Electronic Health Records As a Platform for Audiological Research: Data Validity, Patient Characteristics, and Hearing-Aid Use Persistence Among 731,213 U.S. Veterans
Conclusions: We have shown that utilizing EHRs in audiology has the potential to provide novel insights into clinical practice patterns, audiologic outcomes, and relations between factors pertaining to hearing and to other health conditions in clinical populations, despite the potential pitfalls regarding the lack of control over the variables available and limitations on how the data are entered. We thus conclude that research using EHRs has the potential to be an integral supplement to population-based and epidemiologic research in the field of audiology. (Source: Ear and Hearing)
Source: Ear and Hearing - July 1, 2021 Category: Audiology Tags: Research Article Source Type: research

Internal Consistency and Convergent Validity of the Inventory of Hyperacusis Symptoms
Conclusions: The IHS has good internal consistency and reasonably high convergent validity, as indicated by the relationship of IHS scores to HQ scores and ULLs, but IHS scores may also partly reflect the co-occurrence of tinnitus, anxiety, and depression. We propose an IHS cutoff score of 56 instead of 69 for diagnosing hyperacusis. (Source: Ear and Hearing)
Source: Ear and Hearing - July 1, 2021 Category: Audiology Tags: Research Article Source Type: research

Cost-Effectiveness of Neonatal Hearing Screening Programs: A Micro-Simulation Modeling Analysis
Conclusions: Only the 2-stage OAE-aABR (maternity ward) protocol was below the willingness-to-pay threshold of €10,413 for Albania, as suggested by the World Health Organization, and was found to be cost-effective. This study is among the few to assess neonatal hearing screening programs over a life-time horizon and the first to predict the cost-effectiveness of multiple screening scenarios. (Source: Ear and Hearing)
Source: Ear and Hearing - July 1, 2021 Category: Audiology Tags: Research Article Source Type: research

Validity and reliability of the Cochlear Implant Quality of Life (CIQOL)-35 Profile and CIQOL-10 Global instruments in comparison to legacy instruments
Conclusion: The CIQOL-35 Profile and CIQOL-10 Global are more psychometrically sound and comprehensive than the NCIQ and the HUI-3 for assessing QOL in adult CI users. Due to poor reliability, we do not recommend using the HUI-3 to measure QOL in this population. With validation and psychometric analyses complete, the CIQOL-35 Profile measure and CIQOL-10 Global instrument are now ready for use in clinical and research settings to measure QOL and real-world functional abilities of adult CI users. (Source: Ear and Hearing)
Source: Ear and Hearing - July 1, 2021 Category: Audiology Tags: Research Article Source Type: research

Tinnitus and 3-Year Change in Audiometric Hearing Thresholds
Conclusion: Persistent tinnitus was associated with substantially higher risk of 3-year hearing threshold elevation, even among women with clinically normal baseline hearing. The magnitudes of the associations were greater among those with bothersome tinnitus. Monitoring hearing sensitivities may be indicated in patients with tinnitus, including those without audiometric evidence of hearing impairment. (Source: Ear and Hearing)
Source: Ear and Hearing - July 1, 2021 Category: Audiology Tags: Research Article Source Type: research

Noise Outcomes in Servicemembers Epidemiology (NOISE) Study: Design, Methods, and Baseline Results
Conclusions: The NOISE study is acquiring comprehensive data on military-related auditory dysfunction. It is the first of its kind to enroll active Service members and recently separated Veterans into a longitudinal study to examine the etiology and outcomes of tinnitus and hearing loss in this population. Although these data do not necessarily represent the entire military and Veteran populations, ongoing enrollment is focused on increasing generalizability and will also provide the statistical power to conduct multivariable analyses. This will allow us to examine longitudinal associations of interest while controllin...
Source: Ear and Hearing - July 1, 2021 Category: Audiology Tags: Research Article Source Type: research

Sexual Dimorphism in the Functional Development of the Cochlear Amplifier in Humans
Conclusions: The cochlear-amplifier function remains robust in female children but diminishes in male children between 4 and 12 years of age. We carefully eliminated lifestyle, middle ear, and efferent factors to conclude that the androgen surge associated with puberty likely caused the observed masculinization of stimulus-frequency otoacoustic emissions in male children. These findings have significant theoretical consequences. The cochlea is considered mature at birth; however, the present findings highlight that functional cochlear maturation, as revealed by otoacoustic emissions, can be postnatally influenced by en...
Source: Ear and Hearing - July 1, 2021 Category: Audiology Tags: Research Article Source Type: research

How Do We Allocate Our Resources When Listening and Memorizing Speech in Noise? A Pupillometry Study
Conclusion: Our results showed that recording pupil dilation in a speech identification and recall task provides valuable insights beyond behavioral performance. It is a suitable tool to disentangle the allocation of effort to listening versus memorizing speech. (Source: Ear and Hearing)
Source: Ear and Hearing - July 1, 2021 Category: Audiology Tags: Research Article Source Type: research

Weakened Cochlear Nonlinearity During Human Aging and Perceptual Correlates
Conclusions: Results indicate that the aging cochlea begins to show weakened nonlinearity in middle age and it progressively weakens further into senescence. The perceptual impact of weakened nonlinearity during aging is manifested as abnormal loudness judgments; that is, in older-adult ears, a tone considered comfortable or medium in young-adult ears can be considered loud. The biophysical origin of this weakened nonlinearity is not known. It is hypothesized to reflect aging-related damage to, or loss of, outer hair cells and their stereocilia. More work is warranted to better define the perceptual impact of a lineari...
Source: Ear and Hearing - July 1, 2021 Category: Audiology Tags: Research Article Source Type: research

Self-report Measures of Hearing and Vision in Older Adults Participating in the Canadian Longitudinal Study of Aging are Explained by Behavioral Sensory Measures, Demographic, and Social Factors
Conclusions: The low prevalence of self-reported sensory difficulties relative to the behavioral measures of sensory impairments indicates that (a) a simple screening question about sensory ability may not be sufficient to identify older adults who are in the early stages of sensory decline, and (b) self-reported sensory ability is associated with sensory and nonsensory factors. Age, gender, and comorbidities are the most notable nonsensory predictors for both self-reported hearing and vision. These findings shed light on how the self-reported sensory difficulties of older adults may reflect clinical measures of sensor...
Source: Ear and Hearing - July 1, 2021 Category: Audiology Tags: Research Article Source Type: research

The Relations Between Auditory Processing Scores and Cognitive, Listening and Reading Abilities
Conclusions: It should not be assumed that auditory processing tests and cognitive tests measure separate abilities. When investigating the association between auditory processing abilities and real-world abilities, it is important to adjust for cognitive abilities. Children with listening difficulties should undergo cognitive assessments in addition to auditory processing assessments. (Source: Ear and Hearing)
Source: Ear and Hearing - July 1, 2021 Category: Audiology Tags: Research Article Source Type: research

Uptake of Hearing Aids and Hearing Assistive Technology in a Working Population: Longitudinal Analyses of The Netherlands Longitudinal Study on Hearing
Conclusion: This study confirms that factors predicting the uptake of HAs/HAT in the general or older populations, including marital status and self-reported hearing disability, also extend to the working population. The identification of job demand as a predictor of the uptake of HAs/HAT (in males only) was a novel finding. It demonstrates the importance of considering work-related factors in aural rehabilitation. (Source: Ear and Hearing)
Source: Ear and Hearing - July 1, 2021 Category: Audiology Tags: Research Article Source Type: research

Idiopathic Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss: Speech Intelligibility Deficits Following Threshold Recovery
Conclusions: SSNHL is associated with (1) changes in thresholds that are consistent with ischemia and (2) speech intelligibility deficits that cannot be entirely explained by a change in hearing sensitivity. (Source: Ear and Hearing)
Source: Ear and Hearing - July 1, 2021 Category: Audiology Tags: Research Article Source Type: research

Communicating During COVID-19: The Effect of Transparent Masks for Speech Recognition in Noise
Conclusions: Use of transparent masks can significantly facilitate speech recognition in noise even for persons with normal hearing and thus may reduce stressful communication challenges experienced in medical, employment, and educational settings during the global pandemic. To mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and facilitate communication, safety-approved transparent masks are strongly encouraged over opaque masks. (Source: Ear and Hearing)
Source: Ear and Hearing - July 1, 2021 Category: Audiology Tags: Research Article Source Type: research

Factors Associated With Self-Perceived Hearing Handicap in Adults From Hispanic/Latino Background: Findings From the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos
Objectives: We sought to determine what factors, including acculturation (language and social contact preferences), were associated with self-perceived hearing handicap among adults from Hispanic/Latino background. We utilized the Aday-Andersen behavioral model of health services utilization to frame our hypotheses that predisposing characteristics (age, sex, education, city of residence, Hispanic/Latino background, and acculturation), enabling resources (annual income and current health insurance coverage), and need (measured hearing loss and self-reported hearing loss) would be related to clinically-significant self-...
Source: Ear and Hearing - July 1, 2021 Category: Audiology Tags: Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) Article Source Type: research