Effects of speech tracking method using hearing aids for hearing disorder in older people.

Objectives: Speech tracking is defined as a complex act or task of listening in which the learner tracks the speech heard and repeats it as accurately as possible while paying attention to incoming contextual information. This ability involves auditory input, speech output, repetition, and divided attention. In this small-scale study, we aimed to use a speech-tracking method to train older adults with hearing loss and examine its effects on hearing loss from multiple perspectives, including hearing handicap, frailty, and neuropsychological testing.

Relationship between tinnitus and olfactory dysfunction: audiovisual, olfactory, and medical examinations.

Introduction: Sensory dysfunctions and cognitive impairments are related to each other. Although a relationship between tinnitus and subjective olfactory dysfunction has been reported, there have been no reports investigating the relationship between tinnitus and olfactory test results.

Methods: To investigate the relationship between tinnitus and olfactory test results, we conducted sensory tests, including hearing and visual examinations.

Relationship between cognitive domains and hearing ability in memory clinic patients: How did the relationship change after 6 months of introducing a hearing aid?

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the relationship between hearing ability and cognitive domains and determine how the relationship changes after 6 months of introducing a hearing aid.

Methods: We conducted a 6-month hearing aid lending study between September 2014 and March 2019, including 59 older participants who visited the Memory Clinic at the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology. The hearing level was assessed using pure tone audiometry.

Cognitive impairment is correlated with olfactory identification deficits in older Japanese adults: A cross-sectional study using objective and subjective olfactory measures.

Aim: Olfactory impairment is associated with cognitive impairment. However, differences between subjective and objective olfactory impairment measurements in older adults and their relationship with cognitive impairment are unclear.

Methods: We assessed the relationship between cognitive and olfactory impairments via a single-center observational study in 2020.

Longitudinal associations between hearing aid usage and cognition in community-dwelling Japanese older adults with moderate hearing loss.

We investigated the associations between hearing aids (HA) and the maintenance of cognitive function among community-dwelling older adults with moderate hearing loss. A total of 407 participants aged 60 years or older with moderate hearing loss were recruited from the National Institute for Longevity Sciences, Longitudinal Study for Aging (NILS-LSA). Moderate hearing loss was defined as a pure-tone average of 40-69 dB at 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz of the better ear, according to the definition proposed by the Japan Audiological Society.

Prevalence of usage of hearing aids and its association with cognitive impairment in Japanese community-dwelling elders with hearing loss.

Objective: Hearing loss is a risk factor for cognitive impairment, and the use of a hearing aid (HA) may prevent cognitive decline alongside hearing loss. We aimed to elucidate the prevalence of self-reported HA usage in Japanese community-dwelling elders with hearing loss, and the effect of hearing and HA on cognitive impairment.

Methods: A total of 1193 participants, who had audiometric defined hearing loss and were aged 60 years or over, had their cumulative 3260 observations followed up for 10 years from a large cohort of a Japanese study.

Effects of endolymphatic hydrops on acoustic energy absorbance.

The presence of endolymphatic hydrops (EH) may cause hearing loss and affect the transmission of acoustic energy to the inner ear. Acoustic energy absorbance on wideband acoustic immittance (WAI) was evaluated, focusing especially on EH in the vestibule. A total of 32 ears from 16 patients who underwent 3-T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to evaluate the presence of EH were examined, retrospectively.

Significance of internal auditory canal diverticula in ears with otosclerosis.

Background: Diverticula in the internal auditory canal (IAC) have been reported in ears with otosclerosis.

Objective: We evaluated hearing levels and vascular activity in ears with otosclerosis with and without IAC diverticula and clarify the significance of IAC diverticula.

Materials And Methods: Sixty-one ears from 54 patients who underwent stapes surgery for otosclerosis [fenestral (48 ears) and retrofenestral (13 ears) groups] were included in the present study.

Significance of Endolymphatic Hydrops Herniation Into the Semicircular Canals Detected on MRI.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between endolymphatic hydrops (EH) and hearing level or vestibular symptoms by focusing on EH herniation into the semicircular canal (SCC).

Study Design: Retrospective study.

Setting: University hospital.

＜Editors' Choice＞ Maxillary sinus carcinoma outcomes over 60 years: experience at a single institution.

Advances in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with maxillary sinus carcinoma have improved patient prognosis. This study investigated changes in demographic and clinical characteristics, treatment methods, and outcomes of patients with maxillary sinus carcinomas during three different 10-year periods spanning 60 years at our university hospital. Of the 233 patients with maxillary sinus carcinomas managed at Nagoya University Hospital, 135 were treated between 1951 and 1960 (first period), 35 between 1981 and 1990 (second period), and 63 between 2003 and 2012 (third period).

Computed tomographic assessment of autologous fat injection augmentation for vocal fold paralysis.

Objective: To perform a quantitative computed tomography (CT) assessment of short- and long-term outcomes of autologous fat injection augmentation in patients with unilateral vocal fold paralysis.

Study Design: Retrospective case series.

Methods: Twelve patients who had undergone autologous fat injection augmentation for unilateral vocal fold paralysis in our hospital between 2011 and 2015 were enrolled in this study.

Idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss in Japan.

Conclusion: An epidemiological survey of hospitals and private clinics in Japan regarding idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) revealed that the incidence of SSNHL was 60.9 per 100 000 population. There were more females than males in the younger generation.

Effect of clinical symptoms on the indication for selective neck dissection for N0 carcinomas of the parotid gland.

Lymph node metastasis is a major prognostic factor in parotid carcinoma, however, the pre-operative diagnosis of occult nodal metastasis is difficult in clinical N0 (cN0) parotid cancer patients. In addition, the indication of neck dissection in T1-3 cN0 patients is controversial. The current study investigated 17 patients with clinical T1-3 cN0 parotid cancer, and analyzed the correlation between patient symptoms/findings and pathological N status/tumor histological grade.

Endolymphatic hydrops revealed by magnetic resonance imaging in patients with acute low-tone sensorineural hearing loss.

Objective: Acute low-tone sensorineural hearing loss (ALHL) has been reported to be associated with endolymphatic hydrops (EHs). However, evaluation of the size of the endolymphatic space has not been reported. We attempted to visualize EH in ALHL using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Magnetic resonance imaging of the inner ear after both intratympanic and intravenous gadolinium injections.

Conclusion: Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), endolymphatic hydrops could be visualized on both sides after intratympanic (IT) injection of gadolinium contrast agents (Gd) in one symptomatic ear and subsequent intravenous (IV) Gd injection. The MRI revealed a difference of intracochlear Gd distribution between the IT injection side and the contralateral IV side.

Objectives: Although the IT method allows greater enhancement of the perilymph, many patients feel reluctance in receiving the IT injection in asymptomatic ears.

Endolymphatic hydrops revealed by magnetic resonance imaging in patients with atypical Meniere's disease.

Conclusion: Our study showed that patients with atypical Meniere's disease had endolymphatic hydrops (EH) in both the cochlea and the vestibule. Using an imaging method, we provide evidence that atypical Meniere's disease is a true variant of classic Meniere's disease.

Objectives: The aim of present study was to investigate images of the endolymphatic space in patients with atypical Meniere's disease (cochlear and vestibular Meniere's disease).

The NPC motif of aquaporin-11, unlike the NPA motif of known aquaporins, is essential for full expression of molecular function.

The recently identified molecule aquaporin-11 (AQP11) has a unique amino acid sequence pattern that includes an Asn-Pro-Cys (NPC) motif, corresponding to the N-terminal Asn-Pro-Ala (NPA) signature motif of conventional AQPs. In this study, we examined the effect of the mutation of the NPC motif on the subcellular localization, oligomerization, and water permeability of AQP11 in transfected mammalian cells. Furthermore, the effect was also assessed using zebrafish.

Inhibitory effect of tyrphostin 47 on Shiga toxin-induced cell death.

The inhibitory effects of tyrosine kinase inhibitors including tyrphostins 25, 47 and 51 on Shiga toxin 1-induced cell death and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) phosphorylation were examined in Vero cells. Tyrphostin 47 significantly inhibited Shiga toxin 1-induced cell death and p38 MAPK phosphorylation. In contrast, tyrphostins 25 and 51 had no significant effect on the Shiga toxin 1-induced responses.

Disruption of aquaporin-11 produces polycystic kidneys following vacuolization of the proximal tubule.

Aquaporin-11 (AQP11) has been identified with unusual pore-forming NPA (asparagine-proline-alanine) boxes, but its function is unknown. We investigated its potential contribution to the kidney. Immunohistochemistry revealed that AQP11 was localized intracellularly in the proximal tubule.