Effect of Sound Source Location and Spatial Hearing on the Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex.

Background: There have been conflicting results on the effect of auditory stimulation on the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) with some studies indicating suppression, enhancement, or no effect. No studies to date have assessed the effect of sound source location on VOR gain or the relationship between spatial hearing ability and VOR gain.

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to determine if VOR gain was affected by moving the location of the sound source within participants and to determine if these effects were related to spatial hearing ability.

Effectiveness of Television Streaming on Hearing Aid User Performance and Satisfaction in Quiet and in Noise.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of television (TV) streaming on hearing aid user performance and satisfaction in quiet and in noise.

Method: Twenty experienced hearing aid users were evaluated in quiet and in noise (5 dB SNR) under three hearing aid conditions: hearing aids, streaming with hearing aid microphones attenuated by 6 dB, and streaming with hearing aid microphones muted. The audiovisual Connected Speech Test served as the signal, and the ipsilateral competing message from the Synthetic Sentence Identification-Ipsilateral Competing Message (SSI-ICM) served as the noise.

Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials and Postural Control in Adults with Age-Related Hearing Loss.

Background: Age-related changes to auditory function have been attributed to, through histopathological study, specific degradation of the sensory, supporting, and afferent structures of the cochlea. Similar to age-related hearing loss (ARHL), age-related changes to the vestibular sensory and supporting structures with specific degeneration of the saccule, utricle, otoconia, primary vestibular afferents have also been noted. Significant decreases in postural control with age are also well-documented in the literature attributed to multifactorial changes in function.

Acceptable Noise Levels and Preferred Signal-to-noise Ratios for Speech and Music.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of music versus speech on a listener's signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) preferences when listening in a noise background. SNR preferences were quantified using acceptable noise level (ANL) and preferred SNR metrics. The measurement paradigm for ANL allows the listener to adjust the level of background noise while listening to the target at their most comfortable loudness level.

Effect of Hearing Aid Technology Level on New Hearing Aid Users.

Background: Hearing aid manufacturers offer several different levels of technology that vary in sophistication and cost. It would stand to reason that higher technology hearing aids would provide greater benefit in the daily life of the user; however, research does not support this assumption for all users. Recent research in experienced hearing aid users indicated noise acceptance and satisfaction for speech in a large group were significantly improved when using the premium devices and suggested noise acceptance may be useful when comparing hearing aid technology levels.

Effect of Hearing Aid Technology Level and Individual Characteristics on Listener Outcome Measures.

Purpose The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of hearing aid technology level on listener outcome measures. In addition, we aimed to determine if individual characteristics such as noise acceptance and the demands of the listening environment impacted performance and preference. Method A repeated-measures, single-blinded research design was utilized.

Mental tasking and rotary Chair-Induced vestibular nystagmus utilizing Video-Oculography.

To investigate whether the use of mental tasking, when compared to no mental task, affects measurement of nystagmus response with regard to gain, phase & symmetry, and artefact when utilising video-oculography (VOG) as the measurement technique in rotary chair testing (RCT). A within-subject repeated-measures design was utilised. Seventeen (17) healthy adults were evaluated (age 22-25 years).

Relationship Between Auditory and Visual Noise Acceptance in Normal-Hearing Listeners.

Background: Research has shown that hearing aid acceptance is closely related to how well an individual tolerates background noise, regardless of improved speech understanding in background noise. The acceptable noise level (ANL) test was developed to quantify background noise acceptance. The ANL test measures a listener's willingness to listen to speech in noise rather than their ability to understand speech in noise, and is clinically valuable as a predictor of hearing aid success.

The Effects of Nonlinear Frequency Compression and Digital Noise Reduction on Word Recognition and Satisfaction Ratings in Noise in Adult Hearing Aid Users.

Background: Nonlinear frequency compression (NLFC) and digital noise reduction (DNR) are hearing aid features often used simultaneously in the adult population with hearing loss. Although each feature has been studied extensively in isolation, the effects of using them in combination are unclear.

Purpose: The effects of NLFC and DNR in noise on word recognition and satisfaction ratings in noise in adult hearing aid users were evaluated.

Effect of Intensity Level and Speech Stimulus Type on the Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex.

Background: Accurate vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) measurement requires control of extravestibular suppressive factors such as visual fixation. Although visual fixation is the dominant suppressor and has been extensively studied, the mechanisms underlying suppression from nonvisual factors of attention and auditory stimulation are less clear. It has been postulated that the nonvisual suppression of the VOR is the result of one of two mechanisms: (1) activation of auditory reception areas excites efferent pathways to the vestibular nuclei, thus inhibiting the VOR or (2) cortical modulation of the VOR results from directed attention, which implies a nonmodality-specific process.

The Effects of Extended Input Dynamic Range on Laboratory and Field-Trial Evaluations in Adult Hearing Aid Users.

Background: Digital hearing aids using a 16-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC) provide a 96-dB input dynamic range. The level at which the ADC peak clips and distorts input signals ranges between 95 and 105 dB SPL. Recent research evaluated the effect of extending the input dynamic range in a commercially available hearing aid.

Artifact in Pediatric Oculomotor Findings during Videonystagmography: A Retrospective Analysis.

Background: Accurate measurement of oculomotor function using videonystagmography (VNG) is imperative for diagnosis and management of patients with reported dizziness. The oculomotor evaluation during VNG utilizes video-oculography providing valuable information regarding the central structures and pathways that control eye movements. Artifact may have an effect on the overall validity and reliability of VNG oculomotor tracings and can result from patient and/or recording errors.

Mental Tasking and Caloric-Induced Vestibular Nystagmus Utilizing Videonystagmography.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to quantify the effects of mental tasking on measures of the caloric vestibulo-ocular reflex utilizing videonystagmography as the measurement technique.

Method: A within-subjects repeated-measures design was utilized. Sixteen healthy adults were evaluated (13 women, 3 men; ages 19-31 years).

Pediatric Oculomotor Findings during Monocular Videonystagmography: A Developmental Study.

Background: The differential diagnosis of a dizzy patient >4 yrs old is often aided by videonystagmography (VNG) testing to provide a global assessment of peripheral and central vestibular function. Although the value of a VNG evaluation is well-established, it remains unclear if the VNG test battery is as applicable to the pediatric population as it is for adults. Oculomotor testing specifically, as opposed to spontaneous, positional, and caloric testing, is dependent upon neurologic function.

The Effects of Audiovisual Stimulation on the Acceptance of Background Noise.

Background: Previous examinations of noise acceptance have been conducted using an auditory stimulus only; however, the effect of visual speech supplementation of the auditory stimulus on acceptance of noise remains limited.

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of audiovisual stimulation on the acceptance of noise in listeners with normal and impaired hearing.

Research Design: A repeated measures design was utilized.

The effects of noise reduction technologies on the acceptance of background noise.

Background: Directional microphones (D-Mics) and digital noise reduction (DNR) algorithms are used in hearing aids to reduce the negative effects of background noise on performance. Directional microphones attenuate sounds arriving from anywhere other than the front of the listener while DNR attenuates sounds with physical characteristics of noise. Although both noise reduction technologies are currently available in hearing aids, it is unclear if the use of these technologies in isolation or together affects acceptance of noise and/or preference for the end user when used in various types of background noise.

Treatment of objective and subjective benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.

Background: Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is the most common cause of vertigo in adults and is a result of otolithic particles or debris that become free floating within a semicircular canal or adhere to the cupula. Characteristics of BPPV include brief episodes of latent onset vertigo that occur with changes in head position, transient rotary nystagmus beating toward the dependent ear, and reversed nystagmus upon sitting up. Both the vertigo and nystagmus fatigue quickly while maintaining the same head position.

Comparison of multichannel wide dynamic range compression and ChannelFree processing in open canal hearing instruments.

Background: Multichannel wide dynamic range compression (WDRC) and ChannelFree processing have similar goals yet differ significantly in terms of signal processing. Multichannel WDRC devices divide the input signal into separate frequency bands; a separate level is determined within each frequency band; and compression in each band is based on the level within each band. ChannelFree processing detects the wideband level, and gain adjustments are based on the wideband signal level and adjusted up to 20,000 times per second.

Development and evaluation of the Mandarin speech signal content on the acceptable noise level test in listeners with normal hearing in mainland China.

Objective: To develop and evaluate the Mandarin speech signal content on the acceptable noise level (ANL) test in listeners with normal hearing in mainland China.

Design: The Mandarin ANL tests were conducted using three different sets of Mandarin running speech materials which were chosen from textbooks for primary school, secondary school, and high school, respectively. For each discourse, two ANL measurements were obtained and averaged for each experimental condition using ANL test procedures.

Effects of speech signal content and speaker gender on acceptance of noise in listeners with normal hearing.

Objective: The purpose of this research was to determine if the content and/or speaker gender of a running speech sample affected the acceptance of background noise within a participant.

Design: A male and a female recording of the Arizona Travelogue (Cosmos Inc.) and the ipsilateral competing message (ICM) from the synthetic sentence identification with ICM were created and used as the experimental speech signals.

The effects of receiver placement on probe microphone, performance, and subjective measures with open canal hearing instruments.

Background: Open canal hearing instruments differ in method of sound delivery to the ear canal, distance between the microphone and the receiver, and physical size of the devices. Moreover, RITA (receiver in the aid) and RITE (receiver in the ear) hearing instruments may also differ in terms of retention and comfort as well as ease of use and care for certain individuals. What remains unclear, however, is if any or all of the abovementioned factors contribute to hearing aid outcome.

Effects of hearing loss and spectral shaping on identification and neural response patterns of stop-consonant stimuli in young adults.

Objectives: The primary purpose of this study was to more clearly define the effects of hearing loss, separate from age, on perception, and neural response patterns of dynamic spectral cues. To do this, the study was designed to determine whether (1) hearing loss affects the neural representation and/or categorical perception of stop-consonant stimuli among young adults and (2) spectrally shaped amplification aimed at increasing the audibility of the F2 formant transition cue reduces any effects of hearing loss. It was predicted that (1) young adults with hearing loss would differ from young adults with normal hearing in their behavioral and neural responses to stop-consonant stimuli and (2) enhancing the audibility of the F2 formant transition cue relative to the rest of the stimulus would not overcome the effects of hearing loss on behavioral performance or neural response patterns.

The acceptance of background noise in adult cochlear implant users.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine (a) if acceptable noise levels (ANLs) are different in cochlear implant (CI) users than in listeners with normal hearing, (b) if ANLs are related to sentence reception thresholds in noise in CI users, and (c) if ANLs and subjective outcome measures are related in CI users.

Method: ANLs and the Hearing in Noise Test (HINT; M. Nilsson, S.

The objective and subjective evaluation of low-frequency expansion in wide dynamic range compression hearing instruments.

The effects of low-frequency expansion on the objective and subjective evaluation of four channel in-the-ear hearing instruments was investigated. Three expansion settings were programmed in each device: expansion off, expansion restricted to channel one, and expansion restricted to channels one and two. Objective evaluations were conducted in quiet (Connected Speech Test) and in noise (Hearing in Noise Test) with speech levels fixed at 40 dB SPL.

Acceptance of noise growth patterns in hearing aid users.

Purpose: To examine whether the effects of speech presentation level on acceptance of noise could differentiate full-time, part-time, and nonusers of hearing aids and whether these effects could predict hearing aid use.

Method: Participants were separated into 3 groups on the basis of hearing aid use: (a) full-time use, (b) part-time use, or (c) nonuse. Acceptable noise levels (ANLs) were measured conventionally and at 8 fixed presentation levels.