The Benefit of Cross-Modal Reorganization on Speech Perception in Pediatric Cochlear Implant Recipients Revealed Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

Cochlear implants (CIs) are the most successful treatment for severe-to-profound deafness in children. However, speech outcomes with a CI often lag behind those of normally-hearing children. Some authors have attributed these deficits to the takeover of the auditory temporal cortex by vision following deafness, which has prompted some clinicians to discourage the rehabilitation of pediatric CI recipients using visual speech. We studied this cross-modal activity in the temporal cortex, along with responses to auditory speech and non-speech stimuli, in experienced CI users and normally-hearing controls of school-age, using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Strikingly, CI users displayed significantly greater cortical responses to visual speech, compared with controls. Importantly, in the same regions, the processing of auditory speech, compared with non-speech stimuli, did not significantly differ between the groups. This suggests that visual and auditory speech are processed synergistically in the temporal cortex of children with CIs, and they should be encouraged, rather than discouraged, to use visual speech

Neural Activity During Audiovisual Speech Processing: Protocol For a Functional Neuroimaging Study.

BACKGROUND The field of health information management (HIM) focuses on the protection and management of health information from a variety of sources. The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) Council for Excellence in Education (CEE) determines the needed skills and competencies for this field. AHIMA's HIM curricula competencies are divided into several domains among the associate, undergraduate, and graduate levels. Moreover, AHIMA's career map displays career paths for HIM professionals. What is not known is whether these competencies and the career map align with industry demands. OBJECTIVE The primary aim of this study is to analyze HIM job postings on a US national job recruiting website to determine whether the job postings align with recognized HIM domains, while the secondary aim is to evaluate the AHIMA career map to determine whether it aligns with the job postings. METHODS A national job recruitment website was mined electronically (web scraping) using the search term "health information management." This cross-sectional inquiry evaluated job advertisements during a 2-week period in 2021. After the exclusion criteria, 691 job postings were analyzed. Data were evaluated with descriptive statistics and natural language processing (NLP). Soft cosine measures (SCM) were used to determine correlations between job postings and the AHIMA career map, curricular competencies, and curricular considerations. ANOVA was used to determine statistical significance. RESULTS Of all the job postings, 29% (140/691) were in the Southeast, followed by the Midwest (140/691, 20%), West (131/691,19%), Northeast (94/691, 14%), and Southwest (73/691, 11%). The educational levels requested were evenly distributed between high school diploma (219/691, 31.7%), associate degree (269/691, 38.6%), or bachelor's degree (225/691, 32.5%). A master's degree was requested in only 8% (52/691) of the postings, with 72% (42/58) preferring one and 28% (16/58) requiring one. A Registered Health Information Technologist (RHIT) credential was the most commonly requested (207/691, 29.9%) in job postings, followed by Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA; 180/691, 26%) credential. SCM scores were significantly higher in the informatics category compared to the coding and revenue cycle (P=.006) and data analytics categories (P<.001) but not significantly different from the information governance category (P=.85). The coding and revenue cycle category had a significantly higher SCM score compared to the data analytics category (P<.001). Additionally, the information governance category was significantly higher than the data analytics category (P<.001). SCM scores were significantly different between each competency category, except there were no differences in the average SCM score between the information protection and revenue cycle management categories (P=.96) and the information protection and data structure, content, and information governance categories (P=.31). CONCLUSIONS Industry job postings primarily sought a high school diploma and associate degrees, with a master's degree a distant third. NLP analysis of job postings suggested that the correlation between the informatics category and job postings was higher than that of the coding, revenue cycle, and data analytics categories. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID) DERR1-10.2196/38407

Terapias auditivas para acúfenos (tinnitus)

Un acúfeno (tinnitus) es la percepción de un sonido en ausencia de estimulación acústica externa, es decir, la experiencia consciente de un sonido que se origina en la propia cabeza del paciente. En colaboración con el departamento de acústica (CAEND) del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), se pretende revertir (de forma paliativa) las molestias, con ayuda de terapias sonoras que estimulan el sistema auditivo. Primero, se analizan los tratamientos existentes que se utilizan para atender a los pacientes diagnosticados. Por último, se diseñan dos aplicaciones informáticas referentes a las terapias: Auditory Discrimination Training (ADT) y Enriched Acoustic Environment (EAE). Abstract Tinnitus is the perception of sound in the absence of external acoustic stimulation, in addition, the conscious experience a sound originating from the patient’s own head. In collaboration with the department of acoustic (CAEND) of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), is to reverse (for palliation) discomfort, using sound therapies that stimulate the auditory system. First, we analyze the existing treatments are used to treat patients diagnosed. Finally, two applications are designed regarding therapies: Auditory Discrimination Training (ADT) and Enriched Acoustic Environment (EAE)

Diffusion tensor imaging and resting state functional connectivity as advanced imaging biomarkers of outcome in infants with hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy treated with hypothermia

Therapeutic hypothermia confers significant benefit in term neonates with hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE). However, despite the treatment nearly half of the infants develop an unfavourable outcome. Intensive bench-based and early phase clinical research is focused on identifying treatments that augment hypothermic neuroprotection. Qualified biomarkers are required to test these promising therapies efficiently. This thesis aims to assess advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques, including diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and resting state functional MRI (fMRI) as imaging biomarkers of outcome in infants with HIE who underwent hypothermic neuroprotection. FA values in the white matter (WM), obtained in the neonatal period and assessed by tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS), correlated with subsequent developmental quotient (DQ). However, TBSS is not suitable to study grey matter (GM), which is the primary site of injury following an acute hypoxic-ischaemic event. Therefore, a neonatal atlas-based automated tissue labelling approach was applied to segment central and cortical grey and whole brain WM. Mean diffusivity (MD) in GM structures, obtained in the neonatal period correlated with subsequent DQ. Although the central GM is the primary site of injury on conventional MRI following HIE; FA within WM tissue labels also correlated to neurodevelopmental performance scores. As DTI does not provide information on functional consequences of brain injury functional sequel of HIE was studied with resting state fMRI. Diminished functional connectivity was demonstrated in infants who suffered HIE, which associated with an unfavourable outcome. The results of this thesis suggest that MD in GM tissue labels and FA either determined within WM tissue labels or analysed with TBSS correlate to subsequent neurodevelopmental performance scores in infants who suffered HIE treated with hypothermia and may be applied as imaging biomarkers of outcome in this population. Although functional connectivity was diminished in infants with HIE, resting state fMRI needs further study to assess its utility as an imaging biomarker following a hypoxic-ischaemic brain injury.Open Acces

Estimates of functional cerebral hemispheric differences in monolingual and bilingual people who stutter.

Purpose: The aim of this research was to examine the relationship between stuttering and bilingualism to hemispheric asymmetry for the processing and production of language. Methods: A total of 80 native speakers of German were recruited for the study, ranging in age from 15 to 58 years. Out of those 80 participants, 40 participants were also proficient speakers of English as a second language (L2). The participants were organised into four speaker groups (20 per group) according to language ability and speech status, consisting of monolinguals who stutter (MWS), monolinguals who do not stutter (MWNS), bilinguals who stutter (BWS), and bilinguals who do not stutter (BWNS). Each of the four groups comprised 12 males and 8 females. All participants completed a battery of behavioural assessments measuring functional cerebral hemispheric asymmetry during language processing and production. The behavioural tests included (1) a dichotic listening paradigm, (2) a visual hemifield paradigm, and (3) a dual-task paradigm. Results: Overall, the results showed no significant differences in language lateralisation between participant groups on the three behavioural tests. However group differences were identified in regard to executive functions on the visual hemifield and dual-task paradigms. Both bilingual groups showed significantly faster reaction times and fewer errors than the two monolingual groups on the visual hemifield paradigm. The bilingual groups also performed similarly on the dual-task paradigm, while the MWS group tended to show greater task disruption. No meaningful relationship was found between stuttering severity and the majority of results obtained for the test conditions. However, all four language modalities were found to correlate significantly with results obtained for the visual hemifield and dual-task paradigms, suggesting that performance on these tests increased with higher L2 proficiency. Conclusion: Although no differences in language lateralisation were found, it appears that bilingualism had a greater influence on functional cerebral hemispheric processing than stuttering. A prevailing finding was that bilingualism seems to be able to offset deficits in executive functioning associated with stuttering. Brain reserve and cognitive reserve are thought to have a close interrelationship with the executive control system. Cognitive reserve may have been reflected in the present study, resulting in a bilingual cognitive advantage. Hence, the results of the present study lend support to previous findings implicating the benefits of bilingualism

Physiology, Psychoacoustics and Cognition in Normal and Impaired Hearing

​The International Symposium on Hearing is a prestigious, triennial gathering where world-class scientists present and discuss the most recent advances in the field of human and animal hearing research. The 2015 edition will particularly focus on integrative approaches linking physiological, psychophysical and cognitive aspects of normal and impaired hearing. Like previous editions, the proceedings will contain about 50 chapters ranging from basic to applied research, and of interest to neuroscientists, psychologists, audiologists, engineers, otolaryngologists, and artificial intelligence researchers.