Design and preliminary testing of a visually guided hearing aid.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Kidd G
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3585754 | biostudies-other | 2013 Mar
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
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Project description:This study asked whether or not listeners with sensorineural hearing loss have an impaired ability to use top-down attention to enhance speech intelligibility in the presence of interfering talkers. Listeners were presented with a target string of spoken digits embedded in a mixture of five spatially separated speech streams. The benefit of providing simple visual cues indicating when and/or where the target would occur was measured in listeners with hearing loss, listeners with normal hearing, and a control group of listeners with normal hearing who were tested at a lower target-to-masker ratio to equate their baseline (no cue) performance with the hearing-loss group. All groups received robust benefits from the visual cues. The magnitude of the spatial-cue benefit, however, was significantly smaller in listeners with hearing loss. Results suggest that reduced utility of selective attention for resolving competition between simultaneous sounds contributes to the communication difficulties experienced by listeners with hearing loss in everyday listening situations.
| S-EPMC2644386 | biostudies-other
Project description:ObjectivesThis research aims to validate a modified visually based Montreal Cognitive Assessment for hearing-aid users (MoCA-HA). This population should be the target of cognitive screening due to high risk of developing dementia.DesignCase-control study.SettingThe participants were recruited from referral hearing-aid center and memory clinic in central London, United Kingdom.Participant75 hearing-aid users were recruited. Of these, thirty were cognitively intact controls with hearing impairment (NC-HI); thirty had mild cognitive impairment with hearing impairment (MCI-HI); fifteen had dementia with hearing impairment (D-HI).MeasurementsThe baseline characteristics and analysis of the MoCA-HA for the NC-HI were recorded. The MoCA-HA performance of the MCI-HI cohort and D-HI cohort were also studied.ResultsThe cutpoint of <26 yields 93.3% sensitivity with 80% specificity in distinguishing MCI-HI from NC-HI. The specificity increased to 95.6% in screening for all cognitive impairment (MCI-HI and D-HI) from NC-HI.ConclusionThe MoCA-HA has been validated with a cutpoint which is comparable to the traditional MoCA. This tool may help clinicians to early identify older adult hearing-aid users for appropriate cognitive evaluation.
| S-EPMC8406998 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to design and to verify a new hearing-aid fitting strategy (Aescu HRL-1) based on the acoustic features of Mandarin. The subjective and objective outcomes were compared to those fitted with NAL-NL1 (National Acoustic Laboratory Non-Linear, version1) in Mandarin-speaking hearing-aid users.DesignFifteen subjects with sensorineural hearing loss participated in this preliminary study. Each subject wore a pair of four-channel hearing aids fitted with the Aescu HRL-1 and NAL-NL1 prescriptions alternatively for 1 month. Objective and subjective tests including the Mandarin Monosyllable Recognition Test (MMRT), Mandarin Hearing in Noise Test (MHINT), International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids (IOI-HA), and a sound-quality questionnaire were used to evaluate the performance of the two prescriptions.ResultsThe mean MMRT scores were 79.9% and 81.1% for NAL-NL1 and Aescu HRL-1 respectively. They are not statistically different. The corresponding MHINT signal-to-noise ratios were 0.87 and 0.85 dB, also, no significant difference was found between these two strategies. However, in subjective questionnaires, overall, the sound-quality and IOI-HA scores were higher for Aescu HRL-1.ConclusionsThe speech recognition performance based on Aescu HRL-1 is as good as that of NAL-NL1 for Mandarin-speaking hearing-aid users. Moreover, the subjects generally responded that Aescu HRL-1 provides a more natural, richer, and better sound quality than does NAL-NL1.
| S-EPMC3835675 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Dissatisfaction with the sound of one's own voice is common among hearing-aid users. Little is known regarding how hearing impairment and hearing aids separately affect own-voice perception. This study examined own-voice perception and associated issues before and after a hearing-aid fitting for new hearing-aid users and refitting for experienced users to investigate whether it was possible to differentiate between the effect of (unaided) hearing impairment and hearing aids. Further aims were to investigate whether First-Time and Experienced users as well as users with dome and mold inserts differed in the severity of own-voice problems. The study had a cohort design with three groups: First-Time hearing-aid users going from unaided to aided hearing (n = 70), Experienced hearing-aid users replacing their old hearing aids (n = 70), and an unaided control group (n = 70). The control group was surveyed once and the hearing-aid users twice; once before hearing-aid fitting/refitting and once after. The results demonstrated that own-voice problems are common among both First-Time and Experienced hearing-aid users with either dome- or mold-type fittings, while people with near-normal hearing and not using hearing aids report few problems. Hearing aids increased ratings of own-voice problems among First-Time users, particularly those with mold inserts. The results suggest that altered auditory feedback through unaided hearing impairment or through hearing aids is likely both to change own-voice perception and complicate regulation of vocal intensity, but hearing aids are the primary reason for poor perceived sound quality of one's own voice.
| S-EPMC7887686 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Purpose Falls are considered a significant public health issue, and hearing loss has been shown to be an independent risk factor for falls. The primary objective of this study was to determine if hearing aid use modified (reduced) the association. We hypothesized that routine hearing aid use would reduce the impact of hearing loss on the odds of falling. If hearing aid users have reduced odds of falling, then that would have an important impact on falls prevention health care. Method Data from 8,091 individuals 40 years of age and older who completed National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) cycles 1999-2004 were used. NHANES comprises a series of cross-sectional studies, each of which is representative of the total civilian noninstitutionalized population of children and adults in the United States, enabling unbiased national estimates of health that can be independently reproduced. Self-reported hearing, hearing aid status, falls history, and comorbidities were extracted and analyzed using regression modeling. Results The 8,091 individuals were grouped based on a self-reported history of falls in the last year. Self-reported hearing loss was significantly associated with odds of falling. Categorizing individuals based on routine hearing aid use was included as an interaction term in the fully adjusted models and was not significant, suggesting no difference in falls based on hearing aid status. Conclusions The unique results of the current study show that when examining self-reported hearing in a nationally representative sample, hearing aid use does not appear to mitigate or modify the association between self-reported hearing and falls. Future research designs are highlighted to address limitations identified using NHANES data for this research and focus on the use of experimental designs to further understand the association between hearing loss and falls, including whether hearing loss may be a modifiable risk factor for falls. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.14642784.
| S-EPMC8642081 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background and objectivesThe relationship between hearing aid (HA) use and improvement in cognitive function is not fully known. This study aimed to determine whether HAs could recover temporal resolution or hearing in noise functions. Materials and.MethodsWe designed a prospective study with two groups: HA users and controls. Patients older than 45 years, with a pure tone average threshold of worse than 40 dB and a speech discrimination score better than 60% in both ears were eligible. Central auditory processing tests and hearing in noise tests (HINTs) were evaluated at the beginning of the study and 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after the use of a monaural HA in the HA group compared to the control group. The changes in the evaluation parameters were statistically analyzed using the linear mixed model.ResultsA total of 26 participants (13 in the HA and 13 in the control group) were included in this study. The frequency (p<0.01) and duration test (p=0.02) scores showed significant improvements in the HA group after 1 year, while the HINT scores showed no significant change.ConclusionsAfter using an HA for one year, patients performed better on temporal resolution tests. No improvement was documented with regard to hearing in noise.
| S-EPMC8311061 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Alert signals like sirens and home alarms are important as they warn people of precarious situations. This work presents the detection and separation of these acoustically important alert signals, not to be attenuated as noise, to assist the hearing impaired listeners. The proposed method is based on convolutional neural network (CNN) and convolutional-recurrent neural network (CRNN). The developed method consists of two blocks, the detector block, and the separator block. The entire setup is integrated with speech enhancement (SE) algorithms, and before the compression stage, used in a hearing aid device (HAD) signal processing pipeline. The detector recognizes the presence of alert signal in various noisy environments. The separator block separates the alert signal from the mixture of noisy signals before passing it through SE to ensure minimal or no attenuation of the alert signal. It is implemented on a smartphone as an application that seamlessly works with HADs in real-time. This smartphone assistive setup allows the hearing aid users to know the presence of the alert sounds even when these are out of sight. The algorithm is computationally efficient with a low processing delay. The key contribution of this paper includes the development and integration of alert signal separator block with SE and the realization of the entire setup on a smartphone in real-time. The proposed method is compared with several state-of-the-art techniques through objective measures in various noisy conditions. The experimental analysis demonstrates the effectiveness and practical usefulness of the developed setup in real-world noisy scenarios.
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Project description:ObjectiveIf the benefits of newborn hearing screening and early intervention are to be fully realized, there is a need to understand the challenges of hearing aid management in infants. The aim was to investigate longitudinal changes in hearing aid use and hearing aid management challenges in very young infants.DesignEighty-one primarily female (99%) caregivers of infant hearing aid users completed a questionnaire about hearing aid management experiences, first when their infants were 3 to 7 months old (1 to 6 months after hearing aid fitting) and again at 7 to 21 months of age. Hearing aid data logging was compared with caregiver reports of daily use for 66 infants.ResultsThe main hearing aid management challenges reported by caregivers were performing listening checks and troubleshooting. These challenges reduced over the approximately 5-month time period but remained a problem with around a quarter of respondents still not confident or unsure about troubleshooting, and around a third not performing a daily listening check. Mean daily hearing aid use, obtained from data logging, declined significantly over time from 6.6 to 5.3 hours. Further analysis revealed reduced hearing aid use was primarily among infants with profound losses (n = 11). Caregivers overestimated daily hours of use at both time points. Caregivers reported difficulty with the infants pulling out their hearing aids, especially at the later time point.ConclusionsThe findings from this relatively large sample of caregivers of young infants, assessed at two time points, revealed significant challenges in hearing aid management, including highly variable daily hearing aid use. Interventions that use behavior change techniques may be needed to ensure intentions are consistently turned into successful actions, if the benefits of newborn hearing screening and early intervention are to be fully realized.
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Project description:Iontophoretic application of norepinephrine (NE) into the primary visual cortex (V1) in vivo reduces spontaneous and evoked activity, without changing the functional selectivity of cortical units. One possible consequence of this phenomenon is that adrenergic receptors (ARs) regulate the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of neural responses in this circuit. However, despite such strong inhibitory action of NE on neuronal firing patterns in V1, its specific action on visual behavior has not been studied. Furthermore, the majority of observations regarding cortical NE from in vivo recordings have been performed in anesthetized animals and have not been tested behaviorally. Here, we describe how micro-infusion of AR agonists/antagonists into mouse V1 influences visually-guided behavior at different contrasts and spatial frequencies. We found that cortical activation of α1- and β-AR produced a substantial reduction in visual discrimination performance at high contrasts and low spatial frequencies, consistent with a divisive effect. This reduction was reversible and was accompanied by a rise in escape latencies as well as an increase in the group averaged choice variance as a function of stimulus contrast. We conclude that pharmacological activation of cortical AR regulates visual perception and adaptive behavior through a divisive gain control of visual responses.
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