Behavioural estimates of auditory filter widths in ferrets using notched-noise maskers.

Frequency selectivity is a fundamental property of hearing which affects almost all aspects of auditory processing. Here auditory filter widths at 1, 3, 7, and 10 kHz were estimated from behavioural thresholds using the notched-noise method [Patterson, Nimmo-Smith, Weber, and Milroy, J. Acoust.

The Just-Meaningful Difference in Speech-to-Noise Ratio.

The speech-to-noise ratio (SNR) in an environment plays a vital role in speech communication for both normal-hearing (NH) and hearing-impaired (HI) listeners. While hearing-assistance devices attempt to deliver as favorable an SNR as possible, there may be discrepancies between noticeable and meaningful improvements in SNR. Furthermore, it is not clear how much of an SNR improvement is necessary to induce intervention-seeking behavior.

Selective processing of auditory evoked responses with iterative-randomized stimulation and averaging: A strategy for evaluating the time-invariant assumption.

The recording of auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) at fast rates allows the study of neural adaptation, improves accuracy in estimating hearing threshold and may help diagnosing certain pathologies. Stimulation sequences used to record AEPs at fast rates require to be designed with a certain jitter, i.e.

Source-Space Cross-Frequency Amplitude-Amplitude Coupling in Tinnitus.

The thalamocortical dysrhythmia (TCD) model has been influential in the development of theoretical explanations for the neurological mechanisms of tinnitus. It asserts that thalamocortical oscillations lock a region in the auditory cortex into an ectopic slow-wave theta rhythm (4-8 Hz). The cortical area surrounding this region is hypothesized to generate abnormal gamma (>30 Hz) oscillations ("edge effect") giving rise to the tinnitus percept.

Influences of word predictability and type of masker noise on intelligibility of sung text in live concerts.

Vocal music is often intended to convey meaning, but how effectively this is achieved is poorly understood. This study systematically assessed the influence of three non-phonetic factors on the intelligibility of sung words in six public concerts in different venues: word predictability from sentence context, type of masker noise (spoken babble, sung vowels, [∫(w)]), and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Stimuli were sung live by a professional a cappella ensemble with one male singing target sentences and five others (two female) producing the masker sounds.

Guidelines for quantification of noise-induced hearing loss in a medicolegal context.

Objectives: Guidelines published in 2000 by the authors are widely used by medical and legal professionals in the UK for diagnosis of noise-induced hearing loss in a medicolegal context. However, they cannot be used for quantification of the noise-induced hearing loss, which is required in most cases. This requirement is addressed.

Psychometric properties of the Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI): Assessment in a UK research volunteer population.

Objectives: Questionnaires are essential for measuring tinnitus severity and intervention-related change but there is no standard instrument used routinely in research settings. Most tinnitus questionnaires are optimised for measuring severity but not change. However, the Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI) claims to be optimised for both.

The Effect of Prenatal and Childhood Development on Hearing, Vision and Cognition in Adulthood.

It is unclear what the contribution of prenatal versus childhood development is for adult cognitive and sensory function and age-related decline in function. We examined hearing, vision and cognitive function in adulthood according to self-reported birth weight (an index of prenatal development) and adult height (an index of early childhood development). Subsets (N = 37,505 to 433,390) of the UK Biobank resource were analysed according to visual and hearing acuity, reaction time and fluid IQ.

The Glasgow Benefit Inventory: a systematic review of the use and value of an otorhinolaryngological generic patient-recorded outcome measure.

Background: The Glasgow Benefit Inventory (GBI) is a validated, generic patient-recorded outcome measure widely used in otolaryngology to report change in quality of life post-intervention.

Objectives Of Review: To date, no systematic review has made (i) a quality assessment of reporting of Glasgow Benefit Inventory outcomes; (ii) a comparison between Glasgow Benefit Inventory outcomes for different interventions and objectives; (iii) an evaluation of subscales in describing the area of benefit; (iv) commented on its value in clinical practice and research.

Type Of Review: Systematic review.

Stream segregation in the anesthetized auditory cortex.

Auditory stream segregation describes the way that sounds are perceptually segregated into groups or streams on the basis of perceptual attributes such as pitch or spectral content. For sequences of pure tones, segregation depends on the tones' proximity in frequency and time. In the auditory cortex (and elsewhere) responses to sequences of tones are dependent on stimulus conditions in a similar way to the perception of these stimuli.

International Collegium of Rehabilitative Audiology (ICRA) recommendations for the construction of multilingual speech tests. ICRA Working Group on Multilingual Speech Tests.

Objective: To provide guidelines for the development of two types of closed-set speech-perception tests that can be applied and interpreted in the same way across languages. The guidelines cover the digit triplet and the matrix sentence tests that are most commonly used to test speech recognition in noise. They were developed by a working group on Multilingual Speech Tests of the International Collegium of Rehabilitative Audiology (ICRA).

The role of response bias in perceptual learning.

Sensory judgments improve with practice. Such perceptual learning is often thought to reflect an increase in perceptual sensitivity. However, it may also represent a decrease in response bias, with unpracticed observers acting in part on a priori hunches rather than sensory evidence.

A synchrony-dependent influence of sounds on activity in visual cortex measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).

Evidence from human neuroimaging and animal electrophysiological studies suggests that signals from different sensory modalities interact early in cortical processing, including in primary sensory cortices. The present study aimed to test whether functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), an emerging, non-invasive neuroimaging technique, is capable of measuring such multisensory interactions. Specifically, we tested for a modulatory influence of sounds on activity in visual cortex, while varying the temporal synchrony between trains of transient auditory and visual events.

Cortical cross-modal plasticity following deafness measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy.

Evidence from functional neuroimaging studies suggests that the auditory cortex can become more responsive to visual and somatosensory stimulation following deafness, and that this occurs predominately in the right hemisphere. Extensive cross-modal plasticity in prospective cochlear implant recipients is correlated with poor speech outcomes following implantation, highlighting the potential impact of central auditory plasticity on subsequent aural rehabilitation. Conversely, the effects of hearing restoration with a cochlear implant on cortical plasticity are less well understood, since the use of most neuroimaging techniques in CI recipients is either unsafe or problematic due to the electromagnetic artefacts generated by CI stimulation.

Modulating central gain in tinnitus: changes in nitric oxide synthase in the ventral cochlear nucleus.

A significant challenge in tinnitus research lies in explaining how acoustic insult leads to tinnitus in some individuals, but not others. One possibility is genetic variability in the expression and function of neuromodulators - components of neural signaling that alter the balance of excitation and inhibition in neural circuits. An example is nitric oxide (NO) - a free radical and potent neuromodulator in the mammalian brain - that regulates plasticity via both pre-synaptic and postsynaptic mechanisms.

Source space estimation of oscillatory power and brain connectivity in tinnitus.

Tinnitus is the perception of an internally generated sound that is postulated to emerge as a result of structural and functional changes in the brain. However, the precise pathophysiology of tinnitus remains unknown. Llinas' thalamocortical dysrhythmia model suggests that neural deafferentation due to hearing loss causes a dysregulation of coherent activity between thalamus and auditory cortex.

The influence of cochlear spectral processing on the timing and amplitude of the speech-evoked auditory brain stem response.

The speech-evoked auditory brain stem response (speech ABR) is widely considered to provide an index of the quality of neural temporal encoding in the central auditory pathway. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the extent to which the speech ABR is shaped by spectral processing in the cochlea. High-pass noise masking was used to record speech ABRs from delimited octave-wide frequency bands between 0.

Estimation of cortical magnification from positional error in normally sighted and amblyopic subjects.

We describe a method for deriving the linear cortical magnification factor from positional error across the visual field. We compared magnification obtained from this method between normally sighted individuals and amblyopic individuals, who receive atypical visual input during development. The cortical magnification factor was derived for each subject from positional error at 32 locations in the visual field, using an established model of conformal mapping between retinal and cortical coordinates.

Hearing loss and cognition: the role of hearing AIDS, social isolation and depression.

Hearing loss is associated with poor cognitive performance and incident dementia and may contribute to cognitive decline. Treating hearing loss with hearing aids may ameliorate cognitive decline. The purpose of this study was to test whether use of hearing aids was associated with better cognitive performance, and if this relationship was mediated via social isolation and/or depression.

Development of auditory selective attention: why children struggle to hear in noisy environments.

Children's hearing deteriorates markedly in the presence of unpredictable noise. To explore why, 187 school-age children (4-11 years) and 15 adults performed a tone-in-noise detection task, in which the masking noise varied randomly between every presentation. Selective attention was evaluated by measuring the degree to which listeners were influenced by (i.

Age-group differences in speech identification despite matched audiometrically normal hearing: contributions from auditory temporal processing and cognition.

Hearing loss with increasing age adversely affects the ability to understand speech, an effect that results partly from reduced audibility. The aims of this study were to establish whether aging reduces speech intelligibility for listeners with normal audiograms, and, if so, to assess the relative contributions of auditory temporal and cognitive processing. Twenty-one older normal-hearing (ONH; 60-79 years) participants with bilateral audiometric thresholds ≤ 20 dB HL at 0.

The neural substrate for binaural masking level differences in the auditory cortex.

The binaural masking level difference (BMLD) is a phenomenon whereby a signal that is identical at each ear (S0), masked by a noise that is identical at each ear (N0), can be made 12-15 dB more detectable by inverting the waveform of either the tone or noise at one ear (Sπ, Nπ). Single-cell responses to BMLD stimuli were measured in the primary auditory cortex of urethane-anesthetized guinea pigs. Firing rate was measured as a function of signal level of a 500 Hz pure tone masked by low-passed white noise.

Association of dietary factors with presence and severity of tinnitus in a middle-aged UK population.

Objective: The impact of dietary factors on tinnitus has received limited research attention, despite being a considerable concern among people with tinnitus and clinicians. The objective was to examine the link between dietary factors and presence and severity of tinnitus.

Design: This study used the UK Biobank resource, a large cross-sectional study of adults aged 40-69.