Adolescent Obesity Is an Independent Risk Factor for Sensorineural Hearing Loss: Results From the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005 to 2010.

Objective: We investigated the hypothesis that childhood obesity is a risk factor for sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) independent of other metabolic risk factors.

Study Design: A complex, multistage, stratified geographic area design for collecting representative data from noninstitutionalized US population.

Methods: A total of 5,638 adolescents between age 12 and 19 from the NHANES database (2005-2010) were studied.

Music enjoyment with cochlear implantation.

Since the advent of cochlear implant (CI) surgery in the 1960s, there have been remarkable technological and surgical advances enabling excellent speech perception in quiet with many CI users able to use the telephone. However, many CI users struggle with music perception, particularly with the pitch-based and melodic elements of music. Yet remarkably, despite poor music perception, many CI users enjoy listening to music based on self-report questionnaires, and prospective studies have suggested a disassociation between music perception and enjoyment.

The development and validation of the speech quality instrument.

Objective: Although speech perception tests are available to evaluate hearing, there is no standardized validated tool to quantify speech quality. The objective of this study is to develop a validated tool to measure quality of speech heard.

Study Design: Prospective instrument validation study of 35 normal hearing adults recruited at a tertiary referral center.

Reduction of the Harmonic Series Influences Musical Enjoyment With Cochlear Implants.

Objective: Cochlear implantation is associated with poor music perception and enjoyment. Reducing music complexity has been shown to enhance music enjoyment in cochlear implant (CI) recipients. In this study, we assess the impact of harmonic series reduction on music enjoyment.

Impact of Noise Reduction Algorithm in Cochlear Implant Processing on Music Enjoyment.

Objective: Noise reduction algorithm (NRA) in speech processing strategy has positive impact on speech perception among cochlear implant (CI) listeners. We sought to evaluate the effect of NRA on music enjoyment.

Study Design: Prospective analysis of music enjoyment.

Music Engineering as a Novel Strategy for Enhancing Music Enjoyment in the Cochlear Implant Recipient.

Objective: Enjoyment of music remains an elusive goal following cochlear implantation. We test the hypothesis that reengineering music to reduce its complexity can enhance the listening experience for the cochlear implant (CI) listener.

Methods: Normal hearing (NH) adults (N = 16) and CI listeners (N = 9) evaluated a piece of country music on three enjoyment modalities: pleasantness, musicality, and naturalness.

Pulmonary Embolism and Infarct After Bilateral Cochlear Implantation in a Patient with Newly Diagnosed Sickle/β+ Thalassemia.

Objective: To heighten awareness of increased postoperative thromboembolic complications in patients with β-hemoglobinopathies.

Patient: A 42-year-old African American woman with previously undiagnosed β-hemoglobinopathies suffers from sensorineural hearing loss caused by bacterial meningitis and undergoes bilateral cochlear implantation.

Intervention(s): Diagnostic: hemoglobin electrophoresis.

Reverberation time influences musical enjoyment with cochlear implants.

Objective: To identify factors that enhance the enjoyment of music in cochlear implant (CI) recipients. Specifically, we assessed the hypothesis that variations in reverberation time (RT60) may be linked to variations in the level of musical enjoyment in CI users.

Study Design: Prospective analysis of music enjoyment in normal-hearing individuals.