The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of bilateral hearing aids (HA) in subjects with mild and moderate-to-severe hearing loss. This study was designed as a within-subject feasibility study. Bilateral HA use was assessed using different laboratory tests on speech reception, listening effort, noise tolerance, and localization. All data were evaluated with bilateral and unilateral HA fittings. Forty experienced bilateral HA users were included with hearing impairment ranging from mild to moderate-to-severe. Subjects were stratified into two groups based on the degree of hearing loss. Speech reception in noise, listening effort, and localization tests showed a bilateral benefit for the moderate-to-severely hearing-impaired subjects. A bilateral benefit was also observed for listening effort in the mildly hearing-impaired group. The assessment of listening effort shows promise as a measure of bilateral HA benefit for mild hearing impairment. Localization and speech reception in noise tests provide additional value for larger losses. The next step is to compare experienced unilateral with bilateral HA users.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2331216516658239 | DOI Listing |
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
January 2025
Department of Communication Science and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213.
The auditory system is unique among sensory systems in its ability to phase lock to and precisely follow very fast cycle-by-cycle fluctuations in the phase of sound-driven cochlear vibrations. Yet, the perceptual role of this temporal fine structure (TFS) code is debated. This fundamental gap is attributable to our inability to experimentally manipulate TFS cues without altering other perceptually relevant cues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Neurosci Methods
December 2024
Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 32, Milan, 20133, Italy. Electronic address:
Background: Acoustic challenges impose demands on cognitive resources, known as listening effort (LE), which can substantially influence speech perception and communication. Standardized assessment protocols for monitoring LE are lacking, hindering the development of adaptive hearing assistive technology.
New Method: We employed an adaptive protocol, including a speech-in-noise test and personalized definition of task demand, to assess LE and its physiological correlates.
Sci Rep
December 2024
Department of Communication Science and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA.
Multi-talker speech intelligibility requires successful separation of the target speech from background speech. Successful speech segregation relies on bottom-up neural coding fidelity of sensory information and top-down effortful listening. Here, we studied the interaction between temporal processing measured using Envelope Following Responses (EFRs) to amplitude modulated tones, and pupil-indexed listening effort, as it related to performance on the Quick Speech-in-Noise (QuickSIN) test in normal-hearing adults.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEar Hear
December 2024
Laboratorio de Audición Computacional y Piscoacústica, Instituto de Neurociencias de Castilla y León, Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
Objectives: We compared sound quality and performance for a conventional cochlear-implant (CI) audio processing strategy based on short-time fast-Fourier transform (Crystalis) and an experimental strategy based on spectral feature extraction (SFE). In the latter, the more salient spectral features (acoustic events) were extracted and mapped into the CI stimulation electrodes. We hypothesized that (1) SFE would be superior to Crystalis because it can encode acoustic spectral features without the constraints imposed by the short-time fast-Fourier transform bin width, and (2) the potential benefit of SFE would be greater for CI users who have less neural cross-channel interactions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEur Arch Otorhinolaryngol
December 2024
Department of Audiology, All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysuru, Karnataka, 570006, India.
Purpose: To compare the listening effort using objective test (dual-task paradigm), parents report using abbreviated version of the Speech, Spatial and Quality questionnaire (SSQ-P10) and Teachers' Evaluation of Aural/Oral Performance of Children and Ease of Listening (TEACH), working memory and attention span between children using cochlear implants (CI) and age-matched peers with normal hearing sensitivity, and assess the relationship between listening effort and real-life benefit in children using CI.
Method: Group I included 25 children with normal hearing sensitivity. Group II included 25 children with bimodal cochlear implantation with bilateral severe to profound hearing loss.
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