The Active Middle Ear Implant Vibrant Soundbridge: Outcomes on Safety, Efficacy, Effectiveness, and Subjective Benefit 1996–2017
Stavros Hatzopoulos, Andrea Ciorba, Mark Krumm in Advances in Audiology and Hearing Science, 2020
The FMT is a tiny transducer that consists of five components. This simplicity makes it a reliable device that can be used to compensate optimally for a variety of different kinds of hearing loss. When the FMT is attached to a vibratory structure of the middle ear, it is able to vibrate the structure, thereby stimulating the auditory system. For example, the FMT can be attached to the incus, to the round window (Fig. 4.4) or the oval window. This versatility of the FMT allows for the successful treatment of various complicated middle ear conditions. All of these treatments have proven to be safe, effective and reliable. This single point attachment makes placement of the FMT independent of skull growth, and the device is, therefore, suitable for implantation in growing children.
Ernesto
Walter J. Hendelman, Peter Humphreys, Christopher R. Skinner in The Integrated Nervous System, 2017
Hearing loss: In considering a hearing loss, there are certain parameters that are specific for the auditory system. One of the most common occurrences is an accumulation of earwax in the external ear canal, more often affecting men; this was not the case with Ernesto. Hearing loss for the higher frequencies is quite common as people age, but this usually affects both ears (to some degree) and is most commonly found after the age of 60. Another common reason for hearing loss is exposure to excessively loud sound, leading to a destruction of the hair cells of the cochlea, usually affecting both ears; Ernesto is not involved in an industrial job or a hobby with chronic exposure to loud noise, although he has recently been listening to music through headphones at high volume. It is not clear whether his hearing problem started before or after this high volume sound exposure, but one would expect both ears to be affected if loud music was the cause.
Canine Audiology
Stavros Hatzopoulos, Andrea Ciorba, Mark Krumm in Advances in Audiology and Hearing Science, 2020
Finally, dogs that are placed in acoustically stressful environments (e.g., kennels) have been shown to have measurable changes in hearing over time (Scheifele et al., 2012). Preliminary evidence further suggests that temporary and permanent threshold shifts secondary to significant sources of noise exposure exist in military dogs (Scheifele, 2014; Sonstrom, 2015). Given the substantial amount of evidence regarding noise-induced hearing loss in many species, it is inevitable that there are comparable effects to the canine auditory system when working under similar situations. In the absence of hearing screening or monitoring programs and hearing protection devices, these effects can certainly impact a dog’s ability to hear. This negatively affects their ability to effectively respond to their handler’s commands, especially in challenging acoustic environments. There is abundant evidence indicating that all levels of hearing loss affect speech recognition in humans, especially in the presence of background noise (Flexer, 1999). The outcome of noise effects on the auditory system has resulted in an emphasis on hearing protection devices in different environments, when and where applicable. The goal is to reduce the risk of damage to the auditory system without reducing situational awareness, though this can be a challenging task. Furthermore, attention should be placed on the development of hearing screening and monitoring programs, especially for working canines.
Hearing health information in Malaysian public schools: a step towards addressing a public health concern
Published in International Journal of Audiology, 2021
Nur Amirah Zakaria, Nashrah Maamor, Nor Haniza Abdul Wahat
Hearing-related information was found in both elementary and secondary curriculums. Based on the contextual content of the sentences that contained the keywords, the information was divided into four main categories: a) Ear and Hearing, b) Sound, c) Hearing loss, and d) Noise. The category on Ear and hearing describes the anatomy of the normal ear and explains how the auditory system functions. The category on Sound describes the nature and the characteristics of sound waves. Hearing loss is any information related to the loss of hearing sensitivity, including its management, while the Noise category includes any information that refers to sounds as unwanted or dangerous. Information in each category was further organised into similar themes forming several subcategories to determine the educational content of each category. Contents that were not meant to teach about hearing health were removed from further analysis. After removal, 14 of the initial 148 textbooks analysed (9.5%) were found to have relevant hearing health information about sound and hearing, 4 in elementary and 10 in secondary textbooks. Four were elective subjects. Table 1 summarises the subcategories and distribution of hearing health information present across all levels according to the four main categories. Overall, there are four categories of hearing health information covering nine educational elements.
Assessment of auditory processing in children with non-syndromic cleft lip and/or palate
Published in Hearing, Balance and Communication, 2022
Melika Zarei, Zahra Hosseini Dastgerdi, Alireza Momeni, Nayyereh Sadat Nouri
The significantly higher dichotic digit score of the right ear in NSCLP children compared to control group was a noteworthy finding is this study. The right ear seems to be stronger in the NSCLP children than control group. Mechanism of transmitting auditory information in auditory dichotic system helps to understand REA. Auditory message is transmitted from each ear to the hemispheres via ipsilateral and contralateral pathways. The ipsilateral pathway of one ear and the contralateral of the opposite ear simultaneously overlap in the ascending pathways of the central auditory system. Ipsilateral signals are suppressed by contralateral one given the stronger contralateral pathway in transmission of auditory message. This central competition between ears triggers from the lower levels of auditory apparatus including the superior olivary complex [20]. Higher right ear scores in the NSCLP group might be caused by dysfunction of left ear neural pathways. Therefore, ipsilateral transmission from the right ear is less suppressed by contralateral of the left ear and might have larger contribution to auditory information transmission. So, it is possible that right ear is more involved in auditory information transmission, which lead to higher score in DD test. Higher right ear scores might also be due to plasticity of its neural pathways to compensate for poor function of the left ear central pathway.
The effect of an active transcutaneous bone conduction device on spatial release from masking
Published in International Journal of Audiology, 2020
Cristina Rigato, Sabine Reinfeldt, Filip Asp
The monaural contribution is mostly given by spectral cues originating from reflections at the pinna, head, and torso, and by the better ear effect, referring to the difference in signal to noise ratio (SNR) at both ears facilitated by the shadowing effect of the head. Given a frontal target and an asymmetrical distribution of the interferers on the azimuth plane, the SNR at one of the ears will be greater than the SNR at the other ear, allowing the listener to take advantage of the favourable side. The better ear effect can improve speech recognition in presence of spatially separated maskers of up to 10 dB (Bronkhorst and Plomp 1988; Freyman et al. 1999). The auditory system is also capable of rapidly identifying the side with the most favourable listening condition (higher SNR), and to switch between the two ears accordingly. This ability gives rise to a better ear glimpsing strategy (Brungart and Simpson 2002), able to maximise the speech recognition in asymmetric as well as symmetric target-maskers configuration (Lingner et al. 2016).