Threshold Estimation and Speech Perception Under Hearing Loss Simulation: Examination of the Immersive Hearing Loss and Prosthesis Simulator.

Purpose: Hearing loss simulation (HLS) has been recommended for clinical teaching and counseling of patients and their families, so that they can experience hearing impairment. However, few validated procedures for simulating hearing loss are available to instructors and practicing clinicians. The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of the Immersive Hearing Loss and Prosthesis Simulator (I-HeLPS) on reducing hearing sensitivity and word recognition to determine its adequacy for educational and clinical use.

Perceptual, procedural, and task learning for an auditory temporal discrimination task.

Perceptual learning reflects experience-driven improvements in the ability to detect changes in stimulus characteristics. The time course for perceptual learning overlaps with that for procedural learning (acquiring general skills and strategies) and task learning (learning the perceptual judgment specific to the task), making it difficult to isolate their individual effects. This study was conducted to examine the role of exposure to stimulus, procedure, and task information on learning for auditory temporal-interval discrimination.

Hearing loss and risk of depressive symptoms in older adults in the Health ABC study.

Objective: Hearing loss (HL) is highly prevalent among older adults and may lead to increased risk of depressive symptoms. In both cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis, we quantified the association between HL and depressive symptoms, incorporating the variable nature of depressive symptoms and characterizing by race and gender.

Methods: Data were from the Health, Aging, and Body Composition study.

Real-Ear-to-Coupler Difference: Physical and Perceptual Differences.

Purpose: The real-ear-to-coupler difference (RECD) is a recommended measure for accurate hearing aid fittings, especially for pediatric populations. However, for adults, many clinicians question whether it is necessary.

Method: Hearing aids were fit on two groups of 85 older adults seen at a Veterans Administration audiology clinic.

The association of hearing problems with social network strength and depressive symptoms: the cardiovascular health study.

Background: research on the association between hearing impairment and psychosocial outcomes is not only limited but also yielded mixed results.

Methods: we investigated associations between annual self-reports of hearing problems, depressive symptoms and social network strength among 5,888 adults from the Cardiovascular Health Study over a period of 9 years. Social network strength and depressive symptoms were defined using the Lubben Social Network Scale (LSNS), and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D).

Need for cognition is associated with the interaction of reward and task-load on effort: A verification and extension study.

Here, we work to provide nuance around the assumption that people will work for rewards. We examine whether individuals' inherent tendency to mobilize cognitive effort (need for cognition, NFC) moderates this effect. We re-analyzed our existing data to verify an effect reported by Sandra and Otto (2018) regarding the association between NFC and reward-induced cognitive effort expenditure, using a more ecological cognitive task design and adding a psychophysiological measure of effort.

Getting to YES: The Evolution of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Hillman Cancer Center Youth Enjoy Science (YES) Academy.

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Hillman Cancer Center Academy (Hillman Academy) has the primary goal of reaching high school students from underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds and guiding them through a cutting-edge research and professional development experience that positions them for success in STEM. With this focus, the Hillman Academy has provided nearly 300 authentic mentored research internship opportunities to 239 students from diverse backgrounds over the past 13 years most of whom matriculated into STEM majors in higher education. These efforts have helped shape a more diverse generation of future scientists and clinicians, who will enrich these fields with their unique perspectives and lived experiences.

AudioChip: A Deep Phenotyping Approach for Deconstructing and Quantifying Audiological Phenotypes of Self-Reported Speech Perception Difficulties.

Objectives: About 15% of U.S. adults report speech perception difficulties despite showing normal audiograms.

Investigation of Embodied Language Processing on Command-Swallow Performance in Healthy Participants.

Purpose During videofluoroscopic examination of swallowing, patients commonly are instructed to hold a bolus in their mouth until they hear a verbal instruction to swallow, which usually consists of the word and is commonly referred to as the command swallow condition. The language-induced motor facilitation theory suggests that linguistic processes associated with the verbal command to swallow should facilitate the voluntary component of swallowing. As such, the purpose of the study was to examine the linguistic influences of the verbal command on swallowing.

Genome-wide association meta-analysis identifies five novel loci for age-related hearing impairment.

Previous research has shown that genes play a substantial role in determining a person's susceptibility to age-related hearing impairment. The existing studies on this subject have different results, which may be caused by difficulties in determining the phenotype or the limited number of participants involved. Here, we have gathered the largest sample to date (discovery n = 9,675; replication n = 10,963; validation n = 356,141), and examined phenotypes that represented low/mid and high frequency hearing loss on the pure tone audiogram.

The role of reward and task demand in value-based strategic allocation of auditory comprehension effort.

Objectives: Listeners who fail to optimize their allocation of effort during auditory comprehension tasks can experience from compromised performance, fatigue and stress, which might result in reduced engagement in social communication activities. Strategically allocating effort based on costs and perceived benefits are commonly observed in the research of effortful physical and visual behaviors. Whether people manage their effort in a similar manner in audition remains unclear.

Associations of Hearing Loss and Depressive Symptoms With Incident Disability in Older Adults: Health, Aging, and Body Composition Study.

Background: Depressive symptoms and hearing loss (HL) are independently associated with increased risk of incident disability; whether the increased risk is additive is unclear.

Methods: Cox Proportional Hazards models were used to assess joint associations of HL (normal, mild, moderate/severe) and late-life depressive symptoms (defined by a score of ≥8 on the 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale) with onset of mobility disability (a lot of difficulty or inability to walk ¼ mile and/or climb 10 steps) and any disability in activities of daily living (ADL), among 2,196 participants of the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study, a cohort of well-functioning older adults aged 70-79 years. Models were adjusted for age, race, sex, education, diabetes, hypertension, and body mass index.

Profound Hearing Loss: Addressing Barriers to Hearing Healthcare.

The impact of profound hearing loss on infants and adults is variable and greatly influenced by improved audition derived from hearing aids and cochlear implants. However, barriers to healthcare, hearing healthcare in particular, can offset the benefits provided by these sensory devices. Common barriers include cost, location, availability of trained professionals, acceptance of the hearing loss, language and cultural differences, secondary disabilities, and mental health issues.

Audiological Assessment of Word Recognition Skills in Persons With Aphasia.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of persons with aphasia, with and without hearing loss, to complete a commonly used open-set word recognition test that requires a verbal response. Furthermore, phonotactic probabilities and neighborhood densities of word recognition errors were assessed to explore potential underlying linguistic complexities that might differentially influence performance among groups.

Method: Four groups of adult participants were tested: participants with no brain injury with normal hearing, participants with no brain injury with hearing loss, participants with brain injury with aphasia and normal hearing, and participants with brain injury with aphasia and hearing loss.

The Effect of Decreased Audibility on MMSE Performance: A Measure Commonly Used for Diagnosing Dementia.

Background: Hearing loss and dementia are both prevalent in late adulthood. The most common test used to determine cognitive status in late adulthood, the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), is presented face to face, usually in the context of the physician's office in the presence of background noise. Despite the problems of hearing loss and cognitive problems in late life, there is an absence of evidence linking hearing-related deficits to performance on the MMSE and dementia diagnoses.

Hearing Impairment and Incident Dementia and Cognitive Decline in Older Adults: The Health ABC Study.

Background: Age-related peripheral hearing impairment (HI) is prevalent, treatable, and may be a risk factor for dementia in older adults. In prospective analysis, we quantified the association of HI with incident dementia and with domain-specific cognitive decline in memory, perceptual speed, and processing speed.

Methods: Data were from the Health, Aging and Body Composition (Health ABC) study, a biracial cohort of well-functioning adults aged 70-79 years.

The effect of speaking rate on serial-order sound-level errors in normal healthy controls and persons with aphasia.

Background: Although many speech errors can be generated at either a linguistic or motoric level of production, phonetically well-formed sound-level serial-order errors are generally assumed to result from disruption of phonologic encoding (PE) processes. An influential model of PE (Dell, 1986; Dell, Burger & Svec, 1997) predicts that speaking rate should affect the relative proportion of these serial-order sound errors (anticipations, perseverations, exchanges). These predictions have been extended to, and have special relevance for persons with aphasia (PWA) because of the increased frequency with which speech errors occur and because their localization within the functional linguistic architecture may help in diagnosis and treatment.

Association of Hearing Impairment and Anxiety in Older Adults.

Objective: The objective of the study is was investigate the association between hearing impairment and anxiety.

Method: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 1,732 community-based adults aged 76 to 85 years who participated in the Health Aging and Body Composition (ABC) study. Logistic regression models were adjusted for demographic and cardiovascular risk factors.

Association of Hearing Impairment and Emotional Vitality in Older Adults.

Objectives: To better understand the potential impact of hearing impairment (HI) and hearing aid use on emotional vitality and mental health in older adults.

Method: We investigated the cross-sectional association of HI with emotional vitality in 1,903 adults aged 76-85 years in the Health ABC study adjusted for demographic and cardiovascular risk factors. Hearing was defined by the speech frequency pure tone average (no impairment < 25 dB, mild impairment 25-40 dB, and moderate or greater impairment > 40 dB).

Association of Hearing Impairment With Incident Frailty and Falls in Older Adults.

Objective: We aimed to determine whether hearing impairment (HI) in older adults is associated with the development of frailty and falls.

Method: Longitudinal analysis of observational data from the Health, Aging and Body Composition study of 2,000 participants aged 70 to 79 was conducted. Hearing was defined by the pure-tone-average of hearing thresholds at 0.

Association Between Hearing Impairment and Risk of Hospitalization in Older Adults.

Objectives: To determine the association between hearing impairment (HI) and risk and duration of hospitalization in community-dwelling older adults in the United States.

Design: Prospective observational study.

Setting: Health, Aging and Body Composition Study.

Reliability and validity of the computerized Revised Token Test: comparison of reading and listening versions in persons with and without aphasia.

Purpose: This study assessed the reliability and validity of intermodality associations and differences in persons with aphasia (PWA) and healthy controls (HC) on a computerized listening and 3 reading versions of the Revised Token Test (RTT; McNeil & Prescott, 1978).

Method: Thirty PWA and 30 HC completed the test versions, including a complete replication. Reading versions varied according to stimulus presentation method: (a) full-sentence presentation, (b) self-paced word-by-word full-sentence construction, and (c) self-paced word-by-word presentation with each word removed with the onset of the next word.

Association of hearing impairment with declines in physical functioning and the risk of disability in older adults.

Background: Identifying factors associated with functional declines in older adults is important given the aging of the population. We investigated if hearing impairment is independently associated with objectively measured declines in physical functioning in a community-based sample of older adults.

Methods: Prospective observational study of 2,190 individuals from the Health, Aging, and Body Composition study.

Association of hearing impairment and mortality in older adults.

Background: Hearing impairment (HI) is highly prevalent in older adults and is associated with social isolation, depression, and risk of dementia. Whether HI is associated with broader downstream outcomes is unclear. We undertook this study to determine whether audiometric HI is associated with mortality in older adults.