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PubMed1986

Individual data from the 3M/Vienna extracochlear implant.

Five patients who received the 3M/Vienna extracochlear implant were given a standard battery of tests before and after implantation. Pure-tone audiograms, hearing aid evaluation, and promontory threshold and dynamic range stimulation were conducted to evaluate implant candidacy and to determine whether a particular patient met the criteria for inclusion in the study. Speech reading tests were also given before implantation. Postimplantation testing consisted of thresholds and tolerance levels for pure tones and speech reading with and without acoustic stimulation. Tests on environmental sounds, speech discrimination, and word discrimination were scored. Minimal Auditory Capabilities (MAC) Battery scores were determined on MAC, I, II, IV, V, VII, VIII, and XII subtests over several time intervals (sessions). The hearing results varied greatly among patients. All five patients expressed satisfaction and are presently wearing their units.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Long-term effects of multichannel cochlear implant usage.

A major concern regarding multichannel (multi-electrode) cochlear prosthesis usage has been the possibility of long-term deleterious physiological effects such as the degeneration of spiral ganglion cells, neuronal degeneration, and new bone formation. These effects, if present, would become evident in the deterioration of hearing sensation and performance of the cochlear implant recipient on a battery of audiologic tests. To date, five patients using the Australian multi-electrode multichannel cochlear implant have undergone a 1-year evaluation of the device. The assessment includes a check of electrical threshold and comfort levels for each electrode, sound field pure tone and speech thresholds, the MAC battery, vowel and consonant recognition tests, and speech tracking tasks. All results were compared to those obtained postoperatively following stimulation and a 3-month training period. Results to date have shown no deterioration in implant functioning in all patients tested. Periodic extensive monitoring of all implant recipients is advocated in order to evaluate the possibility of long-term effects.

Audiometry, Pure-Tone↗
PubMed1992

Promontory electrical stimulation in postoperative acoustic tumor patients.

Complete deafness can follow acoustic tumor surgery and results from labyrinthine injury, auditory nerve trauma, and/or vascular compromise. A central auditory prosthesis is one potential rehabilitative strategy in such patients. Anatomical studies suggest that some spiral ganglion cells may survive after vascular occlusion, and we have demonstrated responses to electrical stimulation in patients after labyrinthectomy. It was thus hypothesized that patients deafened after a hearing conservation attempt, but maintaining an intact auditory nerve, could utilize an intracochlear implant. To investigate this possibility, promontory electrical stimulation was performed on three patients who had tumors less than 2 cm and who had serviceable preoperative hearing, but no responses postoperatively. Behavioral responses and electrically evoked auditory brainstem and middle latency responses were obtained from two patients, one of whom was 6 years postsurgery. These data indicate that a cochlear implant may be possible after acoustic tumor surgery.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Some forms of tinnitus may involve the extralemniscal auditory pathway.

It has previously been shown that the click-evoked responses recorded from the intracranial portion of the eighth nerve in patients with incapacitating tinnitus are not abnormal, nor is the latency of peak III of the click-evoked brainstem auditory-evoked potentials significantly altered; however, the latency of peak V is slightly (but significantly) shortened in comparison to that of patients with the same degree of hearing loss but no tinnitus. In this study the hypothesis that the extralemniscal auditory system is involved in the generation of tinnitus is tested. We made use of the fact that neurons of the extralemniscal auditory system also receive input from the somatosensory system, and that stimulation of the somatosensory system can influence the processing of auditory information in the extralemniscal system. In 4 of 26 patients with mild-to-severe tinnitus whose median nerve was stimulated electrically, the tinnitus increased noticeably during stimulation, in 6 the intensity of the tinnitus decreased noticeably, and in the remaining 16 there was no noticeable change in the tinnitus. In some of the patients the character of the tinnitus changed in a complex way. There were no significant differences in hearing thresholds in these three groups of patients. Electrical stimulation of the median nerve in 12 individuals with normal hearing who did not have tinnitus either had no effect on the loudness of sounds or it caused a slight increase in the loudness.

Auditory Pathways↗
PubMed2006

Effects of musical experience on different components of MEG responses elicited by sequential piano-tones and chords.

Magnetoencephalographic (MEG) studies have revealed enhancement of neural activity of the N1m response of auditory evoked fields in long-term trained musicians, reflecting neuroplastic modification of the representation of the auditory cortex. In contrast, the amplitude of the P2 response of auditory evoked potentials is modified by musical experience, with no alteration of N1. Here, we performed a comprehensive MEG study using stimulation of successive musical-instrument tones to examine how the neural activities of different MEG responses are modified in long-term experienced musicians who commenced musical lessons at ages of approximately 5 years and had continued to practice. The dipole moment of the P2m response occurring at 160-180 ms was significantly enlarged in musicians compared with that in individuals who had not received musical lessons. The enlargement was found for the dipole moment of N1m occurring at 100-120 ms in a restricted condition but not for the moment of P1m at 50-60 ms. Furthermore, the dipole moment of P2m for successive stimuli, normalized by the moment for the first stimulus, was significantly larger for chord tones than single tones and was significantly larger in the musicians than controls. These results suggest that the P2m response is susceptible to be modified by musical training in a period of neural maturation, with a short refractory period of neural activity for the auditory input of composite tones. The P2m activity may be specialized to the processing of multifrequency sounds, such as musical timbre consisting of abundant harmonics.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Loudness discomfort level in normal hearing individuals].

BACKGROUND: Loudness Discomfort Level (LDL), a test used in the hearing aid fitting process, has also been recommended to evaluate patients with tinnitus and/or suspect of hyperacusis. AIM: To determine LDL reference values for normal hearing individuals and to correlate the LDL to the Acoustic Reflex Threshold (ART). METHOD: LDL was investigated in 64 normal hearing subjects, with ages between 18 and 25 years (53.1% female), in the frequency threshold of 0.5 to 8KHz and for speech (non-recorded, non-standardized connected discourse). Pulsate pure tones were presented for two seconds, with a one-second interval between each presentation. The initial stimulus intensity was at 50dB and was followed by ascending presentations, of 5dB each, until the subject referred initial discomfort with loudness. The testing procedure was performed separately in each ear, and was immediately repeated at the end of the test (test and retest situation). The choice of the ear that would start the testing procedure was alternated for each subject. After that contralateral acoustic reflexes ART were measured. The presence of the ART was indicated by a minimal needle deflection (larger than 0.05ml) on the emittance equipment. RESULTS: Median varied from 86 to 98dBHL, with no statistically significant differences between gender (p > 0.11), between ears (p > 0.36) and between the test-retest situation (p > 0.34). The determination coefficients (r2) of the linear regression model revealed absence of correlation between log(LDL) and log(ART). CONCLUSION: Normal hearing individuals have LDL between 86 and 98dBHL for all of the tested stimuli. Inter-subject differences and the good reproductivity suggest that the interpretation of the test should be cautious and analyzed considering the patient's history. The test can be an useful instrument go follow-up patients. No correlation was found between LDL and ART.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1992

Effects of extended speaking on resonance of patients with cleft palate.

Groups of listeners and rating scales were used to study the effects of extended speaking on resonance and voice quality in eight adults with cleft palate and mild to moderate hypernasality and a matched group of noncleft adults, with normal resonance and voice quality. Authors interpret their findings as indicating that resonance changes were greater and vocal quality changes less, for the cleft group, but that changes were not extensive nor always in the direction of increased hypernasality or decreased vocal quality.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Interventions to reduce high-volume portable headsets: "turn down the sound"!

Two studies examined effects of interventions to reduce noise levels from portable stereo headphones. Study 1 examined the effectiveness of warning signs posted in and nearby public elevators with 567 passengers possessing a portable headphone (total N = 7,811). During a 9-day baseline, the mean percentage of headphones played at an observer-audible level was 85%. During a subsequent 6-day warning sign phase, the mean percentage of audible headphones declined to 59%, which increased to a mean of 76% during a second baseline phase (5 days). Study 2 assessed the impact of a student confederate who lowered his or her observer-audible headphone volume at the polite request of a second student confederate. Of the 4,069 elevator passengers, 433 possessed a portable headset. The mean percentage of observer-audible headphones during a 4-day baseline was 85%. Subsequently, a 5-day modeling intervention reduced audible volumes to a mean of 46%. During a second baseline phase of 4 days, the mean level was 77%, and during reintroduction of the modeling phase (9 days) the mean level was 42%. The modeling intervention was significantly more effective with women (53% compliance) than men (29% compliance).

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Comparison of yes-no and latency measures of auditory intensity discrimination.

Rats discriminated auditory intensity differences of sinusoids at 3.0 kilohertz in a go/no-go signal detection procedure. Responses to the signal (hits) were reinforced with electrical brain stimulation, and misses produced a brief timeout. On intermixed noise trials, withholding of responses (correct rejections) was reinforced, and false alarms produced the time-out. In two test conditions, the signal was either the louder (100 decibels) or softer (90, 93, 96, or 99 decibels) of the pair of intensities presented within a set of trials. Each animal was first trained with signal value louder or softer, and reversed for the second condition so that the former noise value served as signal. Hits showed shorter latencies than false alarms, regardless of the relative intensity of signal and noise, and the magnitude of differentiation was proportional to signal-noise separation. Both hits and false alarms showed longer latencies as the discrimination became more difficult. Isosensitivity contours derived from the latencies showed close similarity across conditions; in comparison, the yes-no measure of detectability, d', showed greater variability. The similarity of latency differentiation across louder and softer signal conditions supports a detection model in which the observer's judgment is controlled by the distance of sensory effect from criterion on each trial, as opposed to the loudness of the tones per se.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

Behavioral and dimensional contrast in rats.

Rats pressed a nose key for brain stimulation reinforcement presented on a fixed-interval schedule. Stimuli were drawn at random from a continuum of 12 white noise intensities in the range 62-95 decibels, spaced in 3 decibel steps. Experiment 1 varied the number of stimuli and the reinforcement contingencies associated with them. In Condition I (baseline) all stimuli signaled reinforcement; in Conditions II and III stimuli from one half of the continuum signaled reinforcement and those from the other half, extinction. However, in Condition II the 6 stimuli from the middle of the continuum were omitted. Experiment 2 held constant the number of stimuli and varied their spacing. In Condition I, each of 6 sounds signaled reinforcement. In Conditions II and II, three stimuli from one half of the continuum signaled reinforcement and three from the other half, extinction. However, in Condition II the stimuli were near the extremes of the continuum (Stimuli 1, 3, 4, 9, 10, 12). Condition III replaced Stimulus 3 with Stimulus 6 and Stimulus 10 with Stimulus 7. Behavioral contrast was seen in an increase over baseline in response rate to the stimuli associated with the constant schedule component when the variable component was changed to extinction. Dimensional contrast was seen in a further elevation of rate to intermediate positive stimulus values when stimuli were added to the border region between positive and negative values.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Relationship between tinnitus loudness level and internal jugular venous flow rate measured by coloured Doppler ultrasonography in patients with a high jugular bulb.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between tinnitus loudness level (TLL) and internal jugular venous flow rate (IJVFR) in tinnitus patients with a unilateral high jugular bulb detected by temporal bone high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT). The study group consisted of 24 adult patients (13 male, 11 female) with a unilateral high jugular bulb. One ear suffered from tinnitus with a high jugular bulb was included into the study group. The ears without tinnitus and no high jugular bulb on temporal bone HRCT comprised the control group. All patients were evaluated with a history and physical and otolaryngologic examinations, and, using a questionnaire, TLLs were detected. The patency and flow rates in the internal jugular veins were measured by right and left internal jugular venous Doppler ultrasonography. The TLLs were "very quiet" in 1 (4.1%) patient, "intermediate loud" in 17 (70.9%) patients, and "very loud" in 6 (25.0%) patients. IJVFRs were not different in the study and control groups. In the study group, IJVFRs were not correlated with age. There was no relationship among TLLs and IJVFRs, dominance, dehiscence, and bony septum thickness between the high jugular bulb and the middle ear. TLLs were not affected by IJVFRs, dominance, dehiscence, and bony septum thickness in patients with a high jugular bulb. More detailed studies should be undertaken to determine the reason for the different TLLs in patients with a high jugular bulb.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Effect of loudness on reaction time and response force in different motor tasks.

Van der Molen and Keuss, in 1979 and 1981, showed that paradoxically long reaction times occur with extremely strong auditory stimuli when the task is difficult, e.g., choice-by-location or Simon paradigm. It was argued that this paradoxical behavior of RT is due to active inhibition of an arousal-dependent bypassing mechanism to prevent false responses. As the peak force, i.e., maximal force exerted by participants on a response key, is considered to be related to immediate arousal, we predicted that for extremely loud stimuli and for difficult tasks, lengthening of RT should be associated with reduction of peak force. Moreover, these effects should be enhanced when emphasis is on accuracy rather than speed. Although the relation between RT and intensity depended on task difficulty, no increase in RT was found for the loudest tones. Moreover, peak force increased monotonically with loudness, showing no tendency to be suppressed for loudest tones and difficult tasks.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1978

Handedness and dichotic listening to nonverbal features of speech.

The assumption that pitch and loudness are processed in the right hemisphere was tested by comparing left-handers' with right-handers' performance on pitch and loudness discrimination tasks. Four groups of left-handers (20 subjects in each group) were dichotically presented either with digits varying in pitch or loudness or with pure tones varying in pitch. The subjects identified the digits, or the pitch and loudness variations, from both ears. Confirming the assumption, the data showed that the left-handers, who had no ear preference on any of these tasks, differed significantly from the right-handers, who, preferring the right ear for digit identification, preferred the left ear for the discrimination of the nonverbal features (pitch and loudness) of these digits.

Functional Laterality↗
PubMed1980

Subjective response speed and stimulus intensity in a simple reaction time task.

Phenomenological and objective methods were used to study the question of whether or not visual stimulus intensity has post-sensory effects on simple RT. It was hypothesized that, in a positive case, the subject would be aware of part of the variation in RT caused by differences in intensity between stimuli. Sanford's (1970) original finding was replicated with auditory stimuli, i.e., the subjects rated RTs to strong stimuli as faster than those to weak ones. With small lights no imbalance of ratings occurred though, again, imbalance was found with larger lights of the same luminance but more retinal illumination. The results suggest that the post-sensory effects of visual intensity on simple RT can be observed if the psychophysical intensity of the stimulation is controlled.

Discrimination Learning↗
PubMed1980

Perceptual discrimination of whispered phoneme pairs.

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the ability of 12 subjects to discriminate between whispered consonants that are differentiated, in normal speech, on the basis of voicing. In general, the subjects were able to make these discriminations, although certain phonemes (such as /d -- t/) were easier to discriminate than others (formula see text). Possible acoustic features the subjects might be using to make these discriminations were discussed.

Humans↗
PubMed1981

Role of the Lombard effect in lingual vibrotactile thresholds.

Lingual sensory, auditory, and vocal intensity interactions were investigated for 20 subjects. Lingual vibrotactile measurements were obtained from the lingual dorsum after normal reading, reading during exposure to auditory masking producing the "Lombard effect," and reading with matched Lombard loudness with no auditory masking. Results do not demonstrate a significant shift in threshold for lingual sensitivity in the presence of auditory masking that previous studies have shown. The observed results are discussed with reference to possible physiological properties and experimental and procedural variables.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1981

Constant vs variable stimulus intensity and visual simple reaction time.

The effects of constant and variable stimulus intensity on simple RT were investigated with an effective intensity manipulation. Luminances were 40 and 90 dB re 10(-10) lambert. RT was generally longer when intensity varied within a session than when it was constant. RT also was longer when a bright stimulus was presented on the preceding trial as opposed to a weak one. These effects were not found in earlier studies in which differences in luminance were small. However, the RT-difference between bright and dim stimuli was equal under the conditions of constant and variable intensity. Hence the present results replicate only in part the auditory findings of Grice and Hunter (1964) and Thrane (1961).

Humans↗
PubMed1985

Effects of range on category scaling of loudness judgments.

In two experiments subjects judged the loudness of a 1000-Hz tone within a range of three loudnesses. The first used a within-subjects design with ranges of 1-2 sones, 1-4 sones, and 1-8 sones. The second used a between-subjects design with ranges of 1-2 sones, 1-8 sones, and 1-16 sones. Except for two values in the 1- to 2-sone range the two experiments produced comparable results. As range was increased the tendency to round away from the end points increased and the judged mid-point occurred at a higher value. Comparisons are made with rounding patterns that occur in studies of linear scales. The present results are interpreted to support Poulton's (1975) position, that the mid-point of subjective estimates depends on the range of stimuli judged, rather than that of Stevens (1975), that the mid-point on a prosthetic scale is assigned to a value that is lower than the mid-point on the subject's subjective scale.

Acoustic Stimulation↗