Audiological Medicine

Publications in this journal

• Article: Morphological and funtional structure of the inner ear: its relation to Ménière's disease

  Olivetto E, Simoni E, Guaran V, Astolfi L, Martini A
  [show abstract] [hide abstract]
  ABSTRACT: Ménière's disease is a disabling disorder presenting with crises of aural fullness, tinnitus, hearing loss and vertigo. The hallmark of the pathology is a labyrinthine hydrops, but its pathogenesis remains unclear. This unknown aetiology explains the lack of a good pharmacological treatment. Here, we wish to evaluate the different parameters that can be involved in the progression of the disease, focusing on vascular disorders, production of reactive oxygen species and the relationship between the endolymph and haematic perfusion. We know that the blood supply must be adequate to guarantee the establishment of the endocochlear potential and the production of endolymph, so aberrant microcirculation may be an aetiological factor for Ménière's disease. Read More: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/1651386X.2012.714192
  Audiological Medicine 12/2012; 10(4):160-166.
• Article: Advances in Auditory and Vestibular Medicine.

  Mohamed A Hamid, Dennis R Trune, Mayank B Dutia
  [show abstract] [hide abstract]
  ABSTRACT: Auditory and Vestibular medicine is becoming more accepted as a specialty of its own, Medical NeurOtology. Recent advances in the field have been instrumental in the understanding of the scientific foundations, pathophysiology, clinical approach and management of patients with hearing and vestibular disorders. This paper will review these advances.
  Audiological Medicine 12/2009; 7(4):180-188.
• Article: Functional and structural changes in the chinchilla cochlea and vestibular system following round window application of carboplatin.

  Yide Zhou, Dalian Ding, Kari Suzanne Kraus, Dongzhen Yu, Richard J Salvi
  [show abstract] [hide abstract]
  ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE: In chinchillas, moderate doses of carboplatin administered systemically selectively destroy inner hair cells and type I vestibular hair cells; however, it is unclear whether this unique damage pattern persists if carboplatin is applied directly to the cochlea, how quickly the damage develops and what cell death pathways are involved. STUDY DESIGN: To address these questions, carboplatin (5 mg/ml, 50 µl) was applied to the round window. RESULTS: Carboplatin caused a rapid decline in distortion product otoacoustic emissions, significantly increased compound action potential thresholds and caused massive inner hair cell loss and less severe outer hair cell loss. Hair cell loss was initially more severe in the base than the apex of the cochlea, but by 28 days post-treatment most cochlear hair cells were missing and hair cell density in the utricle, saccule and lateral crista was greatly reduced. At one day post-treatment, many hair cell nuclei were condensed or fragmented indicative of apoptosis, and expressed initiator caspase-8 and executioner caspase-3, but not initiator caspase-9. Carboplatin-treated animals circled towards the treated ear and during the swim test rolled towards the treated ear. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that local application of carboplatin causes loss of hair cells that begins near the base of the cochlea and spreads towards the apex with increasing survival time. Hair cell loss is initiated by caspase-8 followed by executioner caspase-3.
  Audiological Medicine 12/2009; 7(4):189-199.
• Article: Audiovisual Spoken Word Recognition by Children with Cochlear Implants.

  Karen Iler Kirk, Marcia J Hay-McCutcheon, Rachael Frush Holt, Sujuan Gao, Rong Qi, Bethany L Gehrlein
  [show abstract] [hide abstract]
  ABSTRACT: This study examined how prelingually deafened children with cochlear implants combine visual information from lipreading with auditory cues in an open-set speech perception task. A secondary aim was to examine lexical effects on the recognition of words in isolation and in sentences. Fifteen children with cochlear implants served as participants in this study. Participants were administered two tests of spoken word recognition. The LNT assessed isolated word recognition in an auditory-only format. The AV-LNST assessed recognition of key words in sentences in a visual-only, auditory-only and audiovisual presentation format. On each test, lexical characteristics of the stimulus items were controlled to assess the effects of lexical competition. The children also were administered a test of receptive vocabulary knowledge. The results revealed that recognition of key words was significantly influenced by presentation format. Audiovisual speech perception was best, followed by auditory-only and visual-only presentation, respectively. Lexical effects on spoken word recognition were evident for isolated words, but not when words were presented in sentences. Finally, there was a significant relationship between auditory-only and audiovisual word recognition and language knowledge. The results demonstrate that children with cochlear implants obtain significant benefit from audiovisual speech integration, and suggest such tests should be included in test batteries intended to evaluate cochlear implant outcomes.
  Audiological Medicine 12/2007; 5(4):250-261.
• Article: Estimating the Influence of Cochlear Implantation on Language Development in Children.

  Ann E Geers, Johanna G Nicholas, Jean S Moog
  [show abstract] [hide abstract]
  ABSTRACT: Research studies reviewed here have identified a wide variety of factors that may influence a child's auditory, speech and language development following cochlear implantation. Intrinsic characteristics of the implanted child, including gender, family socio-economic status, age at onset of hearing loss and pre-implant residual hearing may predispose a child to greater or lesser post-implant benefit. Intervention characteristics that may influence outcome include age of the child when deafness is identified and amplification and habilitation is initiated, the communication mode used with the child and the type of classroom/therapy employed. Characteristics of the implant itself include generation of technology used, the age of the child when implant stimulation is initiated, and the amount of time the child has used the implant. These factors interact in unpredictable ways, so that isolated correlations between predictor variables and outcome scores may be difficult to interpret. Results for two independent samples of orally-educated children tested by different laboratories were compared using multiple regression analysis to illustrate interactions among predictor variables. Four predictor variables accounted for a similar proportion of variance (23% and 24%) in receptive vocabulary (PPVT) outcome scores in each sample. A unique predictor was then added to each analysis. The addition of pre-implant aided threshold not only increased the total variance accounted for to almost 40%, but also increased the effect of implant age as a predictor variable. A different result was observed in the other sample, were the added predictor variable was nonverbal IQ, where the estimated contribution of implant age was reduced. The current analysis suggests that future analyses minimally control for independent contributions of implant age, nonverbal IQ, and pre-implant aided thresholds when examining expected outcomes. Children in both samples who received a cochlear implant sometime between their first and second birthday achieved age-appropriate oral receptive vocabulary levels during preschool.
  Audiological Medicine 01/2007; 5(4):262-273.