Biomedical subjects

W Thumfart

Publications and source records attributed to W Thumfart.

41 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

Comparison of the TEMPO+ ear-level speech processor and the cis pro+ body-worn processor in adult MED-EL cochlear implant users.

A study was conducted to compare the new MED-EL TEMPO+ ear-level speech processor with the CIS PRO+ body-worn processor in the COMBI 40/COMBI 40+ implant system. Speech tests were performed in 46 experienced subjects in two test sessions approximately 4 weeks apart. Subjects were switched over from the CIS PRO+ to the TEMPO+ in the first session and used only the TEMPO+ in the time between the two sessions. Speech tests included monosyllabic word tests and sentence tests via the telephone. An adaptive noise method was used to adjust each subject's scores to approximately 50%. Additionally, subjects had to complete a questionnaire based on their 4 weeks of experience with the TEMPO+. The speech test results showed a statistically significant improvement in the monosyllabic word scores with the TEMPO+. In addition, in the second session, subjects showed a significant improvement when using the telephone with the TEMPO+, indicating some learning in this task. In the questionnaire, the vast majority of subjects found that the TEMPO+ allows equal or better speech understanding and rated the sound quality of the TEMPO+ higher. All these objective and subjective results indicate the superiority of the TEMPO+ and are mainly attributed to a new coding strategy called CIS+ and its implementation in the TEMPO+. In other words, based on the results of this study, it appears that after switching over from the CIS PRO+ to the TEMPO+, subjects are able to maintain or even improve their own speech understanding capability.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Speech understanding in quiet and in noise with the CIS speech coding strategy (MED-EL Combi-40) compared to the multipeak and spectral peak strategies (nucleus).

This study compares sentence understanding in quiet and in noise with 3 different speech coding strategies for cochlear implants. The results show that the spectral-peak (SPEAK) and continuous-interleaved-sampling (CIS) coding strategies, based on spectral signal analysis, allow for better speech understanding in quiet as well as in noise, than the multipeak (MPEAK) coding strategy, which relys on speech feature extraction. In the intrasubject comparison of the MPEAK and SPEAK strategies, the SPEAK coding strategy provided a considerable improvement in quiet and in noise for the majority of patients using the Nucleus 22 Mini-implant. In the intersubject comparisons, the mean results in noise with the CIS strategy were superior to both the MPEAK and the SPEAK strategies. The difference was greatest for the most difficult tests in noise. Understanding in noise was least reduced for the CIS strategy. Understanding in quiet was not significantly different between the CIS and the SPEAK strategies; both strategies were significantly better than the MPEAK strategy in quiet. These results are still preliminary, due to the relatively small number of patients and the great inherent intersubject variability of results.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Evaluation of performance with the COMBI40 cochlear implant in adults: a multicentric clinical study.

The present multicentric clinical study involves 19 centres, 16 of them in German-speaking countries, 1 British, 1 Polish and 1 Hungarian. 60 postlingually deafened adults with a mean age of 47.5 years (20-70) and mean duration of deafness of 5.3 years (0.5-20) have been evaluated with the MED-EL COMBI 40 cochlear implant which implements a high-rate continuous-interleaved-sampling strategy with 8 channels. Safety and effectiveness data have been collected. Speech perception tests include a 16-consonant, an 8-vowel, a sentence and a monosyllabic-word test in all languages and a 2-digit figure test in all languages but English. Test intervals are 1, 3, 6 months and 1 year after first fitting. 41 of the 60 postlingually deafened adult study patients have completed their 6-month evaluation. While their pre-operative monosyllabic-word score was 0%, their mean monosyllabic-word score 6 months after first fitting was 48% (8-90) with a median of 50%. The mean sentence understanding was 84% (24-100) with a median of 90%. The respective values for the 1-year evaluations with 25 patients are a mean of 50% (5-85), with a median of 60% for the monosyllables and a mean of 89% (30-100), with a median of 97%, for the sentences.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Smell and taste thresholds in older people].

The smell and taste ability of 105 persons at an age of 65 to 93 years was examined by adequate qualitative and semiquantitative chemical and electrogustometric methods. The basic levels of seniors were found above the levels of younger people. For the sense of smelling a significant connection of age and smell sensitivity could be measured. There was no difference between men and women using chemical test methods. With electrogustometry, however, women had a better taste sensitivity than men. At the age of 65 the taste levels are at a fix point. No higher levels could be realized in older persons. A significant reduction of smell ability was recognized in persons with reduction of cerebral blood flow and in smokers. The taste ability was disturbed in cases of diabetes, in persons using dental prostheses and selectively for "salty" in cases of hypertonia and "bitter" in smokers. Loss of taste was recognized in two women who used NaF-drugs, but also some other drugs were able to induce smell and taste alteration.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[The chemical senses of smell and taste in the course of life - changes of smell and taste perception].

Based on own experiments and on the results of other laboratories changes of olfactory and gustatory perception throughout the life span are discussed. Similar to other modalities gustatory and olfactory thresholds generally rise while age increases. Certain gustatory substances (amino acids), however, show a decrease of thresholds if 70 years old subjects are compared with 20 years old ones. Preference for certain odorants (strawberry, vanillin) are reported to increase in higher age (after initial higher peaks in young age).

Adolescent↗