Geriatric

Cochlear Implants, Aging, and Speech-in-Noise

Fullgrabe and Moore (2015) recently reported that (even) for older people with normal hearing, speech-in-noise ability does indeed, decline with age. Therefore, Fullgrabe and Moore recommended tests beyond the audiogram to assess older people and their hearing/listening ability, and they reported it is necessary to take age into account, when addressing the audiological needs of older patients.

Hearing Aids Compared to Combination Devices in Tinnitus Management

Henry et al (2015) investigated whether typical hearing aid fittings for tinnitus are more effective than hearing aids with built in noise/sound generators. Of note, the authors were unable to find previous investigations that addressed these exact same parameters. Parazzini et al (2011) determined that tinnitus therapy was equally effective with sound generators and open-fit hearing aids and, indeed, the net improvement across the two different sound sources was identical and indistinguishable (see Beck, 2011).

Accuracy of Subjective Reports of Hearing

Kamil, Genther, and Lin (2015) examined the relationship between objective and subjective reports of hearing loss. Specifically, they examined 3,557 reports from people enrolled in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (from two cycles: 1999–2006 and 2009–2010). All participants were 50 years of age or older, and each had completed a subjective hearing assessment and had completed an audiometric evaluation.

Aging Trumps Normal Hearing in Speech Identification

Fullgrabe, Moore, and Stone (2015) investigated whether aging reduces the ability of people with normal audiograms to understand speech, and to determine the impact of cognition and auditory temporal processing.

How Young to Test APD?

Lucker (2015) reports that nothing in the guidelines from the national associations state that children under age seven cannot be assessed for auditory processing.

Comparing Fast, Slow and Adaptive Compression

Pittman, Pederson, and Rash (2014) report that over the last 25 years the noted benefits of compression have included a reduced need to adjust the volume control, listeners preference for compression, improved tolerance for loud sounds, and better adjustment to amplification. They note that two compression parameters are well known and well understood (compression kneepoint and compression ratio).

Hearing Aid Noise-Reduction Programs and Listening Effort

Desjardins and Doherty (2014) evaluated listening effort, with and without a noise reduction algorithm, across 12 adult experienced hearing aid wearers (age range 50 to 74 years, mean=66 years). A dual-task paradigm was used. The primary task was a sentence-in-noise task, presented at two loudness levels. The first level was a moderate listening condition with a performance level of 76 percent and the second was a difficult listening condition” with a 50 percent performance level. To achieve these scores in quiet required various levels to meet the needs and abilities of the individuals.

Training Localization Skills

Kuk et al (2014) evaluated the effectiveness of localization training on 15 participants with mild-to-moderately severe sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). Participants ranged in age from 28 to 83 years and the average age was 71. Each participant was an experienced hearing aid wearer. Of the 15 participants, 5 served as controls (i.e., received no training), 5 received home-based training and then lab training, and 5 received lab training and then home-based training. Lab-training used a 12-speaker protocol and home training used 2 speakers.

Aging and Speech Perception

Jin, Liu, and Sladen reported on the 1988 Working Group on Speech Understanding and Aging Committee on Hearing, Bioacoustics and Biomechanics (CHABA), which stated three likely factors for age-related listening problems: (1) changes in the peripheral auditory system, (2) changes in central auditory processing, and (3) changes in cognitive performance.

Tinnitus Characteristics

Gilles, Goelen, and Van de Heyning (2014) report that for patients with tinnitus as their primary complaint, hyperacusis and hearing loss are generally accompanying symptoms. Their report included some 588 patients evaluated during calendar year 2012, and each patient filled in the Tinnitus Questionnaire (TQ) and the Hyperacusis Questionnaire (HQ). The authors’ state that tinnitus is perceived by 15 percent of the population and is “severely bothersome” for approximately 2.5 percent. Gilles, Goelen, and Van de Heyning report “a remarkable finding…was…tinnitus type differs with age.