Auditory and Vestibular Research
Volume:32 Issue: 1, Winter 2023

Music can regulate the activity of brain structures that play a significant role in emotions. The perceived emotion techniques such as dichotic listening clarify the relationships between auditory emotional stimuli and hemispheric asymmetries in the auditory modality. We examined the impact of pleasantness/unpleasantness of music by Acceptable Noise Level (ANL) as a subjective measure of listeners’ willingness to accept background noise.

In this study, 32 participants rated their pleasantness with about ten songs; then, we considered the effect of preferred pleasant and unpleasant music on dichotic music listening and acceptable background noise. There were six forced attention conditions to calculate ANL, followed by measuring the most comfortable level and background noise level for each condition.

The pairwise comparison analyses revealed significantly higher ANL in forced attention to pleasant music than to speech (p<0.004) and unpleasant music to the left ear (p≤0.05). The mean ANLs difference in 2 groups of right ear advantage and left ear advantage showed significant intra-hemispheric differences in the forced pleasant music attention than the forced unpleasant music attention conditions (p<0.007), and forced speech conditions (p=0.001), only in the left ear advantage group. In addition, the interaction between conditions and groups showed interhemispheric asymmetry.

Music valence and intra- and interhemispheric differences can affect the ANL dichotic processing and, consequently, lower noise tolerance (higher ANL) in forced pleasant music attention conditions.

Noise pollution is one of the urban problems that can affect the exposed individuals’ cognitive function. This study set to investigate the impact of traffic noise on drivers’ cognitive variables including perceptual capacity, speed of perception, and divided attention concerning the role of individual orientation and neuroticism.

This study recruited 35 male student participants. The Eysenck personality questionnaire was used to evaluate the participants’ personalities (neuroticism and extroversion). Participants were then exposed to traffic noise, and the Adaptive Tachistoscopic Traffic Perception Test (ATTPT) was performed to assess their capacity and speed of perception. The Peripheral Perception Test (PPT) was also conducted to evaluate the divided attention using the Vienna test system software.

Introverted and stable individuals had better performance in perceptual capacity and speed of perception tasks after exposure to traffic noise. However, these effects were not observed in extrovert and unstable individuals. This study also showed no significant alterations in variables in extroverted (introverted/extroverted) subjects with neuroticism (unstable/stable) concerning divided attention tasks after traffic noise exposure.

This study showed that divided attention in extrovert individuals with neuroticism was not influenced by traffic noise exposure. But perceptual capacity and perception speed was influenced by traffic noise in introverts and unstable subjects.

Prevalence of noise-induced tinnitus is approximately twice as high among military personnel and veterans as in the general population. So they appear to have poorer quality of life. Many forms of sound therapy have been applied to reduce the effects of subjective tinnitus. This study aimed to investigate the effect of binaural beat stimulation on the annoyance of tinnitus in military personnel with the experience of acoustic trauma-induced tinnitus.

This study was conducted on 60 men with mean(SD) age 38.30(6.12) years individuals suffering from chronic tinnitus. They were randomly assigned to either the experimental group who were exposed to an audio file with an embedded binaural beat in the alpha frequency range or the control group who were supposed to merely listen to their favorite music without any included beat stimulation. Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) and Tinnitus Handicap Questionnaire (THQ) were used as outcome measures to collect the data after a period of one month.

There were statistically significant differences (score decrease) between the two study groups after intervention in terms of THI (p<0.05) and THQ total score (p<0.05) and the subscales involving emotional effects of tinnitus.

Binaural beat stimulation in the alpha frequency range has the potential of inducing some positive effects on subjective feelings of chronic tinnitus sufferers.

The face-to-face education was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic. In such situations, online education method was used. In this study, we aim to assess the quality of online education for theoretical courses of audiology from the perspective of audiology students at Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This comparative cross-sectional study was conducted on 77 audiology students of the School of Rehabilitation at TUMS. Data collection were a demographic form and two quality and satisfaction assessment questionnaires. Statistical analysis was performed in SPSS version 17.

There was a significant difference in all subscales of Shourcheh questionnaire among students with different educational stages (p<0.05), but there was no significant difference between age (except for social solidarity component) and gender (p>0.05) groups. The results of Kruskal-Wallis test showed a statistically significant difference in the quality scores among students with different educational stages (p=0.033), but there was no significant difference between age (p=0.300) and gender (p=0.630) groups.

The quality of online education for theoretical courses of audiology at TUMS is high from the perspective of PhD students, while it is low according to BSc and MSc students.

COVID-19 is an acute respiratory disease, caused by a coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2. Previous reports suggest an association between COVID-19 infection and Hearing Loss (HL). We have investigated the Universal Newborn Hearing Screening (UNHS) results in the time period of COVID-19 epidemic in Guilan Province, north of Iran.

We analyzed UNHS results from10 major obstetrics hospitals from 20th Mar 2020 to 19th Mar 2021, and compared the total UNHS positive/“refer” and total neonatal HL reports with the same time periods of recent three years. The prevalence of risk factors for HL were analyzed during the same period.

The total number of childbirth was decreased significantly from 27735 birth cases in Mar 2017-2018 to 18216 births in Mar 2020-2021 (p<0.001), but the total “refer” rate was significantly increased from 63.0 per 1,000 births in Mar 2019-2020 to 79.8 in Mar 2020-2021 (OR=1.29, 95% CI: 1.19-1.39, p<0.001), and also increased from 74.7 per 1,000 births in Mar 2017-2020 to 79.8 in Mar 2020-2021 (OR=1.07, 95% CI: 1.01-1.14, p=0.020). The HL rate increased from 10.3 per 10,000 births in Mar 2019-2020 and from 11.4 per 10,000 births in Mar 2017-2020 to 18.7 in Mar 2020-2021 (OR=1.81 and 1.63, 95% CI: 1.06-3.09 and 1.10-2.44, p=0.028 and 0.015, respectively). The prevalence of preterm birth (p=0.039) and neonatal intensive care unit stay (p=0.016) was increased significantly during Mar 2020-2021.

The chance of “refer” results and neonatal HL, found in the UNHS program, increased during the COVID-19 epidemic in comparison to the past years.

High-level sounds in recreational activities are known as one of the leading causes of developing noise-induced hearing loss, particularly in adolescents and young adults. Thus, this study aimed to explore the practicality of a hearing preservation education program in modifying listening behaviors concerning recreational noise exposure and Personal Listening Device (PLD) use in adolescents and young adults.

Two hundred students, both male and female (n=100, each) between 15 and 18 years old were chosen to participate. These students engaged in the hearing preservation education program and filled in pre-education, post-education, and follow-up questionnaires. The questionnaire assessed the students’ awareness, intention, attitudes, and motivation concerning recreational noise exposure and safe PLD usage. The materials were prepared by an expert panel of audiologists and then remarked as comprehensible by teachers of the target age group.

There were significant differences in preferred volume levels and preferred listening levels of PLD, as well as the duration of PLD usage among pre-education, post-education, and follow-up questionnaire measurements (p<0.001). Notably, education significantly altered the students’ awareness, intention, attitudes, and motivation concerning recreational noise exposure among the three experimental conditions (p<0.001).

Providing a fundamental guide and effective education to adolescents and young adults will help them to use PLD safely, expand their awareness and knowledge, and consequently revise their attitudes and listening behaviors.

Recreational and occupational noise can cause permanent damage to the inner ear. Cochlear synaptopathy can be “hidden” because this synaptic reduction can occur without permanent hearing threshold changes. Our study aimed to assess synaptopathy in people with and without a history of occupational noise exposure by use of latency shift of wave V with masking.

In this study, 38 males were involved. All participants had normal hearing thresholds. Of 38 males, 20-male identified with exposure to occupational noise and 18 identified without occupational noise exposure. Auditory brainstem response and masked were performed.

The main effect of the between-group factor was not significant in the right and left ears. But the main effect of the within-group factor in the right and left ears were significant (p<0.001 and p<0.001). Auditory brainstem response latencies at different levels in each group were significant. These results showed that there were no significant differences between latency changes in both groups.

In order to diagnose cochlear synaptopathy in humans it is important to use audiological test batteries in the future. There is currently no effective way to diagnose noiseinduced cochlear synaptopathy in human subjects.

The United Arab Emirates has been successfully identifying and rehabilitating children having congenital hearing loss. A dearth of published data regarding the newborn hearing screening programs in the country demands the current study. The study aimed to find incidence of hearing loss and impact of known risk factors for hearing loss in a cohort of newborn babies in a single tertiary hospital in the United Arab Emirates.

A retrospective analysis of hearing screening from January 2010 to December 2019 on a total of 37661 newborn babies were conducted using a screening protocol in auditory brainstem responses.

We report an overall incidence of 0.16% for congenital hearing loss in the current study population. Babies with prolonged stay in Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) had an incidence of 0.87% and in babies with positive family history of hearing loss, it was as high as 2.2%. Chi square analysis revealed the significance of these risk factors (p<0.001). 72% (44.61) received hearing rehabilitation by being fitted with cochlear implants and hearing aids except in few having other comorbidities.

The newborn screening program has run a successful journey since the beginning in the country and the current study is an example. A majority of children identified has received early audiological rehabilitation helping the country in promoting inclusive education and better quality of life for them. Further studies may be implicated to see the outcome of early rehabilitation initiated in the identified population.

Adding noise to the speech audiometry tests increases the sensitivity and specificity of them. This study aimed to investigate the normative data for the Speech-in-Noise (SIN) perception test in normal-hearing adults aged 18–25, and evaluate the effect of gender and ear laterality on the test score.

In this cross-sectional study, 126 adults aged 18–25 years with mean(SD) of age: 22.28(1.61) years old participated. The SIN perception test using Persian monosyllabic words was performed in quiet and using 5 signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs; 0,± 5 and ± 10).

The mean of SIN perception score was 96.48, 91 and 82.79% at the SNRs of +10, +5, and 0 for the right ear, and 97.09, 91.42, and 84.11% at the SNRs of +10, +5, and 0 for the left ear, respectively. The interaction effect of gender and ear laterality had no statistically significant effect on the test results in quiet and at any SNRs (p>0.05). Moreover, the main effect of gender on the test score was not significant (p>0.05), and there was no significant difference in the test score between the right and left ears (p>0.05).

Given the importance of including the SIN perception test in the routine audiology tests, considering normative data for this test is important. The normative data found in this study for this test can be routinely used in audiology clinics.

The Buffalo Model Questionnaire (BMQ) has been proposed for the screening, helping to diagnose and also monitoring the effect of rehabilitation on the improvement of Central Auditory Processing Disorder ((C)APD). In this regard, the applicability and accuracy of Persian-BMQ (P-BMQ) are evaluated by examining the correlation between the results of this questionnaire and the Buffalo model test battery.

Overall, 254 children, normal and with Specific Learning Disorder (SLD) aged between 7–12 years old participated in this cross-sectional study. The questionnaire was completed by the parents of children who were subjected to the Buffalo model test battery evaluations.

In the normal group, the highest correlation (0.648) was shown between the Decoding (D) component of the P-BMQ with the Row Staggered Spondaic Word (RSSW) variable. In the SLD group, the highest correlation (0.318) was shown between the Variance-tolerance fading memory (V) component of the P-BMQ and the qualitative Persian version of the Phonemic Sentence Test (P-PST) variable. The highest correlation was considered to be between the D component of the P-BMQ with the Right Competitive word, started in the Left ear (RC-LEF) variable in the SSW test (0.498), and qualitative P-PST variable (0.471); and 0.360 between the V component of the P-BMQ and Persian version of the Speech in Noise with S/N=4 in the Left ear (P-SIN4L) of variable in the P-SIN test.

P-BMQ is a useful screening tool complementing the Persian Buffalo model test battery for evaluating auditory processing evaluation in children.