Journal of the American Academy of Audiology

BACKGROUND: Falls are a major health concern with potentially dramatic consequences for people over 65 years of age. One crucial determinant in the risk of falls in older adults is postural control, a complex process that requires the contribution of different sensory modalities, namely visual, vestibular, auditory, and somatosensory. While there are well established methods to screen for age-related vision, hearing, tactile and vestibular impairments, there are very few widely available methods to screen for somatosensory function, but studies indicate that ankle audiometry (vibration thresholds) using a common B-71 bone vibrator can serve that purpose...

PURPOSE: The goal of this commentary is to present to audiologists the recent consensus definition of misophonia along with current clinical measures useful for audiologists in the diagnosis of misophonia. Up and coming behavioral methods that may be sensitive to misophonia are highlighted. Finally, a call is put out for translational audiologic research with the goal of developing diagnostic criteria for misophonia. METHOD: The approach to the consensus definition is described, as well as the main characteristics of misophonia agreed upon by the expert panel...

BACKGROUND: It was evaluated the effects of COVID-19 on the cochlea and auditory efferent system with Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emission (TEOAE) and Contralateral Suppression (CS) Test in this research. PURPOSE: We aimed to evaluate the pre- and post-COVID-19 Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emission and Contralateral Suppression results in the same participants to reveal the effect of COVID-19 on the efferent auditory system. STUDY DESIGN: The CS measurement was performed twice for each participant before a diagnosis of COVID-19 and after treatment of COVID-19 as a within-subjects study design...

BACKGROUND: There is a well-known metric to describe average/normal vision, 20/20, but the same agreed upon standard does not exist for hearing. The pure tone average has been advocated for such a metric. PURPOSE: We aimed to use a data driven approach to inform a universal metric for hearing status based on pure tone audiometry and perceived hearing difficulty (PHD). RESEARCH DESIGN: Cross-sectional national representative survey of the civilian non-institutionalized population in the United States...

BACKGROUND: In the UK, audiologist-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a key intervention to alleviate the distress caused by tinnitus and its comorbid hyperacusis. However, the availability of face-to-face CBT is limited, and such therapy involves significant costs. CBT provided via the internet provides a potential solution to improve access to CBT for tinnitus. PURPOSE: The aim was to perform a preliminary assessment of the effect of a specific program of non-guided internet-based CBT for tinnitus, denoted iCBT(T), in alleviating the problems caused by tinnitus alone or tinnitus combined with hyperacusis...

BACKGROUND: Exploding Head Syndrome (EHS) is characterised by hearing a sudden loud noise or experiencing a sense of explosion in head during the transition of sleep-wake or wake-sleep. The experience of EHS shares similarities with tinnitus, where an individual perceives a sound without any sound source. To the authors' knowledge, the possible relationship between EHS and tinnitus has not been explored. PURPOSE: Preliminary assessment of prevalence of EHS and its related factors among patients seeking help for tinnitus and/or hyperacusis...

The American Academy of Audiology recommends early identification of congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) through screening to allow for appropriate early diagnosis, intervention, and monitoring for congenital, progressive, and delayed-onset hearing loss in infants with cCMV.Early identification of cCMV is a valuable component in the diagnostic evaluation of infants with sensorineural hearing loss. The Academy recognizes the important role audiologists serve as clinical care providers and educators and advocates for early identification and audiological management of infants with cCMV...

BACKGROUND: Cervical Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials (cVEMPs) are inhibitory myogenic responses that have commonly been elicited using a variety of stimuli. Yet, the comparison of the effects of multi-frequency tone bursts and narrowband Claus Elberling chirps (NB CE-chirps) on cVEMPs has never been studied in homogeneous age groups. PURPOSE: The present study focused on comparing the effect of multi-frequency NB CE-chirps and tone bursts on the various parameters of cVEMP responses in normal-hearing younger adults...

Background Cases of self-reported hearing difficulty despite normal audiometric results have risen with the return of Veterans from recent conflicts in Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation New Dawn. Auditory outcomes improved despite low compliance among those receiving treatment. Medical chart data appeared more comprehensive for Veterans with, rather than without, auditory complaints. One possibility is that self-reported hearing problems are associated with a subset of these comorbidities, the treatment of which improved auditory outcomes...

BACKGROUND:  Remote-microphone (RM) systems are designed to reduce the impact of poor acoustics on speech understanding. However, there is limited research examining the effects of adding reverberation to noise on speech understanding when using hearing aids (HAs) and RM systems. Given the significant challenges posed by environments with poor acoustics for children who are hard of hearing, we evaluated the ability of a novel RM system to address the effects of noise and reverberation...

BACKGROUND: There is an increasing need to evaluate the quality of life of hearing-impaired individuals. However, most of the generic "quality of life" questionnaires do not include communication-related questions. Recently, a new "Meaning of Life" questionnaire was developed to measure quality of life based on everyday issues, enabling a comprehensive evaluation of tinnitus patients and cochlear implant users. A Chinese version of this questionnaire for the Mandarin population is needed...

BACKGROUND:  Studies examining face processing among individuals with congenital deafness show inconsistent results that are often accounted for by sign language skill. However, working memory for faces as an aspect of face processing has not yet been examined in congenital deafness. PURPOSE:  To explore working memory for faces among individuals with congenital deafness who are skilled in sign language. RESEARCH DESIGN:  A quasi-experimental study of individuals with congenital deafness and a control group...

BACKGROUND:  Upward shift in the air conducted (AC) frequency tuning of vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) as an effect of aging is hypothesized to be due to the microstructural stiffening changes in the inner ear. However, with an AC stimulus, it may be possible that the shift in the frequency tuning of VEMPs as an effect of aging may also be due to contributions from the middle ear. PURPOSE:  The main aim of this study was to examine the effects of age on the frequency tuning of the cervical VEMP (cVEMP) and ocular VEMP (oVEMP) and determine the role of middle ear transmission characteristics in shaping these effects...

BACKGROUND:  Mal de Debarquement Syndrome (MdDS) has a stereotypical presentation of symptoms including continuous rocking/swaying sensations described as feeling like one is "still on the boat," following travel, especially on water vessels. MdDS is even more notorious for the duration of symptoms that can persist months or years, and historically this condition has escaped effective treatments. PURPOSE:  This case study presents a case of classic MdDS that was effectively treated in an Audiology-Vestibular clinic...

The condition of PPPD is a common chronic vestibular disorder that is thought to be due to a central vestibular maladaptation. The condition is frequently encountered in those with a history of migraine, anxiety or panic attacks. Many cases of PPPD are preceded by vestibular disorders with vestibular migraine thought to precede at least 20% of cases.1 Those with a history of migraine have been shown to have difficulties with sensory integration, habituation and intolerance to stimuli. This often leads to discomfort associated with some vestibular test procedures...

BACKGROUND:  Over 1 billion young adults are at risk for developing noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) due to their habit of listening to music at loud levels. The gold standard for detecting NIHL is the audiometric notch around 3,000 to 6,000 Hz observed in pure tone audiogram. However, recent studies suggested that suprathreshold auditory measures might be more sensitive to detect early-stage NIHL in young adults. PURPOSE:  The present study compared suprathreshold measures in individuals with high and low noise exposure backgrounds (NEBs)...

BACKGROUND: Irrelevant sound or speech effect (ISE) affects an individual's serial recall task of visual and auditory presentations. Cartoon soundscape mimics irrelevant sound effect hypothesis. A constant and repeated exposure to cartoons in early childhood should influence children's auditory learning or recall performance. PURPOSE: To investigate the effects of cartoons' soundscape irrelevant sound effects on young children's auditory processing and working memory skills...

BACKGROUND: Vestibular migraine (VM) is one of the common causes of episodic dizziness, but it is underdiagnosed and poorly understood. Previous research suggests that otolith reflex pathway performance is often impaired in this patient group, leading to altered perception of roll plane stimuli. Clinically, this perception can be measured with subjective visual vertical (SVV) testing. PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to compare static SVV performance (absolute mean SVV tilt, variance) in a cohort of patients diagnosed with VM to results obtained from clinically derived normative data...

Objectives The objective of the present study was to describe pressurised wideband absorbance at tympanometric peak pressure (WBATPP) and 0 daPa (WBA0) in healthy Caucasian neonates. Subjects: A total of 249 ears from 249 neonates who passed a test battery of 1000-Hz tympanometry, distortion product otoacoustic emissions and automated auditory brainstem response were included in the study. Method: WBATPP and WBA0 were averaged in one-third octave frequencies from 0.25 to 8 kHz. Data were statistically analysed for effects of frequency, ear and gender...

PURPOSE: This study aimed to determine parents' perception of the behavioral and auditory performance differences of children with hearing loss and anxiety levels of children and their parents during the pandemic. RESEARCH DESIGN: This is a cross-sectional study. STUDY SAMPLE: The study included 75 parents who have preschool-aged children with hearing loss. The inclusion criteria were being a family member of a child with hearing loss between the ages of one and six years...