Multisensory Integration of Audiovisual Information in Avatar Faces: An Experimental Investigation of McGurk Effect

The McGurk effect is a multisensory phenomenon, an audiovisual illusion that shows how speech sounds may interfere with the visual sense. In case of an incongruency between a speech sound and a human face articulating the speech sound, human interlocutors tend to perceive an audiovisual percept different from the sound percept and the visual percept. For example, if the speech sound is ba and the visual presentation of the articulation is fa, human interlocutors usually perceive a third sound, va. What can we learn about audiovisual integration using an avatar face? To what extent do we observe the McGurk effect? The present study reports an empirical investigation that tested the extent of the effect in an avatar face designed for the purpose of the study. Our findings suggest that systematic patterns may obtained from the analysis of a specific avatar face, designed for the purpose of the study. The results also reveal the potential use of avatar designs for evaluating the impact of avatar designs on human multisensory integration by employing human responses to audiovisual illusions on avatar faces

The effectiveness of hyperbaric oxygen in patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss: a systematic review

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of hyperbaric oxygen in the treatment of patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSHL). DATA SOURCES: An Embase, MEDLINE and Cochrane search were utilised to identify various clinical trials on the treatment of ISSHL. Studies that were published between 2002 and 2018 and written in the English, Dutch or German language were included. Search terms included synonyms for idiopathic sudden hearing loss. DATA SYNTHESIS: A total of 16 articles were identified regarding hyperbaric oxygen therapy. All patients were evaluated with pure-tone audiometry. A major part of the cases presented with unilateral hearing loss(bilateral hearing loss less than 5%). In several studies, the average of the mean hearing gain at five contiguous frequencies was significantly higher in the hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy and systemic steroid (SS) group in patients with severe or profound hearing impairment. They recorded a significant treatment effect (p = 0.005) of HBO + SS therapy on patients with an initial hearing loss of ≥ 81 dB. CONCLUSIONS: On the whole group of ISSHL patients, no significant difference was demonstrated between the intervention and control group. However, in severe or profound hearing-impaired ISSHL patients, significant benefit was observed in the intervention group. These results likely indicate that adding HBO to steroid therapies might be of benefit in cases of severe and profound hearing impairment

Intratympanic Treatment in Menière's Disease, Efficacy of Aminoglycosides Versus Corticosteroids in Comparison Studies: A Systematic Review

Objective:To compare the functional outcomes and complications of intratympanic gentamicin (ITG) versus intratympanic corticosteroids (ITC) in Menière's disease.Data Sources:An electronic search was conducted in the Cochrane Library, PubMed, and Embase databases on February 3, 2019. Articles written in English, Dutch, German, French, or Turkish language were included.Study Selection:Study inclusion criteria were: 1) patients diagnosed with definite Menière's disease according to the criteria of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, 2) treated with ITG or ITC in a comparison study, and 3) reported subjective and objective outcomes concerning Menière's disease.Data Extraction:The quality of eligible studies was assessed according to an adjusted version of the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. The extracted data were study characteristics (study design, publication year, and number of relevant patients), patient's characteristics (sex and age), disease characteristics (uni or bilateral and duration of Menière's disease), treatment protocol, and different therapeutic outcomes (vertigo, tinnitus, aural fullness, and hearing loss).Data Synthesis:A total of eight articles were included for data extraction and analysis. For subjective outcomes, ITG was slightly favored compared to intratympanic corticosteroids. This was significant only in three studies (p<0.05). For objective outcomes and complications, no significant differences were seen.Conclusions:The result of this systematic review shows some benefit of ITG over ITC for subjective outcomes and no difference regarding objective outcomes or complication rate. However, this superiority of ITG is rather weak. Both interventions can be effectively and safely used in controlling Menière's disease in acute situations