tested for the presence of CMV IE and gB genes.

Evidence for a right cochlear implant advantage in simultaneous bilateral cochlear implantation.

Objectives/hypothesis: To compare speech perception performance with right versus left cochlear implants (CIs) in children with bilateral CIs implanted simultaneously.

Study Design: Prospective case series of patients undergoing simultaneous bilateral cochlear implantation.

Methods: Speech perception performance was tested in 10, right-handed children who received bilateral CIs simultaneously between 11 and 36 months (mean, 21 months), had at least 18 months of bilateral CI use, and were 5.

Abnormalities in auditory efferent activities in children with selective mutism.

Two efferent feedback pathways to the auditory periphery may play a role in monitoring self-vocalization: the middle-ear acoustic reflex (MEAR) and the medial olivocochlear bundle (MOCB) reflex. Since most studies regarding the role of auditory efferent activity during self-vocalization were conducted in animals, human data are scarce. The working premise of the current study was that selective mutism (SM), a rare psychiatric disorder characterized by consistent failure to speak in specific social situations despite the ability to speak normally in other situations, may serve as a human model for studying the potential involvement of auditory efferent activity during self-vocalization.

Hearing aid satisfaction and use in the advanced digital era.

Objectives/hypothesis: To evaluate satisfaction ratings and use patterns of advanced digital hearing aids (HAs) in a group of hearing-impaired adults by means of self-report questionnaires.

Study Design: A self report questionnaire study.

Methods: One hundred seventy-seven hearing-impaired adults who were fitted with advanced digital HAs at the Speech and Hearing Center at Sheba Medical Center were asked to participate in a structured telephone interview regarding HA satisfaction and use by means of the Satisfaction With Amplification in Daily Life (SADL) questionnaire.

Multicentre investigation on electrically evoked compound action potential and stapedius reflex: how do these objective measures relate to implant programming parameters?

Objectives: The aims of this study were to collect data on electrically evoked compound action potential (eCAP) and electrically evoked stapedius reflex thresholds (eSRT) in HiResolution(TM) cochlear implant (CI) users, and to explore the relationships between these objective measures and behavioural measures of comfort levels (M-levels).

Methods: A prospective study on newly implanted subjects was designed. The eCAP was measured intra-operatively and at first fitting through neural response imaging (NRI), using the SoundWave(TM) fitting software.

Evidence for atypical auditory brainstem responses in young children with suspected autism spectrum disorders.

Aim:   The aim of this study was to characterize the auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) of young children with suspected autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and compare them with the ABRs of children with language delay and with clinical norms.

Method:   The ABRs of 26 children with suspected ASDs (21 males, five females; mean age 32.5 mo) and an age- and sex-matched group of 26 children with language delay (22 males, four females) were analysed.

Binaural masking level difference in skilled reading children and children with dyslexia.

Background: Combining stimuli arriving at both ears makes it possible to locate sounds in the environment and to better detect signals or understand speech in noise when the sound sources are separated spatially. The sensitivity of the binaural system to interaural differences in time and amplitude can be investigated by means of the binaural masking level difference (BMLD). The age at which the BMLD reaches adult levels appears to depend partly upon masker bandwidth.

[Bilateral cochlear implantation].

Cochlear implant surgery became the standard of care in hearing rehabilitation of patients with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss. This procedure may alter the lives of children and adults enabling them to integrate with the hearing population. In the past, implantation was performed only in one ear, despite the fact that binaural hearing is superior to unilateral, especially in noisy conditions.

Listening preference for the native language compared to an unfamiliar language in hearing and hearing-impaired infants after cochlear implantation.

Objective: The goal of this study was to investigate the preference for the native language compared with an unfamiliar language in normally hearing (NH) and hearing-impaired infants with cochlear implants (CIs).

Background: Preference for the native language is an important step in the process of language acquisition because it helps infants to attend to the important signals of their environment. This preference has been shown very early in the infants' life.

Cochlear implant recipients' hearing sensation as manifested by their maps during pregnancy and postpartum.

Objective: To investigate possible changes in hearing sensation as manifested in the maps' psychoacoustic parameters, threshold (T), and most comfortable (C/M) levels among cochlear implant (CI) female recipients during pregnancy and after delivery.

Setting: University-affiliated tertiary referral center.

Design: : Retrospective study.

Cochlear implantation in elderly patients: surgical and audiological outcome.

Background: Deteriorated hearing affects speech perception and speech production, and negatively impacts on social interaction, employment, income, and, as a result, the quality of life of the elderly population. Lack of satisfaction with conventional hearing aids motivated part of them to turn to more sophisticated cochlear device systems.

Objective: To investigate the outcome of cochlear implantation (CI) among elderly cochlear implant recipients.

Factors affecting choice of device by cochlear implant candidates.

Objective: To investigate the ways the various cochlear devices are chosen by candidates/surrogates and analyze the factors that influenced their decisions.

Setting: University-affiliated tertiary referral center.

Method: : A questionnaire that included general items and questions on device's aesthetics, technical considerations, and quality was sent to 429 patients who underwent cochlear implantation between June 1997 and December 2006 in our department.

Effects of speech in noise and dichotic listening intervention programs on central auditory processing disorders.

Twenty children with central auditory processing disorders [(C)APD] were subjected to a structured intervention program of listening skills in quiet and in noise. Their performance was compared to that of a control group of 10 children with (C)APD with no special treatment. Pretests were conducted in quiet and in degraded listening conditions (speech noise and competing speech).

Preauricular skin tags and ear pits are associated with permanent hearing impairment in newborns.

Objectives: Our goals were to (1) study the prevalence of hearing impairment in a large cohort of infants with preauricular skin tags or ear pits and compare it with that among all other newborns participating in our universal newborn hearing screening program during the same period and (2) evaluate the effectiveness of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions as a hearing-screening tool in this population.

Patients And Methods: During the study period of 7.5 years, 68484 infants were screened for hearing impairment, of whom 637 (0.

Cortical neural activity underlying speech perception in postlingual adult cochlear implant recipients.

Auditory event-related potentials (AERPs) and the simultaneously obtained behavioral measures (performance accuracy and reaction time) were used to study speech perception in postlingual adult cochlear implant (CI) recipients and in normal-hearing (NH) controls. AERPs were recorded while subjects were performing oddball discrimination tasks with increasing acoustic-phonetic demand. The tasks consisted of pairs of natural syllables that differed by one of the following phonetic contrasts: vowel place, voicing, vowel height, and place of articulation.

Phonetic processing in children with cochlear implants: an auditory event-related potentials study.

Objectives: To investigate the effect of increasing acoustic-phonetic difficulty in children with cochlear implants (CI) by means of auditory event-related potentials (AERPs).

Design: AERPs were recorded from a group of ten 9- to 14-year-old prelingually deafened children who exhibited open-set speech recognition, using the Nucleus 22 CI for at least 5 years. AERPs were recorded in sound field while children were performing oddball discrimination tasks with increasing acoustic-phonetic demand.

[Our experience with bilateral cochlear implantation].

Cochlear implantation is a standard method of hearing rehabilitation among patients with severe to profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. In recent years there have been an increasing number of studies showing superior hearing with bilateral cochlear implantation in comparison with a unilateral procedure. In this study we present our experience with 15 patients, children and adults, who had bilateral cochlear implant surgery.

Is there a right cochlear implant advantage?

Objective: To compare behavioral speech perception performance of children with right versus left cochlear implants (CIs).

Study Design: A retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Academic university medical center.

[Cochlear implantation in children].

The pediatric cochlear implant program was launched in our department in 1990. A year earlier, we began the cochlear implant program in our center. Cochlear implant surgery changed the life of implanted children by enabling integration into the regular education program.