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Recovery of differential light sensitivity following surgery for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment.

Sixteen patients with phakic, nontraumatic rhegmatogenous retinal detachment were used in a prospective study on the change of the visual field following surgical treatment of the disease. The differential light threshold was measured across the visual field before and after surgery up to 1 year by means of the Octopus automated static perimeter. The visual sensitivity recovered prominently in the initial one to two months, followed by a slight improvement for up to a year. The final prognosis of visual sensitivity was correlated with the duration of detachment, but not with its extent or height. The recovery in the peripheral visual field was less remarkable, with residual slight defect. There was more improvement in visual sensitivity at the fovea than in visual acuity.

Adult↗

Temporal-gap detection by cochlear prosthesis users.

Minimum-detectable gaps for sinusoidal stimuli were measured for three users of a multi electrode cochlear prosthesis as functions of stimulus level, frequency, and electrode place within the cochlea. Stimulus level was scaled by sensation level and by growth-of-loudness functions generated for each condition by direct magnitude estimation. Minimum-detectable gaps decreased with increase in either sensation level or loudness, up to a plateau. When compared at equal sensation levels, the minimum-detectable gaps decreased with frequency increases. The frequency effect on minimum-detectable gaps is reduced if the data are considered at equal loudness. Comparison across place of stimulation within the cochlea showed minimum-detectable gaps to be shorter for more basal electrode placement at low stimulus levels. No differences in minimum-detectable gap as a function of place were found at higher stimulus levels.

Adult↗

Performance of some of the better cochlear-implant patients.

The main purpose of this study was to provide an independent corroboration of open-set word recognition in some of the better cochlear-implant patients. These included the Chorimac, Nucleus (one group from the U.S.A. and one group from Hannover, Germany), Symbion, Duren/Cologne and 3M/Vienna implants. Three experiments are reported: (1) word recognition in word lists and in sentences; (2) environmental sound perception, and (3) gap detection. On word recognition, the scores of 6 Chorimac patients averaged 2.5% words and 0.7% words in sentences correct in the French tests. In the German tests, the scores averaged 17% words and 10% words in sentences for 10 Duren/Cologne patients, 15% words and 16% words in sentences for 9 3M/Vienna patients, and 10% words and 16% words in sentences (3% to 26%) for 10 Nucleus/Hannover patients. In the English tests, the scores averaged 11% words and 29.6% words in sentences for 10 Nucleus-U.S.A. patients, and 13.7% words and 35.7% words in sentences for the 9 Symbion patients. The ability to recognize recorded environmental sounds was measured with a closed set of 18 sounds. Performance averaged 23% correct for Chorimac patients, 41% correct for 3M/Vienna patients, 44% correct for Nucleus/Hannover patients, 21% correct for Duren/Cologne patients, 58% correct for Nucleus/U.S.A. patients, and 83% correct for Symbion patients. A multidimensional scaling analysis suggested that patients were, in part, utilizing information about the envelope and about the periodic/aperiodic nature of some of the sounds. Gap detection thresholds with a one-octave wide noise centered at 500 Hz varied widely among patients. Typically, patients with gap thresholds less than 40 ms showed a wide range of performance on speech perception tasks, whereas patients with gap-detection thresholds greater than 40 ms showed poor word recognition skills.

Adolescent↗

Acoustic echoplanar scanner noise and pure tone hearing thresholds: the effects of sequence repetition times and acoustic noise rates.

PURPOSE: Our goal was to determine the effects of acoustic echoplanar scanner noise on pure tone hearing thresholds in normal volunteers and to determine the influence of echoplanar sequence repetition time on threshold effects. METHOD: With use of a calibrated audiometer, pure tones ranging from 125 to 8,000 Hz were delivered monaurally to 10 normal-hearing volunteers in a quiet MR scanner suite and in the presence of acoustic scanner noise produced by three separate single shot blipped echoplanar pulse sequences varying only in repetition time (TR = 1,000, 2,000, or 3,000 ms), with all other parameters including the number of slices held constant. The magnitude of noise-induced threshold changes and the slopes of the threshold curves produced by each of the three echoplanar pulse sequences were then analyzed using multiple comparisons and a least significant difference method. The shapes of the threshold curves produced in each background state were best fit using a quadratic effect for frequency in a mixed effects linear model and compared using F test statistics. RESULTS: All of the volunteers demonstrated entirely normal hearing thresholds throughout the full range of tonal frequencies tested (< 25 dB) when no acoustic scanner noise was present in the scanner suite. Pure tone hearing thresholds significantly increased (p < 0.01) in the presence of acoustic scanner noise, with the magnitude of change inversely proportional to the repetition time and therefore the rate of periodic noise production by the echoplanar sequence used. The shape of the threshold curve in the presence of noise produced by the 1,000 ms TR sequence was not equivalent across the frequency spectrum tested but had a quadratic distribution with peak effects at 750-2,000 Hz. As the repetition time was increased and the periodic noise rate decreased, the magnitude of the noise-induced threshold changes significantly lessened (p < 0.01) and the quadratic distributions of the threshold curves changed significantly (p < 0.01), tending toward a more planar configuration. CONCLUSION: Background acoustic echoplanar scanner noise can significantly increase pure tone thresholds in the optimal frequency hearing range (125-8,000 Hz). However, the threshold effects are not equivalent across the frequency spectrum, and the magnitude of threshold changes is dependent on the rate at which periodic acoustic scanner noises are produced for a given sequence repetition time.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Effects of bone oscillator coupling method, placement location, and occlusion on bone-conduction auditory steady-state responses in infants.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of these experiments was to investigate procedures used when estimating bone-conduction thresholds in infants. The objectives were: (i) to investigate the variability in force applied using two common bone-oscillator coupling methods and to determine whether coupling method affects threshold estimation, (ii) to examine effects of bone-oscillator placement on bone-conduction ASSR thresholds, and (iii) to determine whether the occlusion effect is present in infants by comparing bone-conduction ASSR thresholds for unoccluded and occluded ears. DESIGN: Experiment 1A: The variability in the amount of force applied to the bone oscillator by trained assistants (n = 4) for elastic-band and hand-held coupling methods was measured. Experiment 1B: Bone-conduction behavioral thresholds in 10 adults were compared for two coupling methods. Experiment 1C: ASSR thresholds and amplitudes to multiple bone-conduction stimuli were compared in 10 infants (mean age: 17 wk) using two coupling methods. Experiment 2: Bone-conduction ASSR thresholds and amplitudes were compared for temporal, mastoid and forehead oscillator placements in 15 preterm infants (mean age: 35 wk postconceptual age (PCA)). Experiment 3: Bone-conduction ASSR thresholds, amplitudes and phase delays were compared in 13 infants (mean age: 15 wk) for an unoccluded and occluded test ear. All infants that participated had passed a hearing screening test. RESULTS: Experiment 1A: Coupling method did not significantly affect the variability in force applied to the oscillator. Experiment 1B: There were no differences in adult bone-conduction behavioural thresholds between coupling methods. Experiment 1C: There was no significant difference between oscillator coupling method or significant frequency x coupling method interaction for ASSR thresholds or amplitudes in the young infants tested. However, there was a nonsignificant 9-dB better threshold at 4000 Hz for the elastic-band method. Experiment 2: Mean bone-conduction ASSR thresholds for the preterm infants were not significantly different for the temporal and mastoid placements. Mean ASSR thresholds for the forehead placement were significantly higher compared to the other two placements (12-18 dB higher on average). Mean ASSR amplitudes were significantly larger for the temporal and mastoid placements compared to the forehead placement. Experiment 3: There was no difference in mean ASSR thresholds, amplitudes or phase delays for the unoccluded versus occluded conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Trained assistants can apply an appropriate amount of force to the bone oscillator using either the elastic-band or hand-held method. Coupling method has no significant effect on estimation of bone-conduction thresholds; therefore, either may be used clinically provided assistants are appropriately trained. For preterm infants, there are no differences in ASSRs when the oscillator is positioned at the temporal or mastoid placement. However, thresholds are higher and amplitudes are smaller for the forehead placement, consequently, a forehead placement should be avoided for clinical testing. There does not appear to be a significant occlusion effect in young infants; therefore, it may be possible to do bone-conduction testing with ears unoccluded or occluded without applying a correction factor, although further research is needed to confirm this finding.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Sensitivity to isolated and concurrent intensity and fundamental frequency increments by cochlear implant users under natural listening conditions.

Sensitivity to acoustic cues in cochlear implant (CI) listening under natural conditions is a potentially complex interaction between a number of simultaneous factors, and may be difficult to predict. In the present study, sensitivity was measured under conditions that approximate those of natural listening. Synthesized words having increases in intensity or fundamental frequency (F0) in a middle stressed syllable were presented in soundfield to normal-hearing listeners and to CI listeners using their everyday speech processors and programming. In contrast to the extremely fine sensitivity to electrical current observed when direct stimulation of single electrodes is employed, difference limens (DLs) for intensity were larger for the CI listeners by a factor of 2.4. In accord with previous work, F0 DLs were larger by almost one order of magnitude. In a second experiment, it was found that the presence of concurrent intensity and F0 increments reduced the mean DL to half that of either cue alone for both groups of subjects, indicating that both groups combine concurrent cues with equal success. Although sensitivity to either cue in isolation was not related to word recognition in CI users, the listeners having lower combined-cue thresholds produced better word recognition scores.

Adult↗

Rapid resetting of aortic nerves in conscious rabbits.

The effect of increased arterial pressure on aortic depressor nerve activity was studied in the conscious rabbit. Aortic baroreceptor resetting was observed following 15 min of sustained pressure elevation. At 15 min, there was a significant increase in the threshold arterial pressure for aortic nerve activity, but peak nerve activity did not change. This resulted in an increase in the slope of the pressure-nerve activity relationship. Therefore, except for peak nerve activity, aortic nerve activity was reduced at all pressures following 15 min of sustained pressure elevation. At 30 min, peak nerve activity also increased, resulting in a parallel shift in the pressure-activity curve. The early increase in slope of the pressure-activity relationship may be due to an early resetting of low threshold fibers with a high pressure differential between their threshold pressure and the sustained pressure elevation used to induce resetting. A late resetting of high threshold fibers with a low pressure differential between their threshold pressures and the pressure used to cause resetting of baroreceptors results in a parallel shift in the curve observed at 30 min. These data obtained from multiunit recordings provide unexpected evidence about baroreceptor resetting, which is not apparent from single-unit recordings.

Animals↗

Frequency discrimination training: is there ear symmetry?

While it is well documented that significant improvements in a frequency discrimination task occur following training of normal-hearing adult subjects, less is known about the symmetry between the ears. The objectives of the present study were (1) to compare the first obtained DLF thresholds between left and right ears, (2) to determine whether single-session training would result in similar improvements in those subjects trained in the right ear versus those trained in the left ear, and (3) to evaluate the generalization of learning to the untrained ear and compare its extent between the left and right ears. Two groups of 10 normal-hearing subjects participated in a single-session training. One group of 10 subjects was trained in the left ear and the second group of 10 additional subjects was trained in the right ear. Single-session training consisted of 10 difference limen frequency (DLF) thresholds for 1 kHz using a two-interval, two-alternative forced choice paradigm. Generalization to the untrained ear was tested 24 hours post-training. Our results show that: (1) No significant differences were found in the first obtained DLF thresholds between left and right ears; (2) Similar improvement in DLF thresholds occurred in both ears for single-session training; and (3) Twenty-four hours post-training, learning generalized to the untrained ear with similar generalization to both ears. Future studies are required in order to establish whether this symmetry is maintained with verbal stimuli and/or after multi-session training.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Differential recognition and activation thresholds in human autoreactive GAD-specific T-cells.

The activation requirements of autoreactive CD4(+) T-cells were investigated in GAD65-specific HLA-DR0401-restricted clones derived from a diabetic patient using major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II tetramers (TMrs) as stimulating agents. Despite the fact that TMrs loaded with an immunodominant-altered GAD peptide (TMr-GAD) bound a limited number of T-cell receptors, they were capable of efficiently delivering activation signals. These signals ranged from the early steps of phospholipase C (PLC)-gamma(1) phosphorylation and Ca(2+) mobilization to more complex events, such as CD69 upregulation, cytokine mRNA transcription and secretion, and proliferation. All the effects triggered by TMr-GAD were dose dependent. On the contrary, [(3)H]-thymidine incorporation decreased at high TMr-GAD concentrations because of activation-induced cell death (AICD) after initial proliferation. Lower-avidity clones (as defined by TMr-GAD binding) were less sensitive to activation as well as less susceptible to AICD compared with higher-avidity clones. Induction of apoptosis is a potential immunomodulatory target for therapeutic applications of MHC class II multimers, but the relative resistance of low-avidity T-cells may limit its benefits.

Apoptosis↗

Correcting for factors affecting ABR wave V latency.

The latency of auditory brainstem response (ABR) wave V has been shown to be affected by several subject and technical factors. Previous studies have often concluded with a recommendation to account or correct for one or more of these factors when latency is used as a means of detecting retrocochlear dysfunction. This study investigated the effect of subject age, sex, hearing loss and stimulus intensity on ABR wave V latency in a group of 189 clinical subjects in whom retrocochlear disease was effectively excluded. Regression analysis showed that all four factors exerted a significant influence on latency and that hearing loss and intensity were most effectively represented when combined to form a sensation level variable, together with a measure of audiogram slope.

Acoustic Stimulation↗