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Objective: There are limited population-based studies of central auditory processing (CAP). We aimed to determine the relationship between CAP measures and perceived hearing difficulty (PHD) despite normal pure-tone audiometry in an African-American population., Study Design: Cross-sectional., Setting: Jackson Heart Study (JHS), Jackson, MS., Subjects: Participants of an African-American cohort (26% men; age 54.2, standard deviations [SD] 9.2) who self-reported hearing difficulty despite normal hearing sensitivity defined as audiometric pure-tone average (PTA-4: average of 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz) less than or equal to 25 dBHL (n = 911) or across all tested frequencies (PT-AF: 250-8000 Hz) less than or equal to 25 dBHL (n = 516)., Methods: The Quick Speech-in-Noise (QuickSIN) and Dichotic Digits, Double Pairs (DDT2) tests were used to assess CAP. Logistic regression was used to examine the association between measures of CAP and PHD; adjusted for age, sex, education, and pure tone audiogram., Results: PHD was present in 251 (28%) and 137 (27%) of participants using the PTA-4 and PT-AF models, respectively. Fully adjusted regression models revealed that each one-point increase in QuickSIN increased the odds of reporting PHD by 13.7% (odds ratio [OR] 1.14, p < 0.01, 95% CI: 1.08, 1.19) using the PTA-4 model and 15.0% (OR 1.15, p < 0.01, 95% CI: 1.08, 1.23) using the PT-AF model. For DDT2 testing, each 1% reduction in score, increased the odds of reporting PHD by 7.7% (OR 0.92, p < 0.01, 95% CI: 0.88, 0.97) in a fully adjusted PTA-4 model and 6.6% (OR 0.93, p = 0.04, 95% CI: 0.87, 0.99) in the PT-AF model., Conclusion: CAP deficits were associated with increased odds of PHD in normal hearing participants within the JHS cohort., Competing Interests: The authors disclose no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022, Otology & Neurotology, Inc.)

Objectives: To evaluate the relationships among the overall cardiovascular health scoring tool, Life's Simple 7 (LS7), and hearing in an African-American cardiovascular study cohort., Methods: Using the Jackson Heart Study's cohort of African Americans, the relationships between the LS7 scoring metric and hearing of 1314 individuals were assessed. Standard audiometric data was collected and hearing loss was defined as a four-frequency average of 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz greater than 25 dBHL (PTA4). Measures of reported tinnitus and dizziness were also collected. The LS7 scoring tool, which consists of seven individual categories (abstinence from smoking, body mass index, physical activity, healthy diet, total cholesterol <200 mg/dL, normotension, and absence of diabetes mellitus), was used as measure of overall cardiovascular health. Each category of the LS7 was broken down into poor, intermediate, and ideal subgroups as in accordance with the American Heart Association Strategic Planning Task Force and Statistics Committee. Unadjusted and adjusted gamma regression and logistic regression models were constructed for determining relationships between LS7 and hearing loss., Results: Higher total LS7 scores (per 1-unit increase) were associated with lower PTA4 in gamma regression analyses (RR = 0.942, 95% CI, 0.926-0.958, P < .001). This held true even after adjustments for age, sex, education, and history of noise exposure. Using logistic regression analyses to compare LS7 scores to presence of hearing loss, tinnitus, and vertigo; only hearing loss showed a statically significant relationship after adjustments for age, sex, education, and history of noise exposure., Conclusions: This study shows a significant, graded association between higher life's simple seven scores and lower incidence of hearing loss., Level of Evidence: 2b. Laryngoscope, 2019., (© 2019 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.)

Previous research has shown that genes play a substantial role in determining a person's susceptibility to age-related hearing impairment. The existing studies on this subject have different results, which may be caused by difficulties in determining the phenotype or the limited number of participants involved. Here, we have gathered the largest sample to date (discovery n = 9,675; replication n = 10,963; validation n = 356,141), and examined phenotypes that represented low/mid and high frequency hearing loss on the pure tone audiogram. We identified 7 loci that were either replicated and/or validated, of which 5 loci are novel in hearing. Especially the ILDR1 gene is a high profile candidate, as it contains our top SNP, is a known hearing loss gene, has been linked to age-related hearing impairment before, and in addition is preferentially expressed within hair cells of the inner ear. By verifying all previously published SNPs, we can present a paper that combines all new and existing findings to date, giving a complete overview of the genetic architecture of age-related hearing impairment. This is of importance as age-related hearing impairment is highly prevalent in our ageing society and represents a large socio-economic burden.