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Objective: To investigate whether the association between hearing difficulties and self-reported memory problems is mediated by physical health and psychosocial wellbeing., Design: A cross-sectional study. Path analyses were used to test potential theoretical models (psychosocial-cascade, common cause) of the association between hearing difficulties and memory problems, adjusting for age., Study Sample: A sample of 479 adults (18-87 years) completed self-reported outcome measures., Results: Half the participants reported clinically significant hearing difficulties and 30% self-reported memory problems. In the direct model, reporting hearing difficulties was associated with a greater likelihood of reporting memory problems (β = 0.17, p  = 0.007, 95% Confidence Intervals [CI] = 0.00, 0.01). Hearing difficulties were also associated with poorer physical health, but this did not mediate the association with memory. Psychosocial factors, however, fully mediated the relationship between hearing difficulties and memory problems (β = 0.03, p  = 0.019, 95% CI = 0.00, 0.01)., Conclusions: Adults with hearing difficulties may be more likely to self-report memory problems, irrespective of age. This study supports the psychosocial-cascade model, as the association between self-reported hearing and memory problems was explained entirely by psychosocial factors. Future studies should investigate these associations using behavioural measures, as well as explore whether interventions can reduce the risk of developing memory problems in this population.

Objective: Misophonia is a psychiatric condition characterized by strong emotional and/or behavioral responses to auditory stimuli, leading to distress and functional impairment. Despite previous attempts to define and categorize this condition, misophonia is not currently included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or International Classification of Diseases. The lack of formal diagnostic consensus presents challenges for research aimed at assessing and treating this clinical presentation., Methods: The current study presents clinical characteristics of youth (N = 47) with misophonia in the largest treatment-seeking sample to date. We examined demographic characteristics of the sample, frequency of comorbid disorders, frequency of specific misophonia symptoms (i.e., triggers, emotional and behavioral responses, and impairments), and caregiver-child symptom agreement. Misophonia symptoms were evaluated using a multimodal assessment including clinician, youth, and caregiver reports on empirically established misophonia measures, and concordance among measures was assessed., Results: Youth seeking treatment for misophonia presented with marked misophonia symptoms and an array of comorbid conditions. Youth and caregivers identified various triggers of misophonia symptoms (e.g., chewing sounds, breathing sounds), as well as a wide range of emotional (e.g., anger, annoyance, disgust) and behavioral (e.g., aggression, avoidance) responses to triggers. Youth and caregivers exhibited high agreement on misophonia triggers but lower agreement on symptom severity and associated impairment. Compared to younger children (aged 8-13), older children (aged 14+) appeared to report symptom severity and associated impairment more reliably., Conclusion: Misophonia is a heterogenous and impairing clinical condition that warrants future investigation and evidence-based treatment development., (© 2024 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Purpose: To examine whether changes in vision and hearing problems are associated with changes in psychosocial outcomes (in terms of depressive symptoms, loneliness, and perceived social isolation)., Methods: We used longitudinal data from the nationally representative German Ageing Survey, which covers individuals aged 43 years and over (wave 6 and wave 7, with 7108 observations and mean age of 67.5 years, SD 10.2 years). The 6-item De Jong Gierveld tool was used to quantify loneliness, the Bude and Lantermann tool was used to quantify perceived social isolation, and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (15-item version) was used to quantify depressive symptoms. Self-rated problems reading the newspaper due to vision problems and self-rated difficulties recognizing known people on the street due to vision problems were used to quantify vision problems. In addition, self-rated hearing problems on the telephone and self-rated hearing problems in groups of more than four people were used to quantify hearing problems., Results: Adjusting for various confounders, longitudinal regressions showed that the onset of major vision problems referring to difficulties recognizing people one knows on the street was associated with increases in loneliness (β = 0.17, p < .01) and depressive symptoms (β = 1.90, p < 0.05). Moreover, the onset of some vision problems referring to difficulties reading the newspaper was associated with increases in perceived social isolation (β = 0.06, p < 0.01). Additionally, the onset of some hearing problems in groups of more than four people was associated with increases in depressive symptoms (β = 0.43, p < 0.05)., Conclusion: Our longitudinal study showed that vision and hearing problems can contribute differently to psychosocial factors. Delaying sensory impairment may result in favorable psychosocial factors in later life., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Sensory impairment in older adults is associated with cognitive decline, elevated depressive symptoms, and low levels of life satisfaction. However, these relationships are usually investigated separately and in pairs. This study examined these relationships comprehensively, for the first time., Methods: The analysis included 5,658 community-dwelling older adults from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (aged 50 to 108 years, 52.1% male) who completed the Jorm Informant Questionnaire Cognitive Decline in the Elderly and the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression-short form. A questionnaire was used to collect information on hearing, visual status, and life satisfaction. Structural equation modelling was used to examine the direct and indirect relationships between these variables., Results: Self-reported hearing and vision problems are directly associated with cognitive decline and elevated depressive symptoms. In addition, hearing and vision problems are indirectly related to cognitive decline through elevated depressive symptoms. Although hearing and vision problems had no direct effect on life satisfaction, they were indirectly associated with life satisfaction through cognitive decline and depressive symptoms., Conclusions: This study provides the first epidemiological evidence of the comprehensive relationships between hearing and vision problems, cognitive decline, depressive symptoms, and life satisfaction. When older adults report hearing and/or vision problems, clinicians and caregivers should be aware of the concurrence of declined cognition, elevated depressive symptoms, and compensated life satisfaction. Future studies should examine the causal relationships and potential mechanisms of these relationships., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background and Objectives: Misophonia is a recently identified condition characterized by negative emotional responsivity to certain types of sounds. Although progress has been made in understanding of neuronal, psychophysiological, and psychopathological mechanisms, important gaps in research remain, particularly insight into cognitive function. Accordingly, we conducted the first neuropsychological examination of misophonia, including clinical, diagnostic, and functional correlates., Methods: A misophonia group (n = 32) and a control group (n = 64) were screened for comorbidities using a formal semi-structured interview and completed a comprehensive neuropsychological battery and self-report measures of depression, anxiety, stress, impulsivity, and functional impairment., Results: The misophonia group significantly underperformed the control group on only 2 neuropsychological outcomes involving verbal memory retrieval. Subscales of the Misophonia Questionaaire (MQ) were inversely correlated only with measures of attention. The misophonia group reported significantly higher anxiety symptoms, behavioral impulsivity, and functional impairments, and had numerically higher rates of ADHD and OCD., Limitations: To facilitate comparability, in lieu of a formal diagnostic algorithm for misophonia, we used a commonly used empirical definition for group allocation that has been utilized in numerous previous studies., Conclusions: Misophonia was associated with a reduction in performance on a minority of cognitive tasks and a modest increase in some psychological symptoms and comorbid conditions. Correlational data suggest that difficulties with attention regulation and impulsivity may play a role in misophonia, albeit attention functions were intact. Results should be interpreted with caution given the variability in diagnostic definitions, and more research is needed to understand cognitive functioning under 'cold' conditions in misophonia., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors report no conflict of interest pertaining to the present study., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Misophonia is a recently identified condition in which a person perceives a subtle stimulus (e.g., eating sounds, hair twirling) and has an intense, negative emotional response. Misophonia cannot be classified with established nosological systems. Methods: We present a novel five-phase model of misophonia from a cognitive-behavioral framework. This model identifies a learned reflex of the autonomic nervous system as the primary etiology and maintenance of misophonia. Phase one is anticipatory anxiety and avoidance. Phase two is a conditioned physical reflex (for example, the tensing of calf muscles) that develops through stimulus-response Pavlovian conditioning. Phase three includes intense negative emotional responses and accompanying physiological distress, thoughts, urges, and emotion-driven behavior. Phase four is the individual's coping responses to emotional distress, and phase five is the environmental response and resulting internal and external consequences of the coping behaviors. Each phase helps explain the maintenance of the response and the individual's impairment. Results: Anticipatory anxiety and avoidance of phase one contributes to an increased arousal and awareness of triggers, resulting in increased severity of the trigger experience. Both the Pavlovian-conditioned physical reflex of phase two and the emotion-driven behavior caused by the conditioned emotional response of phase three increase with in vivo exposure to triggers. Phase four includes internal and external coping behaviors to the intense emotions and distress, and phase five includes the consequences of those behaviors. Internal consequences include beliefs fiveand new emotions based on environmental responses to anger and panic. For example, the development of emotions such as shame and guilt, and beliefs regarding how 'intolerable' the trigger is. Conclusions: We assert misophonia is a multi-sensory condition and includes anticipatory anxiety, conditioned physical reflexes, intense emotional and physical distress, subsequent internal and external responses, and environmental consequences., Competing Interests: No competing interests were disclosed., (Copyright: © 2023 Dozier T and Mitchell N.)

Background: Misophonia is characterized by intense emotional reactions to specific sounds or visual stimuli and typically onsets during childhood. An obstacle for research and clinical practice is that no comprehensively evaluated measures for pediatric misophonia exist., Methods: In a sample of 102 youth meeting the proposed diagnostic criteria of misophonia, we evaluated the child and parent-proxy versions of the self-reported Misophonia Assessment Questionnaire (MAQ; assessing broad aspects of misophonia) and the child version of the Amsterdam Misophonia Scale (A-MISO-S; assessing misophonia severity). Confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis were used to examine factor structures of the measures. Further, child-parent agreement on the MAQ and associations between both measures and misophonia-related impairment, quality of life, and misophonia-related school interference were examined to evaluate aspects of convergent validity., Results: For both youth- and parent-ratings, four MAQ factors emerged: pessimism, distress, interference, and non-recognition. A-MISO-S showed a unidimensional structure, but the item 'effort to resist' did not load significantly onto the unidimensional factor. Good child-parent agreement on the MAQ scales were found and both MAQ and A-MISO-S were moderately to strongly associated with misophonia-related impairment, quality of life (inverse association), and misophonia-related school interference., Limitations: MAQ and A-MISO-S assess sensitivity to auditory but not visual stimuli, the sample size was modest, and repeated assessments were not conducted., Conclusions: The combination of MAQ and A-MISO-S shows promise as a multidimensional assessment approach for pediatric misophonia. Future evaluations should include known-groups validity, screening performance, and sensitivity to change in symptom severity., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None, (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Misophonia is a chronic condition that describes aversion to specific auditory stimuli. Misophonia is characterized by physiological responsivity and negative emotional reactivity. Specific sounds, commonly referred to as "triggers," are often commonplace and sometimes repetitive. They include chewing, coughing, slurping, keyboard tapping, and pen clicking. Common emotional responses include rage, disgust, anxiety, and panic while physical responses include muscle constriction and increased heart rate. This literature review identifies research priorities, limitations, and new directions, examining the implications of misophonia for the social work profession. Misophonia is largely absent from the social work literature. However, the profession is uniquely equipped to understand, screen for, and effectively treat misophonia in direct practice or within interprofessional treatment teams. By conceptualizing misophonia as idiosyncratic and contextual, social workers would enhance the existing body of research by applying an ecological perspective which captures the interaction of individuals and environments in producing human experience. Such an approach would assist clients and clinicians in developing treatment plans that consider the roles of social and physical environments in the development and course of misophonia. A discussion of current limitations within the misophonia literature further emphasizes the need for new perspectives., (© 2023 National Association of Social Workers.)

Background: Sensory impairments and eye diseases increase the risk of cognitive decline, but little is known regarding their influence on cognitive function in elderly Chinese and the underlying mechanisms. We aimed to explore these influence mechanism from the social participation perspective., Methods: We selected 2876 respondents aged ≥60 from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) conducted in 2013, 2015, and 2018. We assessed sensory impairments and eye diseases based on self-reported responses, and evaluated its relation to social participation and cognitive function by fixed-effects regression and mediation effect analysis over a five-year period., Results: Respondents with visual impairment and cataracts had poor memory and mental status. Compared with near visual impairment, distance visual impairment was associated with a 1.7 times higher likelihood of cognitive decline (correlation coefficient (β) = -0.051; 95% confidence interval (CI) = -0.065, -0.036)). Respondents with hearing impairment had bad memory (β = -0.046; 95% CI = -0.065, -0.036), but not mental status. Social participation partially mediated the relationships of sensory impairments and cataracts with cognitive function in elderly Chinese. Individuals with sensory impairments affected by limited social participation reported a faster cognitive decline compared to those with eye disease., Conclusions: We found that sensory impairments and eye diseases were negatively associated with cognitive function. Furthermore, sensory impairments and cataracts influence cognitive function partly via social participation. Our results have important theoretical and practical implications and suggests that early interventions for sensory impairments and eye diseases may improve the cognitive function of elderly people., Competing Interests: Disclosure of interest: The authors completed the ICMJE Disclosure of Interest Form (available upon request from the corresponding author) and disclose no relevant interests., (Copyright © 2023 by the Journal of Global Health. All rights reserved.)

Misophonia is a condition characterized by an abnormal emotional response to specific sounds, such as eating, breathing, and clock ticking noises. Sound classification for misophonia is an important area of research since it can benefit in the development of interventions and therapies for individuals affected by the condition. In the area of sound classification, deep learning algorithms such as Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have achieved a high accuracy performance and proved their ability in feature extraction and modeling. Recently, transformer models have surpassed CNNs as the dominant technology in the field of audio classification. In this paper, a transformer-based deep learning algorithm is proposed to automatically identify trigger sounds and the characterization of these sounds using acoustic features. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can classify trigger sounds with high accuracy and specificity. These findings provide a foundation for future research on the development of interventions and therapies for misophonia.

Misophonia is a condition in which certain sounds and behaviors elicit distress that ranges from mild annoyance to disgust or anger. The aim of this research was to develop and validate an instrument to screen for misophonia in the general population. Study 1 developed and explored the factor structure and item quality of the New York Misophonia Scale (NYMS), which originally included 42 triggers and 13 behavioral reactions. A sample of 441 American adults responded to the instrument via social media platforms. Of the original 42 triggers, 25 clustered into 4 factors: repetitive actions, mouth sounds, ambient object sounds, and ambient people sounds. The 13 behavioral reactions loaded on to 2 factors, aggressive and nonaggressive reactions. Study 2 evaluated the psychometric properties of the final version of the NYMS using a sample of 200 American adults. The results supported the validity of the factor structure and the reliability of the final version of the NYMS from Study 1. Finally, Study 3 explored the concurrent and convergent validity of the final version of the NYMS with the Misophonia Questionnaire (MQ) and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Short Form (DERS-SF). A sample of 171 adult participants completed all of the scales. Good concurrent validity was found with the MQ and good convergent validity was found with the DERS-SF. Overall, the NYMS appears to be a useful and promising instrument for assessing misophonia triggers, severity of distress elicited, and behavioral reactions to the distress in the general population., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: There is little information on the clinical presentation, functional impact, and psychiatric characteristics of misophonia in youth, an increasingly recognized syndrome characterized by high emotional reactivity to certain sounds and associated visual stimuli., Method: One-hundred-two youth (8-17 years-old) with misophonia and their parents were recruited and compared with 94 youth with anxiety disorders. Participants completed validated assessments of misophonia severity, quality of life, as well as psychiatric symptoms and diagnoses., Results: The most common misophonia triggers included eating (96 %), breathing (84 %), throat sounds (66 %), and tapping (54 %). Annoyance/irritation, verbal aggression, avoidance behavior, and family impact were nearly universal. Misophonia severity was associated with internalizing symptoms, child-reported externalizing behaviors, and poorer quality of life. High rates of comorbidity with internalizing and neurodevelopmental disorders were found. Quality of life and externalizing behaviors were not significantly different between misophonia and anxiety samples; internalizing symptoms and autism characteristics were significantly higher among youth with anxiety disorders., Limitations: This self-selected sample was characterized by limited multicultural diversity., Conclusions: This study presents misophonia as a highly impairing psychiatric syndrome. Future interdisciplinary work should clarify the mechanisms of misophonia, establish evidence-based treatments, and extend these findings to randomly sampled and more culturally diverse populations., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Drs. Guzick, Storch, Lewin, and Lijffijt receive grant support from the Ream Foundation. Dr. Guzick also receives grant funding from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board unrelated to this study. Dr. Lijffijt has served as principal investigator for studies funded by NeuroRx and VistaGen Therapeutics. Dr. Goodman has received donated devices from Medtronic and is a consultant for Biohaven Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Lewin has unrelated grant support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Tourette Association of America. He receives editorial and/or publishing honorarium from Springer and Elsevier. He is on the Scientific Advisory Board for the International OCD Foundation and is a Tourette Centers of Excellence Director. He may receive travel compensation for service to the American Psychological Commission on Accreditation or Board of Directors for the American Board of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr. Storch discloses the following relationships: consultant for Biohaven Pharmaceuticals; Book royalties from Elsevier, Springer, American Psychological Association, Wiley, Oxford, Kingsley, and Guilford; Stock valued at less than $5000 from NView; Research support from NIH, IOCDF, Ream Foundation, and Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To understand the impact of face coverings on hearing and communication., Design: An online survey consisting of closed-set and open-ended questions distributed within the UK to gain insights into experiences of interactions involving face coverings, and of the impact of face coverings on communication., Sample: Four hundred and sixty members of the general public were recruited via snowball sampling. People with hearing loss were intentionally oversampled to more thoroughly assess the effect of face coverings in this group., Results: With few exceptions, participants reported that face coverings negatively impacted hearing, understanding, engagement, and feelings of connection with the speaker. Impacts were greatest when communicating in medical situations. People with hearing loss were significantly more impacted than those without hearing loss. Face coverings impacted communication content, interpersonal connectedness, and willingness to engage in conversation; they increased anxiety and stress, and made communication fatiguing, frustrating and embarrassing - both as a speaker wearing a face covering, and when listening to someone else who is wearing one., Conclusions: Face coverings have far-reaching impacts on communication for everyone, but especially for people with hearing loss. These findings illustrate the need for communication-friendly face-coverings, and emphasise the need to be communication-aware when wearing a face covering.

With age-related functional deterioration, sensory impairment including vision impairment (VI), hearing impairment (HI), and dual sensory impairment (DSI) usually occurred among the elderly population, causing a decrease in functional capacity and quality of life. The study aimed to explore how sensory impairment is associated with the risk of all-cause mortality among the elderly adults in China. We prospectively investigated the association among 37,076 participants enrolled from 1998 to 2019 in the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey. We also, as a sensitivity analysis, explored the association among 11,365 newly incident sensory impairment participants. Cox regression model with sensory impairment as a time-varying exposure was performed to calculate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Compared with participants without sensory impairment, those with VI (HR=1.20, 95% CI: 1.15-1.24), HI (HR=1.26, 95% CI: 1.21-1.31), and DSI (HR: 1.46, 95% CI=1.41-1.52) had significant higher risk of all-cause mortality after adjusting for potential confounders. These associations were robust among subgroup analyses stratified by sex and entry age, and sensitivity analyses performed among newly incident sensory impairment participants. In conclusion, sensory impairment was associated with higher mortality risk among the elderly adults in China.

Language development builds upon a complex network of interacting subservient systems. It therefore follows that variations in, and subclinical disruptions of, these systems may have secondary effects on emergent language. In this paper, we consider the relationship between genetic variants, hearing, auditory processing and language development. We employ whole genome sequencing in a discovery family to target association and gene x environment interaction analyses in two large population cohorts; the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) and UK10K. These investigations indicate that USH2A variants are associated with altered low-frequency sound perception which, in turn, increases the risk of developmental language disorder. We further show that Ush2a heterozygote mice have low-level hearing impairments, persistent higher-order acoustic processing deficits and altered vocalizations. These findings provide new insights into the complexity of genetic mechanisms serving language development and disorders and the relationships between developmental auditory and neural systems.

Objective: Listening difficulties in noise are common, even in those with clinically normal hearing. There is a suggestion that subjective assessment of hearing difficulties may be more closely associated with listening effort and fatigue rather than objective measures of hearing and/or speech perception. The aim of this study was to better understand these perceptual deficits and experiences of this population. Design: An exploratory survey was distributed to participants with self-reported listening-in-noise difficulties. The primary aim of the survey was to gather information about challenging listening environments, its impact, and preferred rehabilitation strategies. Secondly, responses were compared to their performance on behavioural tasks. Study sample: Fifty adults aged 33-55 (22 females, with normal or near-normal hearing thresholds), completed the survey, and 45 of these performed behavioural tasks. Results: Background noise with conversational content was the most common source of hearing difficulties. Participants expended higher concentration and attention when communicating in noise, and correlations with previously published behavioural data was reported. Social impacts varied, few had sought treatment, and respondents preferred training over devices. Conclusions: Insights gained may provide clinicians and researchers with an understanding of the situations, impacts and non-auditory factors associated with listening-in-noise difficulties, and preferred rehabilitation for these clients.

Objectives: The purpose of the study is to investigate feasibility of early activation after cochlear implantation by evaluating long-term impedance change and speech perception., Design: Case-control study SETTING: Between July 2015 and December 2016, we prospectively enrolled 20 subjects for early activation (within 24 hours after cochlear implantation). On the other hand, from November 2013 to July 2015, 20 age- and sex-matched control subjects from the database of cochlear implantees treated with conventional activation schedule (4 weeks after surgery) were retrospectively enrolled., Participant: Forty patients who underwent cochlear implantation surgeries., Main Outcome Measures: The series impedance and speech perception score of both groups were compared., Results: No statistical difference in long-term follow-up between the two groups was found using GEEs and multivariate analysis. In the early activation group, impedance reached a steady level by the 2nd postoperative week, and the hearing perception ability significantly improved by the 4th postoperative week., Conclusion: This comparative study illustrated sequential impedance data during early activation (24 hours) and conventional activation (4 weeks) after CI surgery. There were no major complications in either group, and the safety of early activation with respect to impedance changes, postoperative residual hearing preservation and speech perception scores were non-inferior to that of the conventional group. Therefore, in this study, we established the feasibility of early activation 24 hours after cochlear implantation., (© 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Context: The factors that affect the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of women with Turner syndrome (TS) are controversial., Objective: The aim was to describe the HRQoL of women with TS with a focus on how given GH treatment and comorbidity influence HRQoL in adulthood and to compare HRQoL of women with TS with that of women in the general population., Design: Longitudinal cohort study, up to 20 years., Setting: The Turner Center at the Section for Endocrinology and Department of Reproductive Medicine at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden., Participants: Women with TS (n = 200), age range 16 to 78 years, were included consecutively and monitored every fifth year between 1995 and 2018. Women from the World Health Organization MONItoring of trends and determinants for CArdiovascular disease project were used as reference populations., Interventions and Main Outcome Measures: HRQoL was measured using the Psychological General Well-Being index and the Nottingham Health Profile. Associations with somatic variables were assessed using longitudinal linear regression models., Results: HRQoL was not associated with GH treatment in TS in spite of a mean 5.7 cm taller height. HRQoL was only associated with height per se in one of 13 subscales (P < 0.01). HRQoL was negatively affected by higher age, higher age at diagnosis, and hearing impairment in TS. Women with TS reported a similar HRQoL to the reference population., Conclusions: No association between previous GH treatment and HRQoL was found during the up to 20 years of follow-up in women with TS. HRQoL of women with TS and the reference population was similar., (Copyright © 2019 Endocrine Society.)

Noise-exposed rat pups provide a model of early deprivation of sensory input to the central auditory system, allowing the study of developmental neuroplasticity. Our previous results have demonstrated that a brief exposure of rats to broadband noise (125 dB SPL 8 min, 14th postnatal day) at the onset of hearing resulted in an altered intensity perception and frequency discrimination in adulthood despite normal hearing thresholds. In this study, we assessed the gap-detection ability and possible presence of tinnitus- and hyperacusis-like behavior in adult rats after the same neonatal acoustic trauma, using measurements of the acoustic startle response (ASR) in quiet and noisy environments and its prepulse inhibition by gaps in noise (gap-PPI). A significant deficit in the ability to detect gap was observed in the exposed rats when 55 dB SPL broadband noise was used as background. An increase of noise intensity to 65-75 dB SPL led to strengthening of the gap-PPI in exposed animals, which approached the gap-PPI values of control animals at these levels. Behavioral signs of tinnitus (gap detection deficits in 10 kHz narrow band noise) were found in 25% of exposed rats. An increased sensitivity to continuous noise was manifested in all exposed rats by suppression of the ASR at significantly lower background noise levels than in the controls. This effect was particularly pronounced in rats with tinnitus-like behavior. Our results indicate that neonatal acoustic trauma, producing only a transient threshold shift, may produce permanent abnormalities in suprathreshold auditory functions and the development of tinnitus and hyperacusis-like behavior., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The frequency-following response, or FFR, is a neurophysiological response to sound that precisely reflects the ongoing dynamics of sound. It can be used to study the integrity and malleability of neural encoding of sound across the lifespan. Sound processing in the brain can be impaired with pathology and enhanced through expertise. The FFR can index linguistic deprivation, autism, concussion, and reading impairment, and can reflect the impact of enrichment with short-term training, bilingualism, and musicianship. Because of this vast potential, interest in the FFR has grown considerably in the decade since our first tutorial. Despite its widespread adoption, there remains a gap in the current knowledge of its analytical potential. This tutorial aims to bridge this gap. Using recording methods we have employed for the last 20 + years, we have explored many analysis strategies. In this tutorial, we review what we have learned and what we think constitutes the most effective ways of capturing what the FFR can tell us. The tutorial covers FFR components (timing, fundamental frequency, harmonics) and factors that influence FFR (stimulus polarity, response averaging, and stimulus presentation/recording jitter). The spotlight is on FFR analyses, including ways to analyze FFR timing (peaks, autocorrelation, phase consistency, cross-phaseogram), magnitude (RMS, SNR, FFT), and fidelity (stimulus-response correlations, response-to-response correlations and response consistency). The wealth of information contained within an FFR recording brings us closer to understanding how the brain reconstructs our sonic world., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This paper presents evidence for a strong connection between the development of speech and language skills and musical activities of children and adolescents with hearing impairment and/or cochlear implants. This conclusion is partially based on findings for typically hearing children and adolescents, showing better speech and language skills in children and adolescents with musical training, and importantly, showing increases of speech and language skills in children and adolescents taking part in musical training. Further, studies of hearing-impaired children show connections between musical skills, involvement in musical hobbies, and speech and language skills. Even though the field is still lacking large-scale randomised controlled trials on the effects of musical interventions on the speech and language skills of children and adolescents with hearing impairments and cochlear implants, the current evidence seems enough to urge speech therapists, music therapists, music teachers, parents, and children and adolescents with hearing impairments and/or cochlear implants to start using music for enhancing speech and language skills. For this reason, we give our recommendations on how to use music for language skill enhancement in this group., (Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Auditory nerve fibers' (ANFs) refractoriness and facilitation can be quantified in electrically evoked compound action potentials (ECAPs) recorded via neural response telemetry (NRT). Although facilitation has been observed in animals and human cochlear implant (CI) recipients, no study has modeled this in human CI users until now. In this study, recovery and facilitation effects at different masker and probe levels for three test electrodes (E6, E12 and E18) in 11 CI subjects were recorded. The ECAP recovery and facilitation were modeled by exponential functions and the same function used for +10 CL masker offset condition can be applied to all other masker offsets measurements. Goodness of fit was evaluated for the exponential functions. A significant effect of probe level was observed on a recovery time constant which highlights the importance of recording the recovery function at the maximum acceptable stimulus level. Facilitation time constant and amplitude showed no dependency on the probe level. However, facilitation was stronger for masker level at or around the threshold of the ECAP (T-ECAP). There was a positive correlation between facilitation magnitude and amplitude growth function (AGF) slope, which indicates that CI subjects with better peripheral neural survival have stronger facilitation., (Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

F0 contours convey the primary information of lexical Tones for Mandarin Chinese, and the processing of time-varying F0 contours is important for Mandarin concurrent-vowels identification (MCVI). In this work, we examined the relationship between frequency modulation (FM) detection of auditory system and MCVI in both normal-hearing (NH) and hearing-impaired (HI) listeners. Three experiments were conducted with the same subjects to measure their MCVI, FM detection limen (FMDL), and frequency following responses (FFRs) evoked by FM sweeps, respectively. To ensure that F0 contour was the primary cue utilized, mean F0s and durations were equalized among all test vowels in the MCVI experiment. To simulate the pattern of F0 contours of Mandarin vowels, linearly FM sweeps were used as stimuli in the FMDL and FFRs experiments. The results confirmed that the performance of HI listeners was significantly worse than that of NH listeners in all of the three measurements. Besides, FFRs evoked by FM sweeps had significantly lower tracking accuracy than those evoked by steady tones only for HI listeners. The correlation analysis further revealed that any two of the three measured indices were significantly correlated when the effects of age and absolute threshold were partialed out (|r| ≥ 0.502, p ≤ 0.017). These results suggested an association between the poor performance of HI listeners in the MCVI task and their degraded auditory function on FM detection, and such a behavioral degradation has emerged in the phase-locking activity at the brainstem level., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Objectives: The goal of this work was to develop and normalise an international French version of the AzBio sentence test. Design: A corpus of 1000 sentences was generated. These sentences were recorded with four talkers and processed through a four-channel cochlear implant simulation. The mean intelligibility for each sentence achieved by 16 normal-hearing listeners was computed. The consecutively ordered 165 sentences from each talker rendering an average score of 85% were sequentially assigned to 33 lists of 20 sentences. All lists were presented to 30 normal-hearing and 25 hearing-impaired listeners in order to verify their equivalency. Thirty normal-hearing adults were also recruited to assess the test's psychometrics and define norms. Results: The results of the list equivalency validation study showed no significant differences in percent correct scores for 30 sentence lists. A binomial distribution model was used to estimate the 95% critical differences for each potential percentage score. Normalization data showed an average performance between 96% and 99% with a very low standard deviation. Conclusions: With a set of 30 lists, researchers and clinicians can use the FrBio to evaluate a large number of experimental conditions; changes in performance over time or across conditions can then be tracked.

Objective: To examine the auditory system of Brazilian gasoline station workers using an extensive audiological test battery. Design: This was a cross-sectional study. The audiological evaluation included a questionnaire, pure-tone audiometry, acoustic immittance tests, transient-evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs), distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs), auditory brainstem response (ABR) and P300 auditory-evoked potentials. Study sample: A total of 77 Brazilian gasoline station workers were evaluated, and their results were compared with those of 36 participants who were not exposed to chemicals or noise at work. The gasoline station employees worked in 18 different gas stations, and the noise area measurements from all gas stations revealed time-weighted averages below 85 dBA. Results: Of the 77 gasoline station workers evaluated, 67.5% had audiometric results within the normal range, but 59.7% reported difficulties in communication in noisy places. Gasoline station workers showed significantly poorer results than non-exposed control participants in one or more conditions of each of the audiological tests used, except P300. Conclusions: The results suggest that the gasoline station workers have both peripheral and central auditory dysfunctions that could be partly explained by their exposure to gasoline.

Irony comprehension can be a kind of challenge to those who are relatively less skillful in reading. To examine how DHH college students (DCSs) were different from hearing college students (HCSs) in the reading of ironic discourses, we conducted two experiments in the self-paced reading task. In Experiment 1, the statement was either literally congruent with the preceding context or had to be understood in an ironic way in each trial; In Experiment 2, the statement was the same but the context was not across the two levels of discourse type. The DCSs generally had a poorer performance than the hearing participants. Although able to comprehend ironies, they had a significantly lower efficiency than their hearing counterparts. The results were consistently in agreement with the prediction of the graded salience hypothesis (Giora, R. (1997). Understanding figurative and literal language: The graded salience hypothesis. Cognitive Linguistics, 7, 183-206. doi:10.1515/cogl.1997.8.3.183) and the parallel-constraint-satisfaction framework (Pexman, P. M. (2008). It's fascinating research. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17(4)286-290. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2008.00591.x), and the DCSs' performance appears to indicate an amplified version of this support. It is implied that educational environments should be created in which deaf and DHH students are encouraged to do as much reading as possible. Exercises should be designed in helping them to improve vocabulary and syntactic skills in general and to improve skills of inference-making in particular., (© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Visual or hearing disabilities account for 20% of people reporting some sort of disability. We performed a literature review about the interaction that people with visual or hearing disabilities have with the health care system. We found that these people report a lower quality of life and have a higher frequency of physical and psychological ailments. They also have difficulties to obtain an adequate health care and report a paucity of trained professionals to take care of them.

Objectives: To explore cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between self-reported hearing and vision impairments and self-rated health, quality of life (QoL) and depressive symptoms at 4-year follow-up., Study Design: The study involved cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses with 4-year follow-up using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing., Methods: Community-dwelling adults (n = 3931) aged ≥50 years from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing participated in this study. Self-reported hearing and vision were defined as good or poor. Self-rated health was treated as a dichotomous variable (good and poor health). QoL was based on the 19-item Critical Appraisal Skills Programme and treated as a continuous variable (score 0-57). Depressive symptoms were assessed using the eight-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D8) and defined as CES-D≥3. Relationships between sensory impairments and self-rated health and depressive symptoms were analysed using logistic regression. Linear regression was used to assess the relationships between sensory impairments and QoL., Results: In cross-sectional analyses, both self-reported hearing and vision impairment were positively associated with all outcomes assessed. In longitudinal analyses, self-reported poor hearing and vision were associated with increased risks of poor self-rated health (hearing: odds ratio [OR] 1.65, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.32, 2.05; vision: OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.16, 2.12) and depressive symptoms (hearing: OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.07, 1.71; vision: OR 1.44, 95% CI 1.09, 1.90) after adjustment for sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, chronic illness, mobility limitations and cognition. Poor hearing and poor vision were not associated with reduced QoL after adjustment for covariates., Conclusions: The findings stress the importance of identifying and addressing sensory impairments in older adults to improve their health and well-being., (Copyright © 2019 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose A key goal of researchers, clinicians, and educators within the fields of speech, language, and hearing sciences is to support the learning and memory of others. To do so, they consider factors relevant to the individual, the material to be learned, and the training strategy that can maximize learning and retention. Statistical methods typically used within these fields are inadequate for identifying the complex relationships between these factors and are ill equipped to account for variability across individuals when identifying these relationships. Specifically, traditional statistical methods are often inadequate for answering questions about special populations because samples drawn from these populations are usually small, highly variable, and skewed in distribution. Mixed-effects modeling provides advantages over traditional statistical techniques to answer complex questions while taking into account these common characteristics of special populations. Method and Results Through 2 examples, I illustrate advantages of mixed-effects modeling in answering questions about learning and memory and in supporting better translation of research to practice. I also demonstrate key similarities and differences between analysis of variance, regression analyses, and mixed-effects modeling. Finally, I explain 3 additional advantages of using mixed-effects modeling to understand the processes of learning and memory: the means to account for missing data, assess the contribution of variations in delay intervals, and model nonlinear relationships between factors. Conclusions Through mixed-effects modeling, researchers can disseminate accurate information about learning and memory to clinicians and educators. In turn, through enhanced statistical literacy, clinicians and educators can apply research findings to practice with confidence. Overall, mixed-effects modeling is a powerful tool to improve the outcomes of the individuals that researchers and practitioners serve within the fields of speech, language, and hearing sciences.

It is increasingly agreed upon that cognitive and audiological factors are associated with self-perceived hearing handicap in old adults. This study aimed to compare self-perceived hearing handicap among mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subgroups and a cognitively normal elderly (CNE) group and determine which factors (i.e., demographic, audiometric, or neuropsychological factors) are correlated with self-perceived hearing handicap in each group. A total of 46 MCI patients and 39 hearing threshold-matched CNE subjects participated in this study, and their age ranged from 55 to 80 years. The MCI patients were reclassified into two groups: 16 with frontal-executive dysfunction (FED) and 30 without FED. All subjects underwent audiometric, neuropsychological, and self-perceived hearing handicap assessments. The Korean version of the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly (K-HHIE) was administered to obtain the hearing handicap scores for each subject. After controlling for age, years of education, and depression levels, we found no significant differences in the K-HHIE scores between the MCI and the CNE groups. However, after we classified the MCI patients into the MCI with FED and MCI without FED groups, the MCI with FED group scored significantly higher than did both the MCI without FED and the CNE groups. In addition, after controlling for depression levels, significant partial correlations of hearing handicap scores with frontal-executive function scores and speech-in-noise perception performance were found in the MCI groups. In the CNE group, the hearing handicap scores were related to peripheral hearing sensitivity and years of education. In summary, MCI patients with FED are more likely to experience everyday hearing handicap than those without FED and cognitively normal old adults. Although educational level and peripheral hearing function are related to self-perceived hearing handicap in cognitively normal old adults, speech-in-noise perception and frontal-executive function are mainly associated with hearing handicap in patients with MCI., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Objective: This study describes characteristics, behaviours and readiness of people who are interested in seeking hearing healthcare (HHC) online., Design: A non-profit clinic was established from which services through a virtual clinic are offered. Most of the patient-audiologist interactions are conducted online. We used online means to invite individuals to take a free online digit-in-noise (DIN) test. Upon failing the test, individuals reported their readiness to seek HHC by using two tools: the line and the staging algorithm., Study Sample: Individuals ≥18 years of age, within the greater Durban area, South Africa, were eligible to participate in the study., Results: A total of 462 individuals completed the online DIN test during the first 3 months. Of those, 58.66% (271/462) failed the test and 11.04% (51/462) submitted their details for further contact from the clinic audiologist. Five individuals proceeded to a comprehensive hearing evaluation and hearing aid trial: all those individuals showed readiness to seek further HHC on the measurement tools. These individuals have reported knowing of their hearing challenges prior to taking the test and have waited for a period of between 5 and 16 years before seeking HHC. A significant association between age and DIN test result was found., Conclusion: This explorative study is the first clinic to utilise digital tools across the entire patient journey in combination with face-to-face interactions in providing HHC. Internet-connected devices provide an opportunity for individuals to seek HHC and for providers to offer initial services to detect, counsel and support persons through the initial engagement process of seeking HHC. This may open up new audiology patient pathways through online hearing screening, assessment of readiness to seek further HHC and enhancement of service delivery using hybrid services by combining online and face-to-face modes of synchronous and asynchronous communication.

Background: Study about deliberate self-harm (DSH) in children with different types of disabilities was scarce. This study compared the incidence and patterns of DSH between children with and without disabilities aged 6-17 years using a matched case-control study in Beijing., Methods: A total of 650 pairs of children with and without disabilities were surveyed. Characteristics of latest episode of self-harm within the 12 months were compared. Associations between disability status, sociodemographic factors, smoking, drinking, sleep problems, and self-harm were examined., Results: Children with disabilities showed significant higher incidence of DSH than children without disabilities. Two groups differed significantly in terms of self-harm methods, body parts injured, premeditation, wishing to be known by others and help-seeking behavior. The adjusted OR for self-harm was 4.76 (2.99-7.55) for children with disabilities compared with children without disabilities. Children who slept fewer than 6 h per night, had difficulty falling asleep at night sometimes/often, and went to sleep after midnight 1 to 3 nights per month or at least once a week were at elevated risk of self-harm., Conclusion: This study highlights a strong relationship between disability, sleep problems, and DSH. Interventions to reduce self-harm should target disability and sleep problems as important risk factors.

Objective: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of hearing loss and ear problems in Pacific children, and investigate current and past demographic, health and social factors potentially associated with hearing and ear problems., Design: A cross-sectional observational study design nested within a birth cohort was employed., Study Sample: Nine-hundred-twenty Pacific children aged 11 years were audiologically assessed. Using average hearing thresholds at 500, 1k and 2k Hz, 162 (18%) right and 197 (21%) left ears had ≥20 dB hearing loss. Hearing loss was mild (20-39 dB) in most cases; 2% of ears had moderate to moderate-severe (40-69 dB) hearing loss. However, only 101 (11%) children had normal peripheral hearing defined by passing hearing threshold, tympanogram and distortion product otoacoustic emission assessments. Those with confirmed middle ear disease at age 2 years had significantly increased odds of a non-Type A tympanogram (adjusted odds ratio: 2.00; 95% confidence interval: 1.56, 2.50) when re-assessed at age 11 years., Conclusions: Hearing loss, abnormal tympanograms, and auditory processing difficulties were present in many Pacific children. Interventions are also urgently needed to mitigate the effect of the longstanding ear disease likely to be present for many Pacific children.

Objective: The present study investigated: (a) how motivated patients are to use their hearing aid, and (b) whether post-motivational variables (e.g. action planning, coping planning) have anything to offer in terms of developing interventions to boost hearing aid use., Design: participants completed a questionnaire designed to tap Health Action Process Approach constructs prior to their hearing aid prescription and fitting., Study Sample: Sixty-seven patients attending NHS audiology clinics., Results: Participants reported very strong intentions to use hearing aids (Median = 7.00 Q1 and Q3 = 6.67, 7.00, on a +1 to +7 scale) and high self-efficacy (Median = 7.00, Q1 and Q3 = 6.00, on a +1 to +7 scale) leaving little room for improvement. In contrast, participants reported moderate levels of post-motivational variables (action planning Median = 4.25, Q1 and Q3 = 1.13, 7.00 and coping planning Median = 2.75, Q1 and Q3 = 1.00, both measured on +1 to +7 scales) thereby showing significant scope for change., Conclusions: Future interventions to increase hearing aid use should focus on ensuring that patients' motivation is translated into action, rather than further trying to boost motivation.

Background and Aims: COPD is an irreversible or persistent airflow obstruction, which affects up to 600 million people globally. The primary purpose of this systematic review was to explore the COPD-based alteration in the auditory system function by conducting a quantitative analysis of presently published data., Materials and Methods: We systematically searched seven diverse electronic databases and manual searching of references to identify relevant studies. Data from the selected studies were rated by two investigators independently in a blinded fashion. Meta-analysis was done on pooled data using Cochrane's Review Manager 5.3., Results: Sixteen articles received suitable scores and were thus included for further processes. Hearing loss (HL) was defined as a change in pure tone audiometry (PTA) thresholds, auditory brainstem response (ABR), and auditory P300 parameters. ABR wave was significantly elongated in patients with COPD than in controls (standardized mean difference [SMD]=0.27, 95% CI: 0.05-0.48, P =0.02). PTA was significantly higher in patients with COPD when compared with controls (SMD=1.76, 95% CI: 0.43-3.08, P =0.0004). We found that patients with COPD had a significantly higher latency than controls (SMD=1.30, 95% CI: 0.79-1.80, P =0.0001)., Conclusion: COPD patients had considerably greater incidence of HL when compared with controls. Interestingly, although the mean PTA thresholds at every frequency for COPD patients were higher than those for controls, these values were still in the slight to mild HL ranges. Prolonged ABR wave latencies in the COPD patients suggest retro-cochlear involvement. Thus, COPD most frequently clusters with HL, but it is worth noting that alteration in hearing is not always recognized by medical experts as a frequent comorbidity associated with COPD., Competing Interests: Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Objective: Identify hearing effects of a single course of intravenous (IV) aminoglycoside antibiotics (AGs) therapy in adult cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. Determine whether the change is large enough to enable a proof-of-concept study of a new drug preventing AG-associated hearing loss., Design: Retrospective case review of CF patients with sequential audiograms ± an intervening course of IV AG therapy., Study Sample: 84 patients with no intervening IV AG treatment, 38 patients undergoing a single course of IV AGs., Results: Using ASHA ototoxicity metrics, 45% of adult CF patients in the Single-IV group met the criteria for ototoxicity compared to 23% of the No-IV patients. Other hearing metrics including the average maximal threshold shift (TS) and average high frequency TS showed highly significant differences between groups. Testing only participants with mild or greater pre-therapy high frequency hearing loss further increased the differences between the two groups by every metric tested., Conclusion: Adult CF patients exposed to a single course of IV AGs have significantly greater TS than patients without IV AG exposure. Patients with mild to moderate hearing loss prior to AG-IVs are at increased risk of developing ototoxicity from subsequent parenteral AG therapy.

Although human speech recognition is often experienced as relatively effortless, a number of common challenges can render the task more difficult. Such challenges may originate in talkers (e.g., unfamiliar accents, varying speech styles), the environment (e.g. noise), or in listeners themselves (e.g., hearing loss, aging, different native language backgrounds). Each of these challenges can reduce the intelligibility of spoken language, but even when intelligibility remains high, they can place greater processing demands on listeners. Noisy conditions, for example, can lead to poorer recall for speech, even when it has been correctly understood. Speech intelligibility measures, memory tasks, and subjective reports of listener difficulty all provide critical information about the effects of such challenges on speech recognition. Eye tracking and pupillometry complement these methods by providing objective physiological measures of online cognitive processing during listening. Eye tracking records the moment-to-moment direction of listeners' visual attention, which is closely time-locked to unfolding speech signals, and pupillometry measures the moment-to-moment size of listeners' pupils, which dilate in response to increased cognitive load. In this paper, we review the uses of these two methods for studying challenges to speech recognition., (Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

This study describes stressors, resources, and recommendations related to craniofacial microsomia (CFM) care from the perspective of caregivers of children with CFM and adults with CFM to inform improved quality of healthcare delivery. A mixed method design was used with fixed-response and open-ended questions from an online survey in English. The survey included demographics, CFM phenotypic information, and items about CFM-related experiences across settings. Themes were identified by qualitative analysis of responses to open-ended questions. Respondents (n = 51) included caregivers (n = 42; 90% mothers) and adults with CFM (n = 9; 78% female), who had a mean age of 45 ± 6 years. Most children were male (71%) with an average age of 7 ± 4 years. Respondents were primarily white (80%), non-Hispanic (89%), from the United States (82%), had a college degree (80%), and had private health insurance (80%). Reflecting the high rate of microtia (84%) in the sample, themes centered on the impact of hearing difficulties across settings with related language concerns. Negative social experiences were frequently described and school needs outlined. Multiple medical stressors were identified and corresponding suggestions included: providers need to be better informed about CFM, treatment coordination among specialists, and preference for a family-centered approach with reassurance, empathy, and clear communication. Advice offered to others with CFM included positive coping strategies. Overall, caregivers' and patients' responses reflected the complexity of CFM treatment. Incorporating these perspectives into routine CFM care has the potential to reduce family distress while improving their healthcare.

Objective: Hearing problems are a significant public health concern. It has been suggested that psychological distress may represent both a cause and a consequence of hearing problems. Prospective data that allow testing such potential bi-directionality have thus far been lacking. The present study aimed to address this knowledge gap. Random (RE) and fixed effects (FE) panel regression models estimated the association of psychological distress (GHQ-12) and participant-reported hearing problems. Data from 18 annual waves of the British Household Panel Survey were used (n = 10,008). Psychological distress was prospectively associated with self-reported hearing problems in women (multivariable odds ratios (ORs) ≥1.44; one-year time lag ≥ 1.16) and men (ORs ≥ 1.15; time lag ≥ 1.17). Conversely, self-reported hearing problems were associated with increases in psychological distress in both sexes (OR ≥ 1.26; time lag ≥ 1.08). These associations were independent of the analytical strategy and of adjustment for sociodemographic variables, lifestyle factors, and measurement period. We present first evidence of a bidirectional association between psychological distress and self-reported hearing problems. These findings suggest that stress management interventions may contribute to the prevention of self-reported hearing problems, and, in turn, alleviating self-reported hearing problems may reduce psychological distress.

Introduction: Misophonia is a recently described, poorly understood and neglected condition. It is characterized by strong negative reactions of hatred, anger or fear when subjects have to face some selective and low level repetitive sounds. The most common ones that trigger such aversive reactions are those elicited by the mouth (chewing gum or food, popping lips) or the nose (breathing, sniffing, and blowing) or by the fingers (typing, kneading paper, clicking pen, drumming on the table). Previous articles have cited that such individuals usually know at least one close relative with similar symptoms, suggesting a possible hereditary component., Objective: We found and described a family with 15 members having misophonia, detailing their common characteristics and the pattern of sounds that trigger such strong discomfort., Methods: All 15 members agreed to give us their epidemiological data, and 12 agreed to answer a specific questionnaire which investigated the symptoms, specific trigger sounds, main feelings evoked and attitudes adopted by each participant., Results: The 15 members belong to three generations of the family. Their age ranged from 9 to 73 years (mean 38.3 years; median 41 years) and 10 were females. Analysis of the 12 questionnaires showed that 10 subjects (83.3%) developed the first symptoms during childhood or adolescence. The mean annoyance score on the Visual Analog Scale from 0 to 10 was 7.3 (median 7.5). Individuals reported hatred/anger, irritability and anxiety in response to sounds, and faced the situation asking to stop the sound, leaving/avoiding the place and even fighting. The self-reported associated symptoms were anxiety (91.3%), tinnitus (50%), obsessive-compulsive disorder (41.6%), depression (33.3%), and hypersensitivity to sounds (25%)., Conclusion: The high incidence of misophonia in this particular familial distribution suggests that it might be more common than expected and raises the possibility of having a hereditary etiology., (Copyright © 2017 Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cérvico-Facial. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To study work participation of persons with hearing loss, and associations with hearing disabilities, self-reported workability, fatigue and work accommodation., Design: Cross-sectional internet-based survey., Study Sample: A total of 10,679 persons with hearing loss within working-age were invited to answer the survey, where 3330 answered (35.6%)., Results: Degree of hearing loss was associated with low workability, fatigue and work place accommodation, while sick leave was associated with fatigue. Degree of hearing loss was positively associated with being unemployed (p < .001) and having part-time work (p < .01) (often combined with disability benefits) for women. Work place accommodation was more frequently provided among respondents working with sedentary postures, high seniority, long-term sick leave or low workability. Additional unfavourable sensory conditions were associated with decreased employment (p < .001) and workability, and an increase in sick leave (p < .01) and fatigue (p < .001)., Conclusions: Hearing loss seemed to influence work participation factors negatively; particularly, for moderate hearing loss and for women, even though the degree of employment was high. A lack of work place accommodation when there was a need for such was found. This implies increased attentiveness towards individual needs concerning the experienced disability a hearing loss may produce. A more frequent use of hearing disability assessment is suggested.

Introduction: highly prevalagent hearing and vision sensory impairments among older people may contribute to the risk of cognitive decline and pathological impairments including dementia.This study aims to determine whether single and dual sensory impairment (hearing and/or vision) are independently associated with cognitive decline among older adults and to describe cognitive trajectories according to their impairment pattern., Material and Methods: we used data from totals of 13,123, 11,417 and 21,265 respondents aged 50+ at baseline from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), respectively. We performed growth curve analysis to identify cognitive trajectories, and a joint model was used to deal with attrition problems in longitudinal ageing surveys., Results: respondents with a single sensory impairment had lower episodic memory score than those without sensory impairment in HRS (β = -0.15, P < 0.001), ELSA (β = -0.14, P < 0.001) and SHARE (β = -0.26, P < 0.001). The analysis further shows that older adults with dual sensory impairment in HRS (β = -0.25, P < 0.001), ELSA (β = -0.35, P < 0.001) and SHARE (β = -0.68, P < 0.001) remembered fewer words compared with those with no sensory impairment. The stronger associations between sensory impairment and lower episodic memory levels were found in the joint model which accounted for attrition., Conclusions: hearing and/or vision impairments are a marker for the risk of cognitive decline that could inform preventative interventions to maximise cognitive health and longevity. Further studies are needed to investigate how sensory markers could inform strategies to improve cognitive ageing., (© The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Objective: This study examines the relative utility of a particular class of noninvasive functional biomarkers-sensory functions-for detecting those at risk of cognitive decline and impairment. Three central research objectives were examined including whether (a) olfactory function, vision, and audition exhibited significant longitudinal declines in nondemented older adults; (b) multiwave change for these sensory function indicators predicted risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI); and (c) change within persons for each sensory measure shared dynamic time-varying associations with within-person change in cognitive functioning., Method: A longitudinal sample (n = 408) from the Victoria Longitudinal Study was assembled. Three cognitive status subgroups were identified: not impaired cognitively, single-assessment MCI, and multiple-assessment MCI., Results: We tested independent predictive associations, contrasting change in sensory function as predictors of cognitive decline and impairment, utilizing both linear mixed models and logistic regression analysis. Olfaction and, to a lesser extent, vision were identified as the most robust predictors of cognitive status and decline; audition showed little predictive influence., Conclusions: These findings underscore the potential utility of deficits in olfactory function, in particular, as an early marker of age- and pathology-related cognitive decline. Functional biomarkers may represent potential candidates for use in the early stages of a multistep screening approach for detecting those at risk of cognitive impairment, as well as for targeted intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).)

Active transcutaneous bone conduction devices, where the transducer is implanted, are used for rehabilitation of hearing impaired patients by directly stimulating the skull bone. The transducer and the way it is attached to the bone play a central role in the design of such devices. The actual effect of varying the contact to bone has not been addressed yet. The aim of this study is therefore to compare how different attachment methods of the transducer to the bone for direct stimulation affect the ear canal sound pressure and vibration transmission to the ipsilateral cochlea. Three different attachments to the bone were tested: (A) via a flat small-sized surface, (B) via a flat wide surface and (C) via two separated screws. Measurements were done on four human heads on both sides. The attachments were compared in terms of induced cochlear promontory velocity, measured by a laser Doppler vibrometer, and ear canal sound pressure, measured by a low noise microphone. A swept sine stimulus was used in the frequency range 0.1-10 kHz. On an average level, the attachment method seems to affect the transmission mainly at frequencies above 5 kHz. Furthermore, the results suggest that a smaller contact surface might perform better in terms of transmission of vibrations at mid and high frequencies. However, when considering the whole frequency range, average results from the different attachment techniques are comparable., (Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Misophonia is characterized by extreme aversive reactions to certain classes of sounds. It has recently been recognized as a condition associated with significant disability. Research has begun to evaluate psychopathological correlates of misophonia. This study sought to identify profiles of psychopathology that characterize misophonia in a large community sample. A total of N = 628 adult participants completed a battery of measures assessing anxiety and anxiety sensitivity, depression, stress responses, anger, dissociative experiences, obsessive-compulsive symptoms and beliefs, distress tolerance, bodily perceptions, as well as misophonia severity. Profile Analysis via Multidimensional Scaling (PAMS) was employed to evaluate profiles associated with elevated misophonia and those without symptoms. Three profiles were extracted. The first two accounted for 70% total variance and did not show distinctions between groups. The third profile accounted for 11% total variance, and showed that misophonia is associated with lower obsessive-compulsive symptoms for neutralizing, obsessions generally, and washing compared to those not endorsing misophonia, and higher levels of obsessive-compulsive symptoms associated with ordering and harm avoidance. This third profile extracted also showed significant differences between those with and without misophonia on the scale assessing physical concerns (that is, sensitivity to interoceptive sensations) as assessed with the ASI-3. Further research is called for involving diagnostic interviewing and experimental methods to clarify these putative mechanisms associated with misophonia., (Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

The effort required to listen to and understand noisy speech is an important factor in the evaluation of noise reduction schemes. This paper introduces a model for Listening Effort prediction from Acoustic Parameters (LEAP). The model is based on methods from automatic speech recognition, specifically on performance measures that quantify the degradation of phoneme posteriorgrams produced by a deep neural net: Noise or artifacts introduced by speech enhancement often result in a temporal smearing of phoneme representations, which is measured by comparison of phoneme vectors. This procedure does not require a priori knowledge about the processed speech, and is therefore single-ended. The proposed model was evaluated using three datasets of noisy speech signals with listening effort ratings obtained from normal hearing and hearing impaired subjects. The prediction quality was compared to several baseline models such as the ITU-T standard P.563 for single-ended speech quality assessment, the American National Standard ANIQUE+ for single-ended speech quality assessment, and a single-ended SNR estimator. In all three datasets, the proposed new model achieved clearly better prediction accuracies than the baseline models; correlations with subjective ratings were above 0.9. So far, the model is trained on the specific noise types used in the evaluation. Future work will be concerned with overcoming this limitation by training the model on a variety of different noise types in a multi-condition way in order to make it generalize to unknown noise types., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Processing delay is one of the important factors that limit the development of novel algorithms for hearing devices. In this study, both normal-hearing listeners and listeners with hearing loss were tested for their tolerance of processing delay up to 50 ms using a real-time setup for own-voice and external-voice conditions based on linear processing to avoid confounding effects of time-dependent gain., Design: Participants rated their perceived subjective annoyance for each condition on a 7-point Likert scale., Study Sample: Twenty normal-hearing participants and twenty participants with a range of mild to moderate hearing losses., Results: Delay tolerance was significantly greater for the participants with hearing loss in two out of three voice conditions. The average slopes of annoyance ratings were negatively correlated with the degree of hearing loss across participants. A small trend of higher tolerance of delay by experienced users of hearing aids in comparison to new users was not significant., Conclusion: The increased tolerance of processing delay for speech production and perception with hearing loss and reduced sensitivity to changes in delay with stronger hearing loss may be beneficial for novel algorithms for hearing devices but the setup used in this study differed from commercial hearing aids.

Aim: To assess and compare the role of IQ on anxiety and behavior of children with and without hearing and speech impairment., Material and Methods: A total of 120 children of age group 7-14 years were included in the study, of which control group comprised of 60 normal healthy children and 60 hearing and speech impaired children formed the study group. The study was done in two consecutive sessions. First appointment for Culture Fair Intelligence Test and second appointment for RMS pictorial anxiety score (RMS-PS) and Frankl behavior rating which were assessed during oral prophylaxis., Results: IQ of children with hearing and speech impairment was lower as compared to normal healthy children. There was a positive correlation between IQ and anxiety in children with hearing and speech impairment while no correlation was found with behavior., Conclusion: Children with hearing and speech impairment are less anxious and more cooperative compared to normal healthy child in the dental setting and are, therefore, easier to manage., (© 2018 Special Care Dentistry Association and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)