Guidelines for Diagnosis of Noise-Induced Hearing Loss and Their Specificity.

Objectives: A recent paper by Moore, Lowe and Cox has proposed guidelines for diagnosing noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). It is referred to here as the MLC guidelines. Our aim was to assess the specificity of those guidelines (i.

Analytical validation of the LungLB test: a 4-color fluorescence in-situ hybridization assay for the evaluation of indeterminate pulmonary nodules.

Background: Evaluation of indeterminate pulmonary nodules (IPNs) often creates a diagnostic conundrum which may delay the early detection of lung cancer. Rare circulating genetically abnormal cells (CGAC) have previously demonstrated utility as a biomarker for discriminating benign from malignant small IPNs in the LungLB assay. CGAC are identified using a unique 4-color fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) assay and are thought to reflect early cell-based events in lung cancer pathogenesis and the anti-tumor immune response.

A simple method to estimate noise levels in the workplace based on self-reported speech communication effort in noise.

To validate a method using self-reported speech communication effort in noise to estimate occupational noise levels by comparing with measured noise levels. A comparative observational study. Reported vocal effort to communicate with a person at a distance of 1.

Spillover of Swine Coronaviruses, United States.

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, a pathogen first detected in US domestic swine in 2013, has rapidly spilled over into feral swine populations. A better understanding of the factors associated with pathogen emergence is needed to better manage, and ultimately prevent, future spillover events from domestic to nondomestic animals.

Influenza D Virus Infection in Feral Swine Populations, United States.

Influenza D virus (IDV) has been identified in domestic cattle, swine, camelid, and small ruminant populations across North America, Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa. Our study investigated seroprevalence and transmissibility of IDV in feral swine. During 2012-2013, we evaluated feral swine populations in 4 US states; of 256 swine tested, 57 (19.

Feral Swine in the United States Have Been Exposed to both Avian and Swine Influenza A Viruses.

Influenza A viruses (IAVs) in swine can cause sporadic infections and pandemic outbreaks among humans, but how avian IAV emerges in swine is still unclear. Unlike domestic swine, feral swine are free ranging and have many opportunities for IAV exposure through contacts with various habitats and animals, including migratory waterfowl, a natural reservoir for IAVs. During the period from 2010 to 2013, 8,239 serum samples were collected from feral swine across 35 U.

United Kingdom national paediatric bilateral project: Results of professional rating scales and parent questionnaires.

Objectives: This fourteen-centre project used professional rating scales and parent questionnaires to assess longitudinal outcomes in a large non-selected population of children receiving simultaneous and sequential bilateral cochlear implants.

Methods: This was an observational non-randomized service evaluation. Data were collected at four time points: before bilateral cochlear implants or before the sequential implant, one year, two years, and three years after.

United Kingdom national paediatric bilateral project: Demographics and results of localization and speech perception testing.

Objectives: To assess longitudinal outcomes in a large and varied population of children receiving bilateral cochlear implants both simultaneously and sequentially.

Methods: This observational non-randomized service evaluation collected localization and speech recognition in noise data from simultaneously and sequentially implanted children at four time points: before bilateral cochlear implants or before the sequential implant, 1 year, 2 years, and 3 years after bilateral implants. No inclusion criteria were applied, so children with additional difficulties, cochleovestibular anomalies, varying educational placements, 23 different home languages, a full range of outcomes and varying device use were included.

Surveillance for highly pathogenic H5 avian influenza virus in synanthropic wildlife associated with poultry farms during an acute outbreak.

In November 2014, a Eurasian strain H5N8 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus was detected in poultry in Canada. Introduced viruses were soon detected in the United States and within six months had spread to 21 states with more than 48 million poultry affected. In an effort to study potential mechanisms of spread of the Eurasian H5 virus, the United States Department of Agriculture coordinated several epidemiologic investigations at poultry farms.

Sparse Nonnegative Matrix Factorization Strategy for Cochlear Implants.

Current cochlear implant (CI) strategies carry speech information via the waveform envelope in frequency subbands. CIs require efficient speech processing to maximize information transfer to the brain, especially in background noise, where the speech envelope is not robust to noise interference. In such conditions, the envelope, after decomposition into frequency bands, may be enhanced by sparse transformations, such as nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF).

Guidelines for quantification of noise-induced hearing loss in a medicolegal context.

Objectives: Guidelines published in 2000 by the authors are widely used by medical and legal professionals in the UK for diagnosis of noise-induced hearing loss in a medicolegal context. However, they cannot be used for quantification of the noise-induced hearing loss, which is required in most cases. This requirement is addressed.

Movement decoding using neural synchronization and inter-hemispheric connectivity from deep brain local field potentials.

Objective: Correlating electrical activity within the human brain to movement is essential for developing and refining interventions (e.g. deep brain stimulation (DBS)) to treat central nervous system disorders.

Dynamics of virus shedding and antibody responses in influenza A virus-infected feral swine.

Given their free-ranging habits, feral swine could serve as reservoirs or spatially dynamic 'mixing vessels' for influenza A virus (IAV). To better understand virus shedding patterns and antibody response dynamics in the context of IAV surveillance amongst feral swine, we used IAV of feral swine origin to perform infection experiments. The virus was highly infectious and transmissible in feral swine, and virus shedding patterns and antibody response dynamics were similar to those in domestic swine.

Modeling and mapping the probability of occurrence of invasive wild pigs across the contiguous United States.

Wild pigs (Sus scrofa), also known as wild swine, feral pigs, or feral hogs, are one of the most widespread and successful invasive species around the world. Wild pigs have been linked to extensive and costly agricultural damage and present a serious threat to plant and animal communities due to their rooting behavior and omnivorous diet. We modeled the current distribution of wild pigs in the United States to better understand the physiological and ecological factors that may determine their invasive potential and to guide future study and eradication efforts.

Speech quality evaluation of a sparse coding shrinkage noise reduction algorithm with normal hearing and hearing impaired listeners.

Although there are numerous papers describing single-channel noise reduction strategies to improve speech perception in a noisy environment, few studies have comprehensively evaluated the effects of noise reduction algorithms on speech quality for hearing impaired (HI). A model-based sparse coding shrinkage (SCS) algorithm has been developed, and has shown previously (Sang et al., 2014) that it is as competitive as a state-of-the-art Wiener filter approach in speech intelligibility.

Simultaneous suppression of tone burst-evoked otoacoustic emissions: Two and three-tone burst combinations.

Previous investigations have shown that components of a tone burst-evoked otoacoustic emission (TBOAE) evoked by a 1 kHz tone burst (TB1) can be suppressed by the simultaneous presence of a 2 kHz tone burst (TB2) or a pair of tone bursts at 2 and 3 kHz (TB2 and TB3 respectively). No previous study has measured this "simultaneous suppression of TBOAEs" for both TB2 alone and TB2 and TB3 from the same ears, so that the effect of the additional presence of TB3 on suppression caused by TB2 is not known. In simple terms, three outcomes are possible; suppression increases, suppression is reduced or suppression is not affected.

International Collegium of Rehabilitative Audiology (ICRA) recommendations for the construction of multilingual speech tests. ICRA Working Group on Multilingual Speech Tests.

Objective: To provide guidelines for the development of two types of closed-set speech-perception tests that can be applied and interpreted in the same way across languages. The guidelines cover the digit triplet and the matrix sentence tests that are most commonly used to test speech recognition in noise. They were developed by a working group on Multilingual Speech Tests of the International Collegium of Rehabilitative Audiology (ICRA).

Exploring views on current and future cochlear implant service delivery: the perspectives of users, parents and professionals at cochlear implant centres and in the community.

Objective: The objective of this survey was to explore the perceptions of implant users/carers and professionals across the UK about current and future cochlear implant service delivery and the challenges.

Methods: Data were collected via an online questionnaire consisting of totally 22 questions. The questionnaire contained both open- and close-ended questions.

Relations between psychophysical measures of spatial hearing and self-reported spatial-hearing abilities.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate how well the virtual psychophysical measures of spatial hearing from the preliminary auditory profile predict self-reported spatial-hearing abilities.

Design: Virtual spatial-hearings tests (conducted unaided, via headphones) and a questionnaire were administered in five centres in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK. Correlations and stepwise linear regression models were calculated among a group of hearing-impaired listeners.

Further tests of the local nonlinear interaction-based mechanism for simultaneous suppression of tone burst-evoked otoacoustic emissions.

Tone burst-evoked otoacoustic emission (TBOAE) components measured in response to a 1 kHz tone burst (TB1) are suppressed by the simultaneous presence of an additional tone burst (TB2). This "simultaneous suppression of TBOAEs" has been explained in terms of a mechanism based on local nonlinear interactions between the basilar membrane (BM) travelling waves caused by TB1 and TB2. A test of this local nonlinear interaction (LNI)-based mechanism, as a function of the frequency separation (Δf, expressed in kHz) between TB1 and TB2, has previously been reported by Killan et al.

Large-scale avian influenza surveillance in wild birds throughout the United States.

Avian influenza is a viral disease that primarily infects wild and domestic birds, but it also can be transmitted to a variety of mammals. In 2006, the United States of America Departments of Agriculture and Interior designed a large-scale, interagency surveillance effort that sought to determine if highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses were present in wild bird populations within the United States of America. This program, combined with the Canadian and Mexican surveillance programs, represented the largest, coordinated wildlife disease surveillance program ever implemented.

Influenza A subtype H3 viruses in feral swine, United States, 2011-2012.

To determine whether, and to what extent, influenza A subtype H3 viruses were present in feral swine in the United States, we conducted serologic and virologic surveillance during October 2011-September 2012. These animals were periodically exposed to and infected with A(H3N2) viruses, suggesting they may threaten human and animal health.

United Kingdom national paediatric bilateral cochlear implant audit: preliminary results.

Prior to 2009, United Kingdom (UK) public funding was mainly only available for children to receive unilateral cochlear implants. In 2009, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published guidance for cochlear implantation following their review. According to these guidelines, all suitable children are eligible to have simultaneous bilateral cochlear implants or a sequential bilateral cochlear implant if they had received the first before the guidelines were published.

Hearing in middle age: a population snapshot of 40- to 69-year olds in the United Kingdom.

Objectives: To report population-based prevalence of hearing impairment based on speech recognition in noise testing in a large and inclusive sample of U.K. adults aged 40 to 69 years.