Assessment of the Speech Intelligibility Performance of Post Lingual Cochlear Implant Users at Different Signal-to-Noise Ratios Using the Turkish Matrix Test

Background: Spoken word recognition and speech perception tests in quiet are being used as a routine in assessment of the benefit which children and adult cochlear implant users receive from their devices. Cochlear implant users generally demonstrate high level performances in these test materials as they are able to achieve high level speech perception ability in quiet situations. Although these test materials provide valuable information regarding Cochlear Implant (CI) users' performances in optimal listening conditions, they do not give realistic information regarding per-formances in adverse listening conditions, which is the case in the everyday environment.Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the speech intelligibility performance of post lingual CI users in the presence of noise at different signal-to-noise ratio with the Matrix Test developed for Turkish language.Study Design: Cross-sectional study.Methods: The thirty post lingual implant user adult subjects, who had been using implants for a minimum of one year, were evaluated with Turkish Matrix test. Subjects' speech intelligibility was measured using the adaptive and non-adaptive Matrix Test in quiet and noisy environments.Results: The results of the study show a correlation between Pure Tone Average (PTA) values of the subjects and Matrix test Speech Reception Thresh-old (SRT) values in the quiet. Hence, it is possible to asses PTA values of CI users using the Matrix Test also. However, no correlations were found be-tween Matrix SRT values in the quiet and Matrix SRT values in noise. Similarly, the correlation be-tween PTA values and intelligibility scores in noise was also not significant. Therefore, it may not be possible to assess the intelligibility performance of CI users using test batteries performed in quiet conditions.Conclusion: The Matrix Test can be used to assess the benefit of CI users from their systems in every-day life, since it is possible to perform intelligibility test with the Matrix test using a material that CI us-ers experience in their everyday life and it is possible to assess their difficulty in speech discrimination in noisy conditions they have to cope with

Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BackgroundDisorders affecting the nervous system are diverse and include neurodevelopmental disorders, late-life neurodegeneration, and newly emergent conditions, such as cognitive impairment following COVID-19. Previous publications from the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor Study estimated the burden of 15 neurological conditions in 2015 and 2016, but these analyses did not include neurodevelopmental disorders, as defined by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-11, or a subset of cases of congenital, neonatal, and infectious conditions that cause neurological damage. Here, we estimate nervous system health loss caused by 37 unique conditions and their associated risk factors globally, regionally, and nationally from 1990 to 2021.MethodsWe estimated mortality, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs), by age and sex in 204 countries and territories, from 1990 to 2021. We included morbidity and deaths due to neurological conditions, for which health loss is directly due to damage to the CNS or peripheral nervous system. We also isolated neurological health loss from conditions for which nervous system morbidity is a consequence, but not the primary feature, including a subset of congenital conditions (ie, chromosomal anomalies and congenital birth defects), neonatal conditions (ie, jaundice, preterm birth, and sepsis), infectious diseases (ie, COVID-19, cystic echinococcosis, malaria, syphilis, and Zika virus disease), and diabetic neuropathy. By conducting a sequela-level analysis of the health outcomes for these conditions, only cases where nervous system damage occurred were included, and YLDs were recalculated to isolate the non-fatal burden directly attributable to nervous system health loss. A comorbidity correction was used to calculate total prevalence of all conditions that affect the nervous system combined.FindingsGlobally, the 37 conditions affecting the nervous system were collectively ranked as the leading group cause of DALYs in 2021 (443 million, 95% UI 378–521), affecting 3·40 billion (3·20–3·62) individuals (43·1%, 40·5–45·9 of the global population); global DALY counts attributed to these conditions increased by 18·2% (8·7–26·7) between 1990 and 2021. Age-standardised rates of deaths per 100 000 people attributed to these conditions decreased from 1990 to 2021 by 33·6% (27·6–38·8), and age-standardised rates of DALYs attributed to these conditions decreased by 27·0% (21·5–32·4). Age-standardised prevalence was almost stable, with a change of 1·5% (0·7–2·4). The ten conditions with the highest age-standardised DALYs in 2021 were stroke, neonatal encephalopathy, migraine, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, diabetic neuropathy, meningitis, epilepsy, neurological complications due to preterm birth, autism spectrum disorder, and nervous system cancer.InterpretationAs the leading cause of overall disease burden in the world, with increasing global DALY counts, effective prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation strategies for disorders affecting the nervous system are needed

Demographic and Clinical Characteristics of Theophylline Exposures between 1993 and 2011

Background: In the literature, music education has been shown to enhance auditory perception for children and young adults. When compared to young adult non-musicians, young adult musicians demonstrate increased auditory processing, and enhanced sensitivity to acoustic changes. The evoked response potentials associated with the interpretation of sound are enhanced in musicians. Studies show that training also changes sound perception and cortical responses. The earlier training appears to lead to larger changes in the auditory cortex. Aims: Most cortical studies in the literature have used pure tones or musical instrument sounds as stimuli signals. The aim of those studies was to investigate whether musical education would enhance auditory cortical responses when speech signals were used. In this study, the speech sounds extracted from running speech were used as sound stimuli. Study Design: Non-randomized controlled study. Methods: The experimental group consists of young adults up to 21 years-old, all with a minimum of 4 years of musical education. The control group was selected from young adults of the same age without any musical education. The experiments were conducted by using a cortical evoked potential analyser and /m/, /t/ /g/ sound stimulation at the level of 65 dB SPL. In this study, P1 / N1 / P2 amplitude and latency values were measured. Results: Significant differences were found in the amplitude values of P1 and P2 (p0.05). Conclusion: The results obtained in our study indicate that musical experience has an effect on the nervous system and this can be seen in cortical auditory evoked potentials recorded when the subjects hear speech

Assessment of Speech Intelligibility in Free-field Sound Chamber at Different Signal Noise Ratios

Objective: In the presence of background noise, understanding speech is challenging for any listener, esecially for those with serious hearing loss.This study aimed to determine speech intelligibility of normal hearing adults in quiet and noisy free fields

Effects Of Multi-Channel Compression On Speech Intelligibility At The Patients With Loudness-Recruitment

Objective: In this study, the effects of different limiting methods on speech discrimination at the patients with recruitment had been investigated. For this purpose, audiologic, impedansmetric and speech discrimination tests were carried out on 43 ears with cochlear pathology. Materials and Methods: The patients aged between 30 and 70 years (average 53.43 +/- 13.41). The sound pressure level at which the maximum speech discrimination score obtained was determined for each patient. A digital behind-the-ear four-channel hearing aid in which compression settings can be programmed independently in each channel was used for all listeners. The hearing aid was fitted to the test ear of the subjects and programmed according to WDRC, PC, CL, BILL and TILL limiting methods. Then speech discrimination scores with hearing aid were examined. This examination was done for the situations the speech noise is absent and S/N ratios of OdB and +5dB. NN Results: Although for noiseless situations there was no significant difference between CL and TILL, it has been found that with TILL method statistically better speech discrimination scores were obtained for both OdB and +5dB S/N ratios. No any significant differences have been marked among the scores obtained with WDRC, PC and BILL methods both in noise and noiseless situations. Any statistically significant correlation was not found between the determined speech discrimination scores and the sound pressure level that rollover occurred. Conclusion: Examination of the results statistically shows that, the highest speech recognition performance obtained with TILL limiting method. The results obtained with CL method were worse than TILL but better than WDRC, BILL and PC. It can be stated that, it is better to adjust the hearing aids used for the patients with recruitment phenomenon for TILL type operation. The CL limiting method could be second choice for limiting but PC, WDRC and BILL methods may not be good candidates for these patients.Wo

Effects of Multi-Channel Compression on Speech Intelligibility at the Patients with Loudness-Recruitment

Objective: In this study, the effects of different limiting methods on speech discrimination at the patients with recruitment had been investigated. For this purpose, audiologic, impedansmetric and speech discrimination tests were carried out on 43 ears with cochlear pathology

Galvanic vestibular evoked myogenic potentials: normative data and the effect of age

Introduction: Galvanic vestibular evoked myogenic potentials evaluate vestibular nerve responses using electric stimulation by records collected from the sternocleidomastoid muscle. A normal vestibular evoked myogenic potential response consists of the first positive, P1, and negative, N1, peaks. The response can be affected by factors such as age and gender and is also consequential in the diagnosis of pathologies. Objectives: The present study was performed to obtain normative data on healthy adults, to help in diagnosis by establishing clinical norms as well as to investigate changing test parameters with age in galvanic vestibular evoked myogenic potentials. Methods: A total of 100 healthy participants were included in the study. Galvanic vestibular evoked myogenic potential (current 3 mA, duration 1 ms) was performed randomly on both ears of each participant. The participants between the ages of 18–65 (mean age 39.7 ± 13.9) were divided into 5 groups according to their ages. Normative data of galvanic vestibular evoked myogenic potentials parameters were calculated in groups and in total, and age-related changes were examined. Results: The galvanic vestibular evoked myogenic potential waveform was elicited from all participants (200 ears). The latency of P1 and N1 was 7.82 ± 3.29 ms and 22.06 ± 3.95 ms, respectively. The P1−N1 amplitude value was 66.64 ± 24.5 µV. The percentage of vestibular asymmetry was 16.29 ± 11.99%. The latencies of P1 and N1 and P1−N1 amplitude values demonstrated significant differences among different age groups (p < 0.01). Conclusions: The results of this study show that as age increased, latencies were prolonged, and amplitudes gradually decreased. The normative data aids in the diagnosis of retrolabyrinthine lesions and the increase in the clinical use of galvanic vestibular evoked myogenic potentials

Identification of the audiological and temporal bone radiology manifestations of SOFT syndrome: a case report

Abstract Background SOFT syndrome is characterized by prenatal onset growth retardation, brachydactyly, onychodysplasia, postpubertal onset hypotrichosis, normal psychomotor development, and facial dysmorphism including dolichocephaly, elongated triangular face, prominent forehead and nose, and abnormal ear structure. This syndrome has been described in 31 patients worldwide. Case presentation In this case report, the audiological and temporal bone radiological results of a 4-year- and 5-month-old patient with SOFT syndrome are presented. Bilateral internal acoustic canals (IAC) are dilated with lobulated contour. Conclusions This case report is the first in the literature as it reports audiological and temporal bone radiology observations in SOFT syndrome. It is thought that regular and detailed audiological and temporal bone radiology evaluations performed in patients with different SOFT syndrome will be a reference for determining the characteristic audiological and temporal bone radiological findings related to this syndrome