Cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials in Children with a Hearing Loss: A Pilot Study

Objective. This study examined the patterns of neural activity in the central auditory system in children with hearing loss. Methods. Cortical potentials and mismatch responses (MMRs) were recorded from ten children aged between 9 and 10 years: five with hearing loss and five with normal hearing in passive oddball paradigms using verbal and nonverbal stimuli. Results. Results indicate a trend toward larger P1 amplitude, a significant reduction in amplitude, and latency of N2 in children with hearing loss compared to control. No significant group differences were observed for the majority of the MMRs conditions. Conclusions. Data suggest that the reduced auditory input affects the pattern of cortical-auditory-evoked potentials in children with a mild to moderately severe hearing loss. Results suggest maturational delays and/or deficits in central auditory processing in children with hearing loss, as indicated by the neurophysiological markers P1 and N2. In contrast, negative MMR data suggest that the amplification provided by the hearing aids could have allowed children with hearing loss to develop adequate discriminative abilities

Fonctionnement auditif central d’enfants ayant une surdité

La présente recherche explore les conséquences d’une perte auditive périphérique sur le traitement de l’information auditive. Des études ont montré que les enfants malentendants ont de la difficulté à effectuer des tâches d’écoute complexes. De plus, des études menées auprès d’adultes malentendants montrent que l’activité corticale associée à l’écoute de stimuli auditifs est différente de celle d’adultes entendants. Cependant, les résultats de ces études ne mettent pas en lumière la nature des difficultés de traitement de l’information auditive des enfants malentendants. Cette recherche examine donc cet aspect en ayant recours à des mesures comportementales et neurophysiologiques. Les données ont été recueillies auprès de 40 enfants âgés de 9 à 12 ans : 12 enfants ayant une surdité neurosensorielle, 12 enfants ayant trouble de traitement auditif et 16 enfants normo-entendants. Les enfants ont reproduit dans l’ordre des séquences de deux, trois et cinq stimuli verbaux ou non verbaux avec un intervalle interstimuli de 425 ms. Les enfants ont également reproduit des séquences de deux stimuli avec un intervalle interstimuli de 20 et 1000 ms. Enfin, les enfants ont été soumis à des mesures neurophysiologiques à partir de potentiels évoqués auditifs de latence longue et de négativité de discordance avec des paires de stimuli verbaux et non verbaux. Les résultats obtenus permettent d’avancer que les participants du groupe d’enfants malentendants ont un trouble spécifique de traitement auditif. En effet, les résultats de la tâche comportementale montrent que les enfants malentendants ont de la difficulté à traiter des séquences de stimuli lorsque ceux-ci sont verbaux et acoustiquement similaires. Quant aux données neurophysiologiques, les résultats ont démontré que l’amplitude de l’onde tardive N2 était réduite chez les enfants malentendants comparativement à celle de l’onde N2 des deux autres groupes d’enfants. Cette onde pourrait être considérée comme étant un marqueur neurophysiologique reflétant l’influence d’une perte auditive sur le traitement auditif central. De plus, l’amplitude de l’onde de négativité de discordance pourrait être aussi un marqueur pour distinguer les enfants malentendants de ceux ayant un trouble de traitement auditif.Mots-clés : organisation séquentielle auditive, potentiels évoqués auditifs de latence longue, négativité de discordance, enfants malentendants d’âge scolaireThe present research explores the effects of peripheral hearing loss on central auditory processing. Previous studies showed that children with hearing loss have significant difficulties in performing complex listening tasks. Moreover, studies of adults with hearing loss revealed that cortical activity related to listening to acoustic stimuli differed from that of adults without hearing loss. However, results of these studies do not clarify the nature of the difficulties in processing auditory information among children with hearing loss. The present research examines this issue using behavioural and neurophysiological measures. Behavioural and neurophysiological data were collected with forty 9- to 12-year-old children: 12 with hearing loss, 12 with central auditory processing disorder (CAPD) and 16 with normal hearing. Children repeated, in order, two, three, and five verbal and nonverbal stimuli with an interstimulus interval of 425 ms. They also repeated sequences of two stimuli with an interstimulus interval of 20 or 1000 ms. Finally, late-latency auditory evoked potentials and mismatch responses were recorded in the participants using pairs of verbal and nonverbal stimuli. Results suggest that children with hearing loss have a specific central auditory processing disorder. Results of the behavioural task showed that children with hearing loss had difficulty processing sequences of stimuli when the stimuli were verbal as well as similar and complex acoustically. As for the neurophysiological data, results indicated that the amplitude of late N2 waveform was smaller in children with hearing loss than in the other two groups of children. The N2 waveform has the potential to be a neurophysiological marker revealing the influence of hearing loss on central auditory processing. Moreover, the amplitude of the mismatch response could be another marker to distinguish the children with hearing loss from those with central auditory processing disorder. Keywords : Auditory sequential organization, late-latency auditory evoked potentials, mismatch responses, school-aged children with hearing los

Auditory Recognition of Words-in-Noise in Normal Hearing and Mild-to-Severe Sensorineural Hearing Loss with Different Configurations

Background and Aim: Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SNHL) reduces audibility and causes distortion, which result in difficulty with speech processing, especially in noisy environments. One of the new speech-in-noise tests is the Words-in-Noise (WIN) test. This study aimed to further investigate the Signal-to-Noise Ratio 50% (SNR-50) in subjects with mild to severe SNHL and different configurations using the Persian version of the WIN test compared to normal-hearing people. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 54 patients with SNHL aged 17–75 years and 49 normal-hearing people aged 20–48 years. The auditory recognition in the presence of multi-talker babble noise was evaluated by the Persian version of the WIN test (named ARWIN). Results: The mean SNR-50 in the normal-hearing group was 2.56±1.2 dB, which increased significantly in subgroups with mild (10.13±4.8 dB), moderate (14.51±4.7 dB) and moderate-to-severe (16.61±4.3 dB) SNHL (p<0.001). Conclusion: People with SNHL need more SNR by nearly 4–6 times than the normalhearing group for recognition of monosyllabic Persian words in the presence of multi-talker babble noise

Auditory Brainstem Responses in Tinnitus: A Review of Who, How, and What?

The auditory brainstem response (ABR) in tinnitus subjects has been extensively investigated over the last decade with the hopes of finding possible abnormalities related to the pathology. Despite this effort, the use of the ABR for tinnitus diagnosis or as an outcome measure is under debate. The present study reviewed published literature on ABR and tinnitus. The authors searched PubMed, MedLine, Embase, PsycINFO, and CINAHL, and identified additional records through manually searching reference lists and gray literature. There were 4,566 articles identified through database searching and 151 additional studies through the manual search (4,717 total): 2,128 articles were removed as duplicates, and 2,567 records did not meet eligibility criteria. From the final 22 articles that were included, ABR results from 1,240 tinnitus subjects and 664 control subjects were compiled and summarized with a focus on three main areas: the participant characteristics, the methodology used, and the outcome measures of amplitude and/or latency of waves I, III, and V. The results indicate a high level of heterogeneity between the studies for all the assessed areas. Amplitude and latency differences between tinnitus and controls were not consistent between studies. Nevertheless, the longer latency and reduced amplitude of wave I for the tinnitus group with normal hearing compared to matched controls was the most consistent finding across studies. These results support the need for greater stratification of the tinnitus population and the importance of a standardized ABR method to make comparisons between studies possible

A Retrospective Study of the Effects of Traumatic Brain Injury on Auditory Function: From a Clinical Perspective

Purpose: The main purpose of this retrospective study was to identify auditory dysfunctions related to traumatic brain injury (TBI) in individuals evaluated in an Audiology clinic. Method: Peripheral and central auditory evaluations were performed from March 2014 to June 2018 in 26 patients (14 males) with TBI. The age of the participants ranged from 9 to 59 years old (34.24 ± 15.21). Six participants had blast-related TBI and 20 had blunt force TBI. Sixteen experienced a single TBI event whereas ten experienced several. Correlation analyses were performed to verify the relationship, if any, between the number of auditory tests failed and the number, type, and severity of TBIs. Result: All participants failed at least one auditory test. Nearly 60% had abnormal results on degraded speech tests (compressed and echoed, filtered or in background noise) and 25% had a high frequency hearing loss. There was no statistically significant correlation between the number of auditory tests failed and the number, type, and severity of TBIs. Conclusion: Results indicated negative and heterogenous effects of TBI on peripheral and central auditory function and highlighted the need for a more extensive auditory assessment in individuals with TBI

A review of botany, phytochemical and pharmacological properties of Ferulago angulata

Ferulago angulata (Chavil in Persian) is from Umbelliferae family. This article has reviewed the phytochemical, pharmacological and medicinal properties of Ferulago angulata. The information of this review article was gathered from journals and books accessible in databases such as Science Direct, SID, google scholar, Hindawi, PubMed, Scopus and ACS. Chavil possesses phenolic compounds, monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, tannins, saponins, flavonoids, alkaloids and terpenoids, so it has several activities, for example antioxidant, antidiabetic, hypolipidemic, antimicrobial, larvicidal and anti-amnesic properties. Traditional applications and valuable components of Chavil in treatment could provide the source as a lead compound to develop plant-derived medications. A review of botany, phytochemical and pharmacological properties of Ferulago angulata | Request PDF. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321191877_A_review_of_botany_phytochemical_and_pharmacological_properties_of_Ferulago_angulata

A review of botany, phytochemical and pharmacological properties of Ferulago angulata

Ferulago angulata (Chavil in Persian) is from Umbelliferae family. This article has reviewed the phytochemical, pharmacological and medicinal properties of Ferulago angulata. The information of this review article was gathered from journals and books accessible in databases such as Science Direct, SID, google scholar, Hindawi, PubMed, Scopus and ACS. Chavil possesses phenolic compounds, monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, tannins, saponins, flavonoids, alkaloids and terpenoids, so it has several activities, for example antioxidant, antidiabetic, hypolipidemic, antimicrobial, larvicidal and anti-amnesic properties. Traditional applications and valuable components of Chavil in treatment could provide the source as a lead compound to develop plant-derived medications