Meta-Analysis of Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emission Retest Variability for Serial Monitoring of Cochlear Function in Adults.

Objective: Distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) have long been heralded as a means to objectively monitor cochlear function and increasingly are becoming a key component in hearing surveillance programs for individuals at risk for ototoxic- and occupational noise-related hearing loss. Yet clinicians are unsure how to define clinically meaningful shifts in DPOAE level. In this study, a meta-analysis approach is used to synthesize the DPOAE level test-retest literature to construct a set of DPOAE level shift reference limits that can be used clinically to define a statistically significant emission change.

Effects of ear-canal static pressure on pure-tone thresholds and wideband acoustic immittance.

Background: Wideband acoustic immittance (WAI) measures provide information about middle-ear function across the traditional audiometric frequency range from 0.25 to 8.0 kHz.

Sound therapy for tinnitus management: practicable options.

Background: The authors reviewed practicable options of sound therapy for tinnitus, the evidence base for each option, and the implications of each option for the patient and for clinical practice.

Purpose: To provide a general guide to selecting sound therapy options in clinical practice.

Intervention: Practicable sound therapy options.

Cognitive-behavioral treatments for tinnitus: a review of the literature.

Background: Tinnitus can be defined as the perception of an auditory sensation, perceivable without the presence of an external sound.

Purpose: The aim of this article is to systematically review the peer-reviewed literature on treatment approaches for tinnitus based on cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and to provide a historical overview of developments within these approaches.

Research Design: Experimental studies, (randomized) trials, follow-up assessments, and reviews assessing educational, counseling, psychological, and CBT treatment approaches were identified as a result of an electronic database metasearch.

Underlying mechanisms of tinnitus: review and clinical implications.

Background: The study of tinnitus mechanisms has increased tenfold in the last decade. The common denominator for all of these studies is the goal of elucidating the underlying neural mechanisms of tinnitus with the ultimate purpose of finding a cure. While these basic science findings may not be immediately applicable to the clinician who works directly with patients to assist them in managing their reactions to tinnitus, a clear understanding of these findings is needed to develop the most effective procedures for alleviating tinnitus.

Development and evaluation of a questionnaire to assess knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors towards hearing loss prevention.

Objective: To develop and evaluate a questionnaire assessing knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors (KAB) as they pertain to hearing conservation, using the constructs of the health belief model (HBM).

Design: The KAB was completed by 235 participants. Relationships between knowledge and attitudes about hearing and hearing conservation, participation in noisy activities, and use of hearing protection were examined.

Sample size requirements for establishing clinical test-retest standards.

Objective: To define sample size requirements for establishing clinical serial monitoring protocols.

Design: The 95% confidence bound of a critical difference score is defined and used to identify false-negative regions suitable for sample size calculation.

Results: Reference subject sample sizes vary from about 40 to 480 subjects, depending on the minimum acceptable error rates of the clinical protocol.

OtoID: new extended frequency, portable audiometer for ototoxicity monitoring.

Portability of equipment is an increasingly important component in the practice of audiology. We report on a new device, the OtoID, that supports evidence-based ototoxicity testing protocols, provides capability for hearing testing on the hospital treatment unit, and can automate patient self-testing. The purpose of this article is to report on the validation and verification of the OtoID portable audiometer in 40 subjects both young and old, with and without hearing impairment.

Vowel identification by amplitude and phase contrast.

Vowel identification is largely dependent on listeners' access to the frequency of two or three peaks in the amplitude spectrum. Earlier work has demonstrated that, whereas normal-hearing listeners can identify harmonic complexes with vowel-like spectral shapes even with very little amplitude contrast between "formant" components and remaining harmonic components, listeners with hearing loss require greater amplitude differences. This is likely the result of the poor frequency resolution that often accompanies hearing loss.

Multivariate DPOAE metrics for identifying changes in hearing: perspectives from ototoxicity monitoring.

Distortion-product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) provide a window into real-time cochlear mechanical function. Yet, relationships between the changes in DPOAE metrics and auditory sensitivity are still poorly understood. Explicating these relationships might support the use of DPOAEs in hearing conservation programs (HCPs) for detecting early damage leading to noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) so that mitigating steps might be taken to limit any lasting damage.

Audiometric hearing status of individuals with and without multiple sclerosis.

The purpose of the present investigation was to determine whether differences exist in audiometric hearing status between individuals with and without multiple sclerosis (MS) and between individuals with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) and individuals with secondary progressive MS (SPMS). Forty-seven subjects with MS (26 with RRMS and 21 with SPMS) and forty-nine control subjects without MS completed both a comprehensive case-history questionnaire and a conventional hearing evaluation. Statistical analyses, accounting for the potential confounding factors of age, sex, noise exposure, and use of ototoxic medications, revealed significant differences in hearing thresholds between subjects with and without MS at select audiometric test frequencies (p < 0.

On the synthesis of multiple frequency tone burst stimuli for efficient high frequency auditory brainstem response.

The development and digital waveform synthesis of a multiple-frequency tone-burst (MFTB) stimulus is presented. The stimulus is designed to improve the efficiency of monitoring high-frequency auditory-brainstem-response (ABR) hearing thresholds. The pure-tone-based, fractional-octave-bandwidth MFTB supports frequency selective ABR audiometry with a bandwidth that falls between the conventional click and single-frequency tone-burst stimuli.