Outcomes of a Population-Based Congenital Cytomegalovirus Screening Program.

Importance: Detection of congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) infection has previously relied on targeted screening programs or clinical recognition; however, these approaches miss most cCMV-infected newborns and fail to identify those infants who are asymptomatic at birth but at risk for late-onset sensorineural hearing loss.

Objective: To determine the feasibility of using routinely collected newborn dried blood spots (DBS) in a population-based cCMV screen to identify infants at risk for hearing loss and describe outcomes of infants screened.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This diagnostic study of a population-based screening program in Ontario, Canada, took place from July 29, 2019, to July 31, 2023.

Sound enrichment helps persons suffering from low frequency phantom sounds.

Low frequency noise (LFN) of unknown origin can be disturbing, especially at night, and affect sleep and relaxation. If reduction of the LFN is impossible, adding sound can mask the troubling noise or detract attention from it to reduce distress. To assess the effectiveness of this, a survey was set up consisting of three questionnaires: the first when a person requested a masking sound and follow-ups after 1 and 3 months.

Selumetinib for children with neurofibromatosis type 1 and plexiform neurofibromas that can't be removed by surgery, and impact on how the condition affects caregivers: a plain language summary.

What Is This Summary About?: Neurofibromatosis type 1 (also called NF1) is a rare genetic condition. It causes a range of symptoms that develop from childhood onwards and worsen over time. Some children with NF1 develop non-cancerous nerve tumors called plexiform neurofibromas.

Evaluating the Effect of Various Pure Tone Averages on Cochlear Implant Candidacy Screening.

Objective: To provide evidence to use an extended frequency pure tone average to screen for cochlear implant evaluation candidates as recommended by the American Cochlear Implant Alliance. Additionally, to determine whether traditional low frequency, high or low frequency, high frequency, or extended frequency pure tone average most accurately predicts cochlear implant candidates based on speech perception scores from aided AzBio sentence testing or aided consonant-nucleus-consonant (CNC) testing.

Method: Adults from a tertiary care center who completed aided sentence testing during cochlear implant evaluation between 2014 and 2024 were assessed.

Early detection and management of hearing loss to reduce dementia risk in older adults with mild cognitive impairment: findings from the treating auditory impairment and cognition trial (TACT).

Background: Age-related hearing loss and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) independently increase dementia risk. The Ageing and Cognitive Health Evaluation in Elders randomised controlled trial (RCT) found hearing aids reduce cognitive decline in high-risk older adults with poor hearing.

Methods: This pilot RCT in London memory clinics randomised people with MCI (aged ≥55, untreated hearing loss defined as Pure Tone Average 0.

The Impact of Financial Coverage on Hearing Aid Utilization Rates Within the Military Health System.

Objectives: To investigate hearing aid utilization rates among populations with varying hearing aid insurance benefits.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed. A total of 377 patients were included in the study after being identified through consecutive, hearing loss-related otology clinic visits.

Association of volatile organic compound metabolites with hearing loss: unveiling their potential mechanism and intervention target.

Hearing loss (HL) is an otolaryngology disease susceptible to environmental pollutants. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), as a class of chemical pollutants with evaporation propensity, pose a great threat to human health. However, the association between VOCs and HL remains unclear.

Modeling of auditory neuropathy spectrum disorders associated with the variant reveals impaired gap junction function of iPSC-derived glia-like support cells.

Auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) is an auditory dysfunction disorder characterized by impaired speech comprehension. Its etiology is complex and can be broadly categorized into genetic and non-genetic factors. mutation is identified as a causative factor in ANSD.

Establishment of reference audiometric norms for the elderly population: A community-based study on mean and median hearing thresholds.

Background: This investigation quantifies the mean and median hearing thresholds and assesses the prevalence of age-related hearing loss within the senior population of Taipei.

Methods: In a substantive geriatric assessment supported by government initiative, 1696 individuals from a community hospital partook in this cross-sectional study (2016-2018). Detailed audiometric evaluations logged pure-tone thresholds across critical frequencies (0.

Evaluating the Safety and Usability of an Over-the-Counter Medical Device for Adults With Mild to Moderate Hearing Loss: Formative and Summative Usability Testing.

Background: Only 15% of the nearly 30 million Americans with hearing loss use hearing aids, partly due to high cost, stigma, and limited access to professional hearing care. Hearing impairment in adults can lead to social isolation and depression and is associated with an increased risk of falls. Given the persistent barriers to hearing aid use, the Food and Drug Administration issued a final rule to allow over-the-counter hearing aids to be sold directly to adult consumers with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss at pharmacies, stores, and online retailers without seeing a physician or licensed hearing health care professional.

Clinical features and short-term outcomes of bilateral sudden sensorineural hearing loss: an eight-year experience at a tertiary center.

Background: Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) typically affects one ear and is often linked to various underlying causes. However, bilateral SSNHL (BSSHL), where both ears are affected, is much rarer and presents a more severe clinical challenge.

Aims/objectives: To report the clinical features and short-term outcomes of patients with BSSHL.

Pupillometry and perceived listening effort for cochlear implant users-a comparison of three speech-in-noise tests.

Objective: Measuring listening effort using pupillometry is challenging in cochlear implant (CI) users. We assess three validated speech tests (Matrix, LIST, and DIN) to identify the optimal speech material for measuring peak-pupil-dilation (PPD) in CI users as a function of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).

Design: Speech tests were administered in quiet and two noisy conditions, namely at the speech recognition threshold (0 dB re SRT), i.

EXPRESS: Vocal and musical emotion perception, voice cue discrimination, and quality of life in cochlear implant users with and without acoustic hearing.

This study aims to provide a comprehensive picture of auditory emotion perception in cochlear implant (CI) users by (1) investigating emotion categorization in both vocal (pseud-ospeech) and musical domains, and (2) how individual differences in residual acoustic hearing, sensitivity to voice cues (voice pitch, vocal tract length), and quality of life (QoL) might be associated with vocal emotion perception, and, going a step further, also with musical emotion perception. In 28 adult CI users, with or without self-reported acoustic hearing, we showed that sensitivity (d') scores for emotion categorization varied largely across the participants, in line with previous research. However, within participants, the d' scores for vocal and musical emotion categorization were significantly correlated, indicating similar processing of auditory emotional cues across the pseudo-speech and music domains and robustness of the tests.

Autoimmune sensorineural hearing loss/Meniere's disease possibly triggered by neurocysticercosis: a case report.

Background: Meniere's disease arises when an abnormal fluid accumulation results in heightened pressure within the inner ear or labyrinth. Its symptoms encompass vertigo, tinnitus, hearing loss, and a sensation of fullness in the ear. Various triggers for Meniere's disease are known, from smoking and alcohol consumption to recent viral illnesses, allergies, and anxiety.

Cost-effectiveness of hearing aids in South Korea: a multistate Markov model analysis.

Objectives: This study evaluated the cost-effectiveness of using hearing aids among individuals aged 50 and older with varying levels of hearing loss in South Korea.

Methods: A state-transition Markov model was employed to assess the cost-effectiveness of hearing aid utilization from a societal perspective. We simulated a cohort of patients aged 50, tracking their progression through normal, mild, moderate, and severe stages of hearing loss until death or age 80.

Comparison of occupational diseases development during one decade in the Slovak and Czech Republic.

Objectives: An occupational disease (OD) is a disorder or health condition which arises due to work related activities and tasks or is caused by work environment. The impact of ODs on medical and social system may be considered as a very important in relation to mortality, morbidity, and invalidity. The most common ODs in the European Union are musculoskeletal disorders (58% of all ODs in 2015).

Hearing loss occurs prior to thrombocytopenia in both mice and humans with DFNA1.

DFNA1 (deafness, nonsyndromic autosomal dominant 1), initially identified as nonsyndromic sensorineural hearing loss, has been associated with an additional symptom: macrothrombocytopenia. However, the timing of the onset of hearing loss (HL) and thrombocytopenia has not been investigated, leaving it unclear which occurs earlier. Here, we generated a knock-in (KI) DFNA1 mouse model, diaphanous-related formin 1 (DIA1), in which Aequorea coerulescens green fluorescent protein (AcGFP)-tagged human DIA1(p.

An X-Linked Ataxia Syndrome in a Family with Hearing Loss Associated with a Novel Variant in the BCAP31 Gene.

Objective: Pathogenic variants in B-cell receptor-associated protein (BCAP31) are associated with X-linked, deafness, dystonia and cerebral hypomyelination (DDCH) syndrome. DDCH is congenital and non-progressive, featuring severe intellectual disability (ID), variable dysmorphism, and sometimes associated with shortened survival. BCAP31 encodes one of the most abundant chaperones, with several functions including acting as a negative regulator of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) calcium ion (Ca) concentration.

Serous otitis media as a cause for language delay following cleft palate repair-A case-control study.

Background And Objectives: Serous otitis media (SOM), also called otitis media with effusion (OME) or glue ear, is a collection of non-purulent fluid within the middle ear space. Children with cleft palate are more prone to develop this condition. This is caused by impaired eustachian tube function in cleft palate.

Medial and lateral vestibulospinal projections to the cervical spinal cord of the squirrel monkey.

Introduction: The brainstem vestibular nuclei neurons receive synaptic inputs from inner ear acceleration-sensing hair cells, cerebellar output neurons, and ascending signals from spinal proprioceptive-related neurons. The lateral (LVST) and medial (MVST) vestibulospinal (VS) tracts convey their coded signals to the spinal circuits to rapidly counter externally imposed perturbations to facilitate stability and provide a framework for self-generated head movements.

Methods: The present study describes the morphological characteristics of intraaxonally recorded and labeled VS neurons monosynaptically connected to the 8th nerve.

Jansen metaphyseal chondrodysplasia: analysis of craniofacial manifestations.

Jansen metaphyseal chondrodysplasia (JMC) is an ultra-rare disorder caused by constitutive activation of parathyroid hormone type 1 receptor (PTH1R). We sought to characterize the craniofacial phenotype of patients with the disease. Six patients with genetically confirmed JMC underwent comprehensive craniofacial phenotyping revealing a distinct facial appearance that prompted a cephalometric analysis demonstrating a pattern of mandibular retrognathia.

Neuroimaging Findings for the Overnight Consolidation of Learned Non-native Speech Sounds.

Research over the past two decades has documented the importance of sleep to language learning. Sleep has been suggested to play a role in establishing new speech representations as well; however, the neural mechanisms corresponding to sleep-mediated effects on speech perception behavior are unknown. In this study, we trained monolingual English-speaking adults to perceive differences between the Hindi dental vs.

Association between oral feeding versus enteral feeding and cerumen impaction in older hospitalized adults: A retrospective cohort study.

Background: Chewing involves jaw movements that propel cerumen along the ear canal. This mechanism may be reduced in dysphagia, especially for older individuals who are enterally fed. Those patients may be at a higher risk for cerumen impaction and may require longer hospital stays.

Contemporary clinical conversations about stuttering: How to keep up with stuttering treatment research.

Purpose: To discuss how speech-language pathologists can keep up with stuttering treatment research. To inform junior clinicians and students of speech-language pathology about this matter.

Method: The issue was discussed by two university researchers and two speech-language pathologists who provide clinical services.

Sleep-Associated Traits and Hearing Difficulties in Noise: A Bidirectional Mendelian Randomization Study.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the causal relationships between sleep-associated traits and hearing difficulties in noise (HDinN) by Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis.

Design: Single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with chronotype, insomnia, sleep duration, daytime dozing or sleeping, and ease of getting up in the morning were extracted from European population genome-wide association study pooled data for bidirectional MR analysis. The MR-Egger regression, the inverse variance weighted technique, and the weighted median method were used for data analysis.