JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology RSS feedThis is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader or to display this data on your own website or blog.

Examining the Factors that Contribute to Non-Monotonic Growth of the $$2f_1 - f_2$$ 2 f 1 - f 2  Otoacoustic Emission in Humans
AbstractCubic distortion product otoacoustic emission input –output functions in humans show a complex pattern of growth. To further investigate the growth of the\(2f_1-f_2\) otoacoustic emission, magnitude and phase input –output functions were obtained from human subjects using a range of stimulus levels, frequencies, and frequency ratios. Three factors related to cochlear nonlinearity may produce non-monotonic input–output functions: a two-component interaction, an operating point shift, and two-tone suppressio n. To complement data interpretation, a local model of distortion product otoacoustic emission generatio...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - May 11, 2021 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

Reweighting of Binaural Localization Cues Induced by Lateralization Training
This study investigated whether binaural-cue reweighting can be induced by lateralization training in a virtual audio-visual environment. Twenty normal-hearing participants, divided into two groups, completed the experiment consisting of 7 days of lateralization training, preceded and followed by a test measuring the binaural-cue weights. Participants ’ task was to lateralize 500-ms bandpass-filtered (2–4 kHz) noise bursts containing various combinations of spatially consistent and inconsistent binaural cues. During training, additional visual cues reinforced the azimuth corresponding to ITDs in one group and ILDs in ...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - May 6, 2021 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

Development of Auditory Cortex Circuits
AbstractThe ability to process and perceive sensory stimuli is an essential function for animals. Among the sensory modalities, audition is crucial for communication, pleasure, care for the young, and perceiving threats. The auditory cortex (ACtx) is a key sound processing region that combines ascending signals from the auditory periphery and inputs from other sensory and non-sensory regions. The development of ACtx is a protracted process starting prenatally and requires the complex interplay of molecular programs, spontaneous activity, and sensory experience. Here, we review the development of thalamic and cortical audit...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - April 28, 2021 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

How Zebrafish Can Drive the Future of Genetic-based Hearing and Balance Research
AbstractOver the last several decades, studies in humans and animal models have successfully identified numerous molecules required for hearing and balance. Many of these studies relied on unbiased forward genetic screens based on behavior or morphology to identify these molecules. Alongside forward genetic screens, reverse genetics has further driven the exploration of candidate molecules. This review provides an overview of the genetic studies that have established zebrafish as a genetic model for hearing and balance research. Further, we discuss how the unique advantages of zebrafish can be leveraged in future genetic s...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - April 28, 2021 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

The Panoramic ECAP Method: Estimating Patient-Specific Patterns of Current Spread and Neural Health in Cochlear Implant Users
AbstractThe knowledge of patient-specific neural excitation patterns from cochlear implants (CIs) can provide important information for optimizing efficacy and improving speech perception outcomes. The Panoramic ECAP ( ‘PECAP’) method (Cosentino et al.2015) uses forward-masked electrically evoked compound action-potentials (ECAPs) to estimate neural activation patterns of CI stimulation. The algorithm requires ECAPs be measured for all combinations of probe and masker electrodes, exploiting the fact that ECAP amplitudes reflect the overlapping excitatory areas of both probesand maskers. Here we present an improved vers...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - April 23, 2021 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

Rate and Temporal Coding of Regular and Irregular Pulse Trains in Auditory Midbrain of Normal-Hearing and Cochlear-Implanted Rabbits
AbstractAlthough pitch is closely related to temporal periodicity, stimuli with a degree of temporal irregularity can evoke a pitch sensation in human listeners. However, the neural mechanisms underlying pitch perception for irregular sounds are poorly understood. Here, we recorded responses of single units in the inferior colliculus (IC) of normal hearing (NH) rabbits to acoustic pulse trains with different amounts of random jitter in the inter-pulse intervals and compared with responses to electric pulse trains delivered through a cochlear implant (CI) in a different group of rabbits. In both NH and CI animals, many IC n...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - April 23, 2021 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

An Alternative Explanation for Difficulties with Speech in Background Talkers: Abnormal Fusion of Vowels Across Fundamental Frequency and Ears
In this study, using dichotic speech stimuli, we examined the relationship between speech fusion and vowel identification. Dichotic vowel perception was measured in NH and HI listeners, with across-ear fundamental frequency differences varied. Synthetic vowels /i/, /u/, /a/, and /ae/ were generated with three fundamental frequencies (F0) of 106.9, 151.2, and 201.8  Hz and presented dichotically through headphones. For HI listeners, stimuli were shaped according to NAL-NL2 prescriptive targets. Although the dichotic vowels presented were always different across ears, listeners were not informed that there were no single vo...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - April 20, 2021 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

Phosphorylation of MYL12 by Myosin Light Chain Kinase Regulates Cellular Shape Changes in Cochlear Hair Cells
In conclusion, MYL12 phosphorylation by smMLCK contributed to the apical constriction-like cellular shape change of HCs possibly relating to the development of auditory epithelia and hearing function. (Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology)
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - April 20, 2021 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

Super-enhancer Acquisition Drives FOXC2 Expression in Middle Ear Cholesteatoma
In this study, we examined the localization of variously modified histone H3 acetylation at lysine 9, 14, 18, 23, and 27 in paraffin-embedded sections of human middle ear cholesteatoma (cholesteatoma) tissues and the temporal bones of an animal model of cholesteatoma immunohistochemically. As a result, we found that there was a significant increase of the expression levels of H3K27ac both in human cholesteatoma tissues and the animal model. In genetics, super-enhancers are clusters of enhancers that drive the transcription of genes involved in cell identity. Super-enhancers were originally defined using the H3K27ac signal,...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - April 16, 2021 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

Auditory Brainstem Models: Adapting Cochlear Nuclei Improve Spatial Encoding by the Medial Superior Olive in Reverberation
AbstractListeners typically perceive a sound as originating from the direction of its source, even as direct sound is followed milliseconds later by reflected sound from multiple different directions. Early-arriving sound is emphasised in the ascending auditory pathway, including the medial superior olive (MSO) where binaural neurons encode the interaural-time-difference (ITD) cue for spatial location. Perceptually, weighting of ITD conveyed during rising sound energy is stronger at 600 Hz than at 200 Hz, consistent with the minimum stimulus rate for binaural adaptation, and with the longer reverberation times at 600 Hz, c...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - April 16, 2021 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

A Bridge over Troubled Listening: Improving Speech-in-Noise Perception by Children with Dyslexia
AbstractDevelopmental dyslexia is most commonly associated with phonological processing difficulties. However, children with dyslexia may experience poor speech-in-noise perception as well. Although there is an ongoing debate whether a speech perception deficit is inherent to dyslexia or acts as an aggravating risk factor compromising learning to read indirectly, improving speech perception might boost reading-related skills and reading acquisition. In the current study, we evaluated advanced speech technology as applied in auditory prostheses, to promote and eventually normalize speech perception of school-aged children w...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - April 16, 2021 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

Speech Perception with Noise Vocoding and Background Noise: An EEG and Behavioral Study
This study explored the physiological response of the human brain to degraded speech syllables. The degradation was introduced using noise vocoding and/or background noise. The goal was to identify physiological features of auditory-evoked potentials (AEPs) that may explain speech intelligibility. Ten human subjects with normal hearing participated in syllable-detection tasks, while their AEPs were recorded with 32-channel electroencephalography. Subjects were presented with six syllables in the form of consonant-vowel-consonant or vowel-consonant-vowel. Noise vocoding with 22 or 4 frequency channels was applied to the syl...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - April 13, 2021 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

Examining the Factors that Contribute to Non-Monotonic Growth of the $$2f_1 - f_2$$ 2 f 1 - f 2  Otoacoustic Emission in Humans
AbstractCubic distortion product otoacoustic emission input –output functions in humans show a complex pattern of growth. To further investigate the growth of the\(2f_1-f_2\) otoacoustic emission, magnitude and phase input –output functions were obtained from human subjects using a range of stimulus levels, frequencies, and frequency ratios. Three factors related to cochlear nonlinearity may produce non-monotonic input–output functions: a two-component interaction, an operating point shift, and two-tone suppressio n. To complement data interpretation, a local model of distortion product otoacoustic emission generatio...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - April 12, 2021 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

Forward and Reverse Middle Ear Transmission in Gerbil with a Normal or Spontaneously Healed Tympanic Membrane
AbstractTympanic membranes (TM) that have healed spontaneously after perforation present abnormalities in their structural and mechanical properties; i.e., they are thickened and abnormally dense. These changes result in a deterioration of middle ear (ME) sound transmission, which is clinically presented as a conductive hearing loss (CHL). To fully understand the ME sound transmission under TM pathological conditions, we created a gerbil model with a controlled 50% pars tensa perforation, which was left to heal spontaneously for up to 4  weeks (TM perforations had fully sealed after 2 weeks). After the recovery period, t...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - February 16, 2021 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

Transient Delivery of a  KCNQ2/3-Specific Channel Activator 1 Week After Noise Trauma Mitigates Noise-Induced Tinnitus
AbstractExposure to loud noise can cause hearing loss and tinnitus in mice and humans. In mice, one major underlying mechanism of noise-induced tinnitus is hyperactivity of auditory brainstem neurons, due at least in part, to decreased Kv7.2/3 (KCNQ2/3) potassium channel activity. In our previous studies, we used a reflex-based mouse model of tinnitus and showed that administration of a non-specific KCNQ channel activator, immediately after noise trauma, prevented the development of noise-induced tinnitus, assessed 1  week after trauma. Subsequently, we developed RL-81, a very potent and highly specific activator of KCNQ2...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - February 11, 2021 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research