Presence of ipsilateral acoustic reflex artifact may result in clinical misidentification.

Objective: Upon calibration of a specific commercially available immittance device, an artifact was consistently measured in a calibration cavity when in ipsilateral acoustic reflex mode. These results were replicated in a controlled fashion, raising concerns about how clinical results might potentially be misinterpreted.

Design: Responses were measured from an Interacoustics Titan and Grason-Stadler Tympstar Pro immittance device coupled to a 0.

Binaural Interference: Quo Vadis?

The reality of the phenomenon of binaural interference with speech recognition has been debated for two decades. Research has taken one of two avenues; group studies or case reports. In group studies, a sample of the elderly population is tested on speech recognition under three conditions; binaural, monaural right and monaural left.

Auditory adaptation testing as a tool for investigating tinnitus origin: two patients with vestibular schwannoma.

Objective: To enhance the understanding of tinnitus origin by disseminating two case studies of vestibular schwannoma (VS) involving behavioural auditory adaptation testing (AAT).

Design: Retrospective case study.

Study Sample: Two adults who presented with unilateral, non-pulsatile subjective tinnitus and bilateral normal-hearing sensitivity.

Temporal integration of the contralateral acoustic reflex threshold for a 1000 hz tonal activator and its age-related changes.

Background: Previous research has noted an age effect on the temporal integration of the acoustic reflex for a noise activator.

Purpose: To determine whether the age effect earlier noted for a noise activator will be noted for a tonal activator.

Research Design: Comparison of ARTs of younger and older groups at activating stimulus durations of 12, 25, 50, 100, 200, 300, 500, and 1000 msec.

Technical report: distortion product otoacoustic emissions that are not outer hair cell emissions.

Purpose: To present a case study in order to alert clinicians to the possibility of occurrence of intermodulation distortion during otoacoustic emissions testing that arises from the cavity formed by the external auditory meatus and tympanic membrane rather than from the inner ear, compromising the reliability and validity of otoacoustic emissions testing.

Research Design: Prospective case study.

Study Sample: A young (26-year-old) female adult with a longstanding, bilateral, essentially moderate to severe sensorineural hearing loss presented with robust distortion product otoacoustic emissions.

Auditory deprivation in adults with asymmetric, sensorineural hearing impairment.

The purpose of this investigation was to prospectively examine performance on the pure-tone air-conduction threshold, speech-recognition threshold, and suprathreshold word-recognition tests over time in 21 monaurally aided (experimental group) and 28 unaided adults (control group) with asymmetric, sensorineural hearing impairment. The results revealed significant declines on the mean suprathreshold word-recognition scores over time at one and two years post-baseline for the worse ears of the control participants; no declines occurred in the worse ears of the experimental participants or in the better ears of either group. A slight, significant increase in the pure-tone average occurred for the better ears of both groups.

Temporal integration of the contralateral acoustic-reflex threshold and its age-related changes.

Although numerous studies have investigated temporal integration of the acoustic-reflex threshold (ART), research is lacking on the effect of age on temporal integration of the ART. Therefore the effect of age on temporal integration of the ART was investigated for a broad-band noise (BBN) activator. Subjects consisted of two groups of adults with normal-hearing sensitivity: one group of 20 young adults (ten males and ten females, ages 18-29 years, with a mean age of 24 years) and one group of 20 older adults (ten males and ten females, ages 59-75 years, with a mean age of 67.

Nonsurgical home treatment of middle ear effusion and associated hearing loss in children. Part II: Validation study.

In this prospective follow-up investigation, we examined the efficacy of a modified Politzer device in the home treatment of persistent middle ear effusion (MEE) and associated hearing loss in children who had previously participated in a similar clinical trial. Our study group was made up of 38 patients who had been either (1) untreated control participants in the previous study whose hearing in one or both ears had not returned to normal within 11 weeks of their initial audiologic pretest ("former control group"; n = 30), or (2) active-treatment participants in the previous study whose hearing sensitivity in at least one ear had not improved to within normal limits after treatment and who elected to undergo a continuation of treatment ("extended-treatment group"; n = 8). Treatment efficacy was determined by comparing differences in pre- and posttreatment air-conduction thresholds and otoscopic findings.

The prediction of hearing loss in persons with cerebral palsy using contralateral acoustic reflex threshold for broad-band noise.

The utility of R. Keith's (1977) method of screening for hearing sensitivity using the contralateral acoustic-reflex threshold (ART) for broad-band noise (BBN) was tested in persons with cerebral palsy (CP). Three groups of participants were included in this prospective study.