Binaural

Persistent postural-perceptual dizziness (PPPD) is a chronic disorder of perceived unsteadiness. Symptoms can be exacerbated in visually complex stationary or moving environment. Visual dependence and increased motion sensitivity are predictors for PPPD but its pathophysiology remains unknown. We hypothesized an abnormal sensory-perceptual scaling mechanism in PPPD and tested visual- and vestibular perceptional thresholds in 32 patients and 28 age-matched healthy control subjects (HC). All participants showed normal vestibular function tests on quantitative testing...

Prominent pathological hypotheses for schizophrenia include auditory processing deficits and dysconnectivity within cerebral networks. However, most neuroimaging studies have focused on impairments in either resting-state or task-related functional connectivity in patients with schizophrenia. The aims of our study were to examine (1) blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals during auditory steady-state response (ASSR) tasks, (2) functional connectivity during the resting-state and ASSR tasks and (3) state shifts between the resting-state and ASSR tasks in patients with schizophrenia...

The current study aimed to determine the criteria used for screening and diagnosing cases with central auditory processing disorders (CAPD) in India. A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey design was used in the present study. A questionnaire was developed to determine the criteria used for screening and diagnosing CAPD across clinics in India. Responses were obtained from 83 participants from all over India. Results indicated that 78% of respondents were currently doing CAPD evaluation. In that, the majority of respondents (63%) had a predetermined minimum battery that was relatively adaptable depending on the case history and age of the patient...

A room was treated to be predominantly retroreflective in the high frequency range by introducing arrays of cube corner retroreflectors (CCRs) over most surfaces (excluding the floor). In a small room (volume 55 m3), 156 CCRs in the form of square trihedra with 350 mm edge lengths were used as wall and ceiling treatment. The horizontal plane distribution of reflected energy was measured from omnidirectional sources, and a head and torso simulator was used to measure voice support. Results show a high concentration of reflected energy returned to omnidirectional source positions in high frequency octave bands (2-8 kHz)...

Objective: To analyze the clinical feature, diagnosis and treatment of Anca-associated vasculitis with ear symptoms. Methods: In this retrospective study, we summarized the clinical and laboratory examination, pure tone audiometry, aural immittance measurement, CT scan of temporal bone and treatment of 40 patients in the First Medical Center of the PLA General Hospital. Results: A total of 11 cases（27.5%） had the initial symptom in the ear. The most common symptoms were hearing loss, and the other symptoms included a sense of ear fullness, otorrhea and tinnitus...

Sound localization testing is key for comprehensive hearing evaluations, particularly in cases of suspected auditory processing disorders. However, sound localization is not commonly assessed in clinical practice, likely due to the complexity and size of conventional measurement systems, which require semicircular loudspeaker arrays in large and acoustically treated rooms. To address this issue, we investigated the feasibility of testing sound localization in virtual reality (VR). Previous research has shown that virtualization can lead to an increase in localization blur...

Pure-tone audiograms often poorly predict elderly humans' ability to communicate in everyday complex acoustic scenes. Binaural processing is crucial for discriminating sound sources in such complex acoustic scenes. The compromised perception of communication signals presented above hearing threshold has been linked to both peripheral and central age-related changes in the auditory system. Investigating young and old Mongolian gerbils of both sexes, an established model for human hearing, we demonstrate age-related supra-threshold deficits in binaural hearing using behavioral, electrophysiological, anatomical and imaging methods...

We report changes following auditory rehabilitation for interaural asymmetry (ARIA) training in behavioral test performance and cortical activation in children identified with dichotic listening deficits. In a one group pretest-posttest design, measures of dichotic listening, speech perception in noise, and frequency pattern identification were assessed before and 3 to 4.5 months after completing an auditory training protocol designed to improve binaural processing of verbal material. Functional MRI scans were also acquired before and after treatment while participants passively listened in silence or to diotic or dichotic digits...

INTRODUCTION: For the treatment of single-sided deafness (SSD), common treatment choices include a contralateral routing of signals (CROS) hearing aid, a bone conduction device (BCD), and a cochlear implant (CI). The primary aim of this study was to compare speech understanding in noise and binaural benefits in adults with postlingual SSD between preoperative unaided baseline, preoperative CROS and BCD trial devices, and CI, following recommendations from a consensus protocol. In addition, we investigated the effect of masker type on speech understanding...

Objectives: The ability to localize sound sources is crucial for everyday listening, as it contributes to spatial awareness and the detection of warning signs. Individuals with hearing impairment have poorer localization abilities, which further deteriorate when they are fitted with a hearing aid. Although numerous studies have addressed this phenomenon, there is a lack of systematic evidence. The aim of the current systematic review is to address the following research question, "Do behavioural measures of spatial hearing ability improve with bilateral hearing aid fitting compared to the unaided hearing condition?" Design: A comprehensive search was conducted by two independent authors utilizing electronic databases, using various electronic databases, covering the period of 1965 to 2022...

INTRODUCTION: An increasing number of original studies suggested that occupational noise exposure might be associated with the risk of hypertension, but the results remain inconsistent and inconclusive. In addition, the attributable fraction (AF) of occupational noise exposure has not been well quantified. We aimed to conduct a large-scale occupational population-based study to comprehensively investigate the relationship between occupational noise exposure and blood pressure and different hypertension subtypes and to estimate the AF for hypertension burden attributable to occupational noise exposure...

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Sound localization is an important ability in everyday life. This study investigates the influence of vision and presentation mode on auditory spatial bisection performance. Subjects were asked to identify the smaller perceived distance between three consecutive stimuli that were either presented via loudspeakers (free field) or via headphones after convolution with generic head-related impulse responses (binaural reproduction). Thirteen azimuthal sound incidence angles on a circular arc segment of ±24° at a radius of 3 m were included in three regions of space (front, rear, and laterally left)...

OBJECTIVE: To assess patient factors, audiometric performance, and patient-reported outcomes in cochlear implant (CI) patients who would not have qualified with in-quiet testing alone. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective chart review. SETTING: Tertiary referral center. METHODS: Adult CI recipients implanted between 2012 and 2022 were identified. Patients with preoperative AzBio Quiet > 60% in the implanted ear, requiring multitalker babble to qualify, comprised the in-noise qualifying (NQ) group...

Ambient sound can mask acoustic signals. The current study addressed how echolocation in people is affected by masking sound, and the role played by type of sound and spatial (i.e. binaural) similarity. We also investigated the role played by blindness and long-term experience with echolocation, by testing echolocation experts, as well as blind and sighted people new to echolocation. Results were obtained in two echolocation tasks where participants listened to binaural recordings of echolocation and masking sounds, and either localized echoes in azimuth or discriminated echo audibility...

PURPOSE: The inter-aural time difference (ITD) and inter-aural level difference (ILD) are important acoustic cues for horizontal localization and spatial release from masking. These cues are encoded based on inter-aural comparisons of tonotopically matched binaural inputs. Therefore, binaural coherence or the interaural spectro-temporal similarity is a pre-requisite for encoding ITD and ILD. The modulation depth of envelope is an important envelope characteristic that helps in encoding the envelope-ITD...

Introduction  Turner syndrome (TS) affects ∼ 1 in 2,500 live births. The presence of hearing alterations is one of the comorbidities found in this syndrome. Objective  The present study aimed to evaluate the central auditory abilities in TS and to associate the alterations found with the cytogenetic pattern of the syndrome. Methods  We included children and adults aged 9 to 39 years old, diagnosed with TS, with numerical or structural alterations of sex chromosomes in their karyotype...

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the effects of binaural beat music (BBM) on sleep quality, heart rate variability, and depression in older people with poor sleep quality in a long-term care institution. METHODS: A single-blind randomized controlled trial design was employed, and 64 older participants with poor sleep quality were recruited from a long-term care institution in Taiwan. Participants were randomized into the BBM group or control group and received 14 days of intervention...

The present study aimed to define use of head and eye movements during sound localization in children and adults to: (1) assess effects of stationary versus moving sound and (2) define effects of binaural cues degraded through acute monaural ear plugging. Thirty-three youth ( M Age  = 12.9 years) and seventeen adults ( M Age  = 24.6 years) with typical hearing were recruited and asked to localize white noise anywhere within a horizontal arc from -60° (left) to +60° (right) azimuth in two conditions (typical binaural and right ear plugged)...

BACKGROUND: Townes-Brocks syndrome (TBS) is a rare genetic disorder characterised by multiple malformations. Due to its phenotypic heterogeneity and rarity, diagnosis and recognition of TBS can be challenging and there has been a lack of investigation of patients with atypical TBS in large cohorts and delineation of their phenotypic characteristics. METHODS: We screened SALL1 and DACT1 variants using next-generation sequencing in the China Deafness Genetics Consortium (CDGC) cohort enrolling 20 666 unrelated hearing loss (HL) cases...