Minimum intraoperative testing battery for cochlear implantation: the international practice trend.

Purpose: In cochlear implantation (CI) surgery, there are a wide variety of intraoperative tests available. However, no clear guide exists on which tests must be performed as the minimum intraoperative testing battery. Toward this end, we studied the usage patterns, recommendations, and attitudes of practitioners toward intraoperative testing.

International Consensus Statements on Intraoperative Testing for Cochlear Implantation Surgery.

Objectives: A wide variety of intraoperative tests are available in cochlear implantation. However, no consensus exists on which tests constitute the minimum necessary battery. We assembled an international panel of clinical experts to develop, refine, and vote upon a set of core consensus statements.

Electrically Evoked Auditory Brainstem Response Using Extracochlear Stimulation at Different Cochlear Sites: A Comparison With Intracochlear Stimulation.

Objectives: The distribution and extent of excitable spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) have been investigated using the electrically evoked auditory brainstem response (EABR) during preoperative and perioperative periods. In this study, we investigated the EABR with extracochlear stimulation (eEABR) as a preoperative test to estimate these factors.

Methods: Sixteen male Sprague-Dawley rats were used in this study.

Assessing the manufacturable 32-channel cochlear electrode array: evaluation results for clinical trials.

Reliability evaluation results of a manufacturable 32-channel cochlear electrode array are reported in this paper. Applying automated laser micro-machining process and a layer-by-layer silicone deposition scheme, authors developed the manufacturing methods of the electrode array for fine patterning and mass production. The developed electrode array has been verified through the requirements specified by the ISO Standard 14708-7.

Feasibility of a Smartphone-Based Hearing Aid App for Mild-to-Moderate Hearing Loss: Prospective Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Hearing loss is a growing health concern worldwide. Hearing aids (HAs) are the treatment of choice for hearing rehabilitation in most cases of mild-to-moderate hearing loss. However, many patients with hearing loss do not use HAs due to their high cost, stigma, and inaccessibility.

Intraoperative zoom lens calibration for high magnification surgical microscope.

Background And Objectives: An augmented reality (AR)-based surgical guidance system is often used with high-magnification zoom lens systems such as a surgical microscope, particularly in neurology or otolaryngology. To superimpose the internal structures of relevant organs on the microscopy image, an accurate calibration process to obtain the camera intrinsic and hand-eye parameters of the microscope is essential. However, conventional calibration methods are unsuitable for surgical microscopes because of their narrow depth of focus at high magnifications.

Significance of cytomegalovirus tests after three weeks of life in children with hearing loss.

Background: To determine the diagnostic role of viral markers for cytomegalovirus (CMV) when tested after the diagnostically critical period (postnatal 3 weeks) in children with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL).

Methods: A retrospective review of 104 subjects who underwent CMV diagnostic tests after the critical period of 3 postnatal three weeks but before 24 months of age. Infants included had not passed universal newborn hearing screening tests in at least one ear and thus underwent obligatory follow up audiology testing as well as either exome sequencing or magnetic resonance imaging in cases of SNHL.

Structural analysis of pathogenic TMPRSS3 variants and their cochlear implantation outcomes of sensorineural hearing loss.

TMPRSS3, a type II transmembrane serine protease, is involved in various biological processes including the development and maintenance of the inner ear. Biallelic variants in TMPRSS3 typically result in altered protease activity, causing autosomal recessive non-syndromic hearing loss (ARNSHL). Structural modeling has been conducted to predict the pathogenicity of TMPRSS3 variants and to gain a better understanding of their prognostic correlation.

Functional Outcomes of Cochlear Implantation in Children with Bilateral Cochlear Nerve Aplasia.

Background and Objectives: Many otologists face a dilemma in the decision-making process of surgical management of patients with cochlear nerve (CN) aplasia. The goal of this study is to provide fresh evidence on cochlear implantation (CI) results in patients with CN aplasia. Materials and Methods: We scrutinized functional outcomes in 37 ears of 21 children with bilateral CN aplasia who underwent unilateral or bilateral CI based on cross-sectional and longitudinal assessments.

Behavioral Evaluation of 3 Smartphone-Based Hearing Aid Apps for Patients with Mild Hearing Loss: An Exploratory Pilot Study.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the behavioral performance of a selection of currently available hearing aid apps in patients with mild hearing loss.

Methods: We investigated 3 user-friendly hearing aid apps (EarMachine, Sound Amplifier, and Petralex) with real-ear measurement, warbletone audiometry, word recognition testing in unaided and aided conditions, and hearing-in-noise tests in quiet and noise-front conditions in a group of users with mild hearing impairment (n=7) as a pilot for a future long-term investigation. Results from the apps were compared with those of a conventional hearing aid.

Novel Molecular Genetic Etiology of Asymmetric Hearing Loss: Autosomal-Dominant LMX1A Variants.

Introduction: Sensorineural hearing loss is the most common sensory disorder in humans. Genetic analyses have greatly increased our understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms in play. Thus, characterization of audiologic phenotypes by the genetic etiology may aid elucidation of the etiologies of certain types of inherited hearing loss.

Electroacoustic Evaluation of Smartphone-Based Hearing Aid Applications.

Objectives: This study evaluated the electroacoustic characteristics of smartphone-based hearing aid applications (apps).

Methods: We investigated hearing aid apps based on processing delay measurements, hearing instrument testing, simulated real ear measurements, and a head-and-torso simulator.

Results: Many apps exceeded the recommended level for processing delay.

Altered secretome by diesel exhaust particles and lipopolysaccharide in primary human nasal epithelium.

Background: Airway epithelial cells can actively participate in the defense against environmental pathogens to elicit local or systemic inflammation. Diesel exhaust particles (DEP), a main component of urban air pollution with particulate matter, are associated with the occurrence of acute and chronic upper airway inflammatory diseases.

Objectives: We sought to investigate the effect of DEP alone or in combination with lipopolysaccharide on the secretome in the primary human nasal epithelium (PHNE) and to find potential biomarkers to relate DEP exposure to upper airway inflammatory diseases.

Effects of place of stimulation on the interaural time difference sensitivity in bilateral electrical intracochlear stimulations: Neurophysiological study in a rat model.

We examined the sensitivity of the neurons in the inferior colliculus (IC) in male and female rats to the interaural time differences (ITDs) conveyed in electrical pulse trains. Using bipolar pairs of electrodes that selectively activate the auditory nerve fibers at different intracochlear locations, we assessed whether the responses to electrical stimulation with ITDs in different frequency regions were processed differently. Most well-isolated single units responded to the electrical stimulation in only one of the apical or basal cochlear regions, and they were classified as either apical or basal units.

Recall of Reverberant Speech in Quiet and Four-Talker Babble Noise.

Using behavioral evaluation of free recall performance, we investigated whether reverberation and/or noise affected memory performance in normal-hearing adults. Thirty-four participants performed a free-recall task in which they were instructed to repeat the initial word after each sentence and to remember the target words after each list of seven sentences, in a 2 (reverberation) × 2 (noise) factorial design. Pupil dilation responses (baseline and peak pupil dilation) were also recorded sentence-by-sentence while the participants were trying to remember the target words.

Development and Characterization of a Biomimetic Totally Implantable Artificial Basilar Membrane System.

Cochlear implants (CIs) have become the standard treatment for severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss. Conventional CIs have some challenges, such as the use of extracorporeal devices, and high power consumption for frequency analysis. To overcome these, artificial basilar membranes (ABMs) made of piezoelectric materials have been studied.

Manufacturable 32-Channel Cochlear Electrode Array and Preliminary Assessment of Its Feasibility for Clinical Use.

(1) Background: In this study, we introduce a manufacturable 32-channel cochlear electrode array. In contrast to conventional cochlear electrode arrays manufactured by manual processes that consist of electrode-wire welding, the placement of each electrode, and silicone molding over wired structures, the proposed cochlear electrode array is manufactured by semi-automated laser micro-structuring and a mass-produced layer-by-layer silicone deposition scheme similar to the semiconductor fabrication process. (2) Methods: The proposed 32-channel electrode array has 32 electrode contacts with a length of 24 mm and 0.

A nonsense variant leads to disruption of connexin-linked function and autosomal dominant auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder.

Genes that are primarily expressed in cochlear glia-like supporting cells (GLSs) have not been clearly associated with progressive deafness. Herein, we present a deafness locus mapped to chromosome 3p25.1 and an auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) gene, , mainly expressed in GLSs.

Natural Course of Residual Hearing with Reference to GJB2 and SLC26A4 Genotypes: Clinical Implications for Hearing Rehabilitation.

Background: Understanding the characteristics of residual hearing at low frequencies and its natural course in relation to molecular genetic etiology may be important in developing rehabilitation strategies. Thus, we aimed to explore the characteristics and natural course of residual hearing at low frequencies associated with the two most frequent deafness genes: GJB2 and SLC26A4.

Methods: Initially, 53 GJB2 and 65 SLC26A4 subjects were enrolled, respectively.