Survey of audiologic service provision to older adults with cochlear implants.

Purpose: This study examined whether audiologists modify practice patterns in their provision of cochlear implant (CI) services to older adults and, if so, whether the nature of such modifications is consistent across clinical sites.

Method: An online survey was sent to audiologists at CI centers across the United States. Questions addressed demographics, candidacy, programming, outcomes assessment, rehabilitation, and professional development.

Message and talker identification in older adults: effects of task, distinctiveness of the talkers' voices, and meaningfulness of the competing message.

Purpose: In this study, the authors investigated (a) the effects of task, vocal distinctiveness of the competing talkers, and meaningfulness of the competitor on older listeners' identification of a target in the presence of competition and (b) the factors that are most predictive of the variability in target identification observed among older listeners.

Method: Seventeen older and 5 younger adults identified a target in the presence of a competing message. Identification was measured for 2 target types (message; talker), 3 vocal-distinctiveness levels (same talker; different talkers-same sex; different talkers-different sex), and 2 competitors (meaningful speech; nonmeaningful time-reversed speech).

Effects of cochlear hearing loss on perceptual grouping cues in competing-vowel perception.

This study compared how normal-hearing listeners (NH) and listeners with moderate to moderately severe cochlear hearing loss (HI) use and combine information within and across frequency regions in the perceptual separation of competing vowels with fundamental frequency differences (deltaF0) ranging from 0 to 9 semitones. Following the procedure of Culling and Darwin [J. Acoust.

Double-vowel perception in listeners with cochlear hearing loss: differences in fundamental frequency, ear of presentation, and relative amplitude.

This study presents 2 experiments investigating whether listeners with cochlear hearing loss (hearing impaired; HI) and listeners with normal hearing (NH) show differential susceptibility to masking in double-vowel identification. Experiment 1 addressed how double-vowel perception changes as a function of differences in fundamental frequency (deltaF0) of 0 and 2 semitones and the relative amplitudes of the constituent vowels (target-to-masker ratios: -10, -5, 0, 5, 10 dB). When deltaF0 is 0 semitones, listeners in the HI group often perceive the presence of only 1 vowel, whereas listeners in the NH group generally perceive the presence of 2 vowels.

State of the States: The Status of Universal Newborn Hearing Screening, Assessment, and Intervention Systems in 16 States.

This study reports the results of a comprehensive survey of 16 states regarding the coordination and characteristics of universal newborn hearing screening, audiologic assessment, and intervention programs. The survey establishes a baseline assessment that was conducted by states as part of their first year of participation in a Maternal and Child Health Bureau grant on state systems for universal newborn hearing screening, assessment, and intervention. States are making progress toward achieving universal newborn hearing screening.