Evaluating the hearing screening effectiveness of active noise cancellation technology among young adults: A pilot study.

Background: The population of young adults who are hearing impaired increases yearly, and a device that enables convenient hearing screening could help monitor their hearing. However, background noise is a critical issue that limits the capabilities of such a device. Therefore, this study evaluated the effectiveness of commercial active noise cancellation (ANC) headphones for hearing screening applications in the presence of background noise.

Objective Signal Analysis for Investigating Feasibility of Active Noise Cancellation in Hearing Screening.

With the development of active noise cancellation (ANC) technology, ANC has been used to mitigate the effects of environmental noise on audiometric results. However, objective evaluation methods supporting the accuracy of audiometry for ANC exposure to different levels of noise have not been reported. Accordingly, the audio characteristics of three different ANC headphone models were quantified under different noise conditions and the feasibility of ANC in noisy environments was investigated.

Smartphone-based artificial intelligence using a transfer learning algorithm for the detection and diagnosis of middle ear diseases: A retrospective deep learning study.

Background: Middle ear diseases such as otitis media and middle ear effusion, for which diagnoses are often delayed or misdiagnosed, are among the most common issues faced by clinicians providing primary care for children and adolescents. Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to assist clinicians in the detection and diagnosis of middle ear diseases through imaging.

Methods: Otoendoscopic images obtained by otolaryngologists from Taipei Veterans General Hospital in Taiwan between Jany 1, 2011 to Dec 31, 2019 were collected retrospectively and de-identified.

Efficacy of Ventilation Tube Insertion with Palatal Repair for Otitis Media in Cleft Palate: Meta-Analysis and Trial Sequential Analysis.

Cleft palate is the most common congenital facial deformity and may result in multiple sequelae and disabilities. One common comorbidity is refractory otitis media with effusion (OME), as patients with cleft palate have impaired eustachian tube function with alteration of the nearby muscular structures. Ventilation tube insertion (VTI) is regarded as an effective mean to address OME in addition to palatal repair surgery.

Physician decision support system for idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss patients.

Background: Idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL) is an emergency disease, and its pathogenesis is still largely unknown, making it difficult to diagnose and develop a therapeutic strategy. To predict the treatment outcomes and further customize the treatment strategy, we used a physician decision support system that incorporates complex information from electronic health records. We first developed the infrastructure of the physician decision support system, including an integrated data warehouse and an automatic data de-identification workflow.

A Smartphone-Based Approach to Screening for Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss: Cross-Sectional Validity Study.

Background: Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) is an otologic emergency that warrants urgent management. Pure-tone audiometry remains the gold standard for definitively diagnosing SSNHL. However, in clinical settings such as primary care practices and urgent care facilities, conventional pure-tone audiometry is often unavailable.

Developing a novel meatal areolar tissue autograft for minimally invasive tympanoplasty.

Background: We developed an easy and minimally invasive method of transmeatal tympanoplasty using meatal areolar tissue (MAT) grafts to achieve less postoperative morbidity or surgical scarring. We compared the functional and anatomical results of the developed method with conventional endaural tympanoplasty with a temporalis fascia (TF) graft.

Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, 58 patients (59 ears) with simple chronic otitis media who underwent type I tympanoplasty between January 2016 and August 2018 were included.

A Mobile Phone-Based Approach for Hearing Screening of School-Age Children: Cross-Sectional Validation Study.

Background: Pure-tone screening (PTS) is considered as the gold standard for hearing screening programs in school-age children. Mobile devices, such as mobile phones, have the potential for audiometric testing.

Objective: This study aimed to demonstrate a new approach to rapidly screen hearing status and provide stratified test values, using a smartphone-based hearing screening app, for each screened ear of school-age children.

The Efficacy of Concurrent or Sequential Intravenous and Intratympanic Steroid for Idiopathic Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss.

Objective: The purpose of this retrospective study was to investigate the difference in treatment outcomes for patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) undergoing concurrent or sequential intravenous (IV) and intratympanic (IT) steroid therapies.

Methods: Patients with idiopathic SSNHL admitted to Taipei Veterans Hospital from August 2011 to August 2012 were enrolled. Patients were treated with both IV dexamethasone 5 mg b.

Improving the performance of hearing aids in noisy environments based on deep learning technology.

The performance of a deep-learning-based speech enhancement (SE) technology for hearing aid users, called a deep denoising autoencoder (DDAE), was investigated. The hearing-aid speech perception index (HASPI) and the hearing- aid sound quality index (HASQI), which are two well-known evaluation metrics for speech intelligibility and quality, were used to evaluate the performance of the DDAE SE approach in two typical high-frequency hearing loss (HFHL) audiograms. Our experimental results show that the DDAE SE approach yields higher intelligibility and quality scores than two classical SE approaches.

Modified Siegel's criteria for sudden sensorineural hearing loss: Reporting recovery outcomes with matched pretreatment hearing grades.

Background: Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) is an emergency clinical otology condition defined as hearing loss greater than 30 dB over three consecutive frequencies within 72 h. We aimed to integrate pretreatment hearing grades with reports of treatment recovery outcomes of SSNHL using the modified Siegel's criteria.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study comprising 110 patients with SSNHL seen between January 2014 and January 2015.

Benefits of incorporating the adaptive dynamic range optimization amplification scheme into an assistive listening device for people with mild or moderate hearing loss.

This study investigated whether a self-designed assistive listening device (ALD) that incorporates an adaptive dynamic range optimization (ADRO) amplification strategy can surpass a commercially available monaurally worn linear ALD, SM100. Both subjective and objective measurements were implemented. Mandarin Hearing-In-Noise Test (MHINT) scores were the objective measurement, whereas participant satisfaction was the subjective measurement.

Revisiting the relationship of three-dimensional fluid attenuation inversion recovery imaging and hearing outcomes in adults with idiopathic unilateral sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

Background And Purpose: Three-dimensional fluid attenuation inversion recovery (3D FLAIR) may demonstrate high signal in the inner ears of patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL), but the correlations of this finding with outcomes are still controversial. Here we compared 4 3D MRI sequences with the outcomes of patients with ISSNHL.

Materials And Methods: 77 adult patients with ISSNHL underwent MRI with pre contrast FLAIR, fast imaging employing steady-state acquisition images (FIESTA-C), post contrast T1WI and post contrast FLAIR.

A review of current progress in acquired cholesteatoma management.

The aim of this study was to review recent advances in the management of acquired cholesteatoma. All papers referring to acquired cholesteatoma management were identified in Medline via OVID (1948 to December 2013), PubMed (to December 2013), and Cochrane Library (to December 2013). A total of 86 papers were included in the review.

High-dose amoxicillin with clavulanate for the treatment of acute otitis media in children.

Objective: This study uses the acute otitis media clinical practice guideline proposed in 2004 as a reference to evaluate whether antibiotics doses that are in line with the recommendations lead to better prognosis. The study also attempts to clarify possible factors that influence the outcome.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Relationship between idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss and subsequent stroke.

Objectives/hypothesis: The correlation between idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss and subsequent stroke is unclear. This study aimed to review stroke incidence after idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss among patients admitted to a tertiary referral center and aimed to compare the characteristics of patients with and without stroke.

Study Design: Individual retrospective cohort study.

How long is long enough to follow up children after cholesteatoma surgery? A 29-year study.

Objectives/hypothesis: To identify an association between follow-up period and cholesteatoma recidivism.

Study Design: Retrospective review.

Methods: From 1982 to 2011, we retrospectively screened a consecutive series of children (≤ 18 years) with acquired cholesteatomas after primary surgery.

Can long-term hearing preservation be expected in children following cholesteatoma surgery? Results from a 14-year-long study of atticotomy-limited mastoidectomy with cartilage reconstruction.

Objective: Following cholesteatoma surgery, effective long-term hearing preservation in children is difficult and is not typically expected. Hence, long-term data on hearing outcomes are lacking. The aim of this study was to analyze long-term hearing outcomes in children following cholesteatoma surgery.

An audiometer to monitor progressive hearing change in school-aged children.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop a cost-effective and easy to use audiometer to monitor progressive hearing change in school-aged children.

Design: The hardware of the audiometer developed included a computer, an external sound blaster and a headphone. The hearing screening software was developed to control the pure tone sound level with modulability in the range of 0-45 dB HL at 1, 2, 4 and 0.

Comorbid intracranial vertebral artery asymmetry as a risk factor for severe vestibular neuronitis.

Background: Our previous study had demonstrated that verterbral artery hypoplasia (VAH) contribute to ipsilateral vestibular dysfunction. The aim of this study was to test if VAH contributes to prognosis of vestibular neuronitis (VN) through presumed regional malperfusion.

Methods: We performed a prospective magnetic resonance angiographic registry in patients with acute vestibular neuritis in which were then assigned to VAH (n=29) and control group (n=40).

Mean hearing thresholds among school children in Taiwan.

Objectives: The primary aim of this study was to obtain the mean hearing thresholds among school-age children residing in the Datong and Jhongshan Districts of Taipei City, Taiwan.

Design: Hearing thresholds were obtained from a stratified sample of 1411 students in grades 1, 4, 7, and 10 based on their participation in the annual health examination of school-age children carried out by the Taipei City Government. After otoscopic examination, audiometric testing was undertaken at 0.

The Hearing Scale Test for hearing screening of school-age children.

Objectives: This study aimed to demonstrate a new modified hearing screening method that can rapidly screen hearing and provide stratified test values for each screened ear of children.

Methods: The proposed Hearing Scale Test (HST) and pure-tone screening (PTS) were applied to 384 school-age children. PTS involved applying four test tones to each tested ear: 500 Hz at 25 dB, and 1000, 2000, 4000 Hz at 20 dB; and classifying the results as "pass" (normal hearing in the ear) or "fail" (possible hearing impairment).

High-resolution computed tomography in the diagnosis of otosclerosis in Taiwan.

Background: Otosclerosis is rare in Asians, and the clinical role of imaging remains controversial. We sought to clarify the tomographic findings of otosclerosis in Taiwanese patients and determine the value and necessity of high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) of the temporal bone in diagnosing the disease in Taiwan.

Methods: This retrospective study enrolled 22 patients (24 ears) with clinically, surgically and pathologically confirmed otosclerosis.

The costs and quality of operative training for residents in tympanoplasty type I.

Conclusion: A teaching hospital would incur more operation room costs on training surgical residents.

Objective: To evaluate the increased operation time and the increased operation room costs of operations performed by surgical residents. As a model we used a very common surgical otology procedure -- tympanoplasty type I.