Efficacy of Music Training in Hearing Aid and Cochlear Implant Users: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of music training on the improvement of musical perception among hearing-impaired listeners using a systematic review and meta-analysis. Article search was conducted from five databases, Scopus, ScienceDirect, Web of Knowledge, CINAHL, and PubMed. A total of 186 participants from 10 studies investigating the music training effects on individuals fitted with hearing assistive devices and outcome measurements were included. The meta-analysis showed standardized mean difference as a measure of the effect size, in musical improvement between the preand post-training. Although the funnel plot yielded an asymmetrical graph, the Egger’s regression showed no significant publication bias. Interestingly, subgroup analysis showed that the training effect was greater in children than in adults. With a necessity of longer training period to significantly improve their musical perception, cochlear implant only users had better effect compared to bi-modal users with both cochlear implant and hearing aids. However, the difference in the training effect between the users with and without previous musical experience was nonsignificant. The present study concludes that auditory music training brings hearing-impaired listeners into better musical perception while informing that training effects differ depending on age, duration of the training, and the type of hearing device used.

Occupational Performance of Hearing-Impaired and Normal-Hearing Workers in Korea

Background and Objectives@#This study aimed to investigate the occupational performance of Korean workers with and without hearing loss and analyze the hearing-related difficulties in the working environment. @*Subjects and Methods@#The Amsterdam checklist for hearing and work was used for the analyses and the occupational environments of the Korean workers were investigated. Out of 129 total participants, 86 workers experienced severe to profound hearing loss and 43 had the normal hearing ability. The hearing-impaired workers were recruited from two leading vocational centers and normal-hearing workers were their colleagues. @*Results@#The hearing-impaired workers were found to take fewer sick leaves and exhibited higher rates of permanent job statuses compared to the normal-hearing workers. Workers with hearing loss rarely detected background sound; however, they could perceive reverberation more frequently. They felt more satisfied with their careers than the normal hearing workers as they received social support and needed to put their effort into hearing for most hearing activities. Furthermore, the effort in hearing increased with the increase in job demand, job control, social support, and career satisfaction. The working hours per week increased with the increase in age, education level, job demand, job control, and social support. Different trends were observed in 9 out of 12 variables while comparing the data from the present study with that obtained from the hearing-impaired workers of the Netherlands, indicating a large difference between countries. @*Conclusions@#Although the hearing-impaired Korean workers operate diligently with good job positions, it is necessary to enhance their acoustic environment and provide them social support. Considering the cultural background of the hearing-impaired workers, the development of suitable vocational rehabilitation programs and specific questionnaires is strongly recommended worldwide.

Better Understanding of Direct Bone-Conduction Measurement:Comparison with Frequency-Specific Bone-Conduction Tonesand Brainstem Responses

The present study aimed to compare thresholds of directbone-conduction (BC direct) with those of behaviorally measured BC pure-tone audiometry(PTA) and objectively measured BC auditory brainstem response (ABR) to confirm the clinicalfeasibility of their relationships. Subjects and Methods: Young adults with normal hearingparticipated in the study to determine the thresholds from three measurements at four testingfrequencies. In the BC direct, the vibrator of a bone-anchored hearing aid softband wasplaced on the right mastoid of each subject. In both PTA and ABR, a B71 bone oscillatorwas placed on the subject’s right mastoid. While the subject’s thresholds of BC direct andBC PTA were determined with a clinically routine 5-dB step procedure, BC ABR was conductedto determine the individual’s hearing sensitivity by a peak V of the waveform usingtone-burst and click stimuli. Results: The BC direct showed a different pattern between lowand high frequencies. Precisely, its thresholds were 13.25 and 12.25 dB HL at 0.5 and 1kHz, respectively, but 19 and 19.75 dB HL at 2 and 4 kHz, respectively. A significant positivecorrelation existed between BC direct and PTA at 1 kHz, which was also correlated withABR. Conclusions: Based on the current data, the thresholds of BC direct were similar toBC PTA at low frequencies and BC ABR at high frequencies. The thresholds of BC directmight be predictable at approximately 5 dB higher (or lower) than that in PTA, although alarge data set is required for standardization. J Audiol Otol 2020;24(2):85-90

Speech Perception and Gap Detection Performance of Single-Sided Deafness under Noisy Conditions

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Many studies have reported no benefit of sound localization, but improved speech understanding in noise after treating patients with single-sided deafness (SSD). Furthermore, their performances provided a large individual difference. The present study aimed to measure the ability of speech perception and gap detection in noise for the SSD patients to better understand their hearing nature.

Primary Malignant Melanoma of the Breast: A Report of Two Cases

Primary malignant melanoma of the breast (PMMB) is a rare tumor with only a few case reports available in the literature. We report two cases of PMMB, one derived from the breast parenchyma and the other from the breast skin. The first case consisted of atypical epithelioid cells without overt melanocytic differentiation like melanin pigments. The tumor cells showed diffuse positivity for S100 protein, tyrosinase, and BRAF V600E. However, the tumor cells were negative for cytokeratin, epithelial membrane antigen, and HMB-45. The second case showed atypical melanocytic proliferation with heavy melanin pigmentation. The tumor cells were positive for S100 protein, HMB-45, tyrosinase, and BRAF V600E. These two cases represent two distinct presentations of PMMB in terms of skin involvement, melanin pigmentation, and HMB-45 positivity. Although PMMB is very rare, the possibility of this entity should be considered in malignant epithelioid neoplasms in the breast parenchyma.

Effect of Placenta-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells in a Dementia Rat Model via Microglial Mediation: a Comparison between Stem Cell Transplant Methods

PURPOSE: Loss of cholinergic neurons in the hippocampus is a hallmark of many dementias. Administration of stem cells as a therapeutic intervention for patients is under active investigation, but the optimal stem cell type and transplantation modality has not yet been established. In this study, we studied the therapeutic effects of human placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cells (pMSCs) in dementia rat model using either intracerebroventricular (ICV) or intravenous (IV) injections and analyzed their mechanisms of therapeutic action. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Dementia modeling was established by intraventricular injection of 192 IgG-saporin, which causes lesion of cholinergic neurons. Sixty-five male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into five groups: control, lesion, lesion+ICV injection of pMSCs, lesion+IV injection of pMSCs, and lesion+donepezil. Rats were subjected to the Morris water maze and subsequent immunostaining analyses. RESULTS: Both ICV and IV pMSC administrations allowed significant cognitive recovery compared to the lesioned rats. Acetylcholinesterase activity was significantly rescued in the hippocampus of rats injected with pMSCs post-lesion. Choline acetyltransferase did not co-localize with pMSCs, showing that pMSCs did not directly differentiate into cholinergic cells. Number of microglial cells increased in lesioned rats and significantly decreased back to normal levels with pMSC injection. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that ICV and IV injections of pMSCs facilitate the recovery of cholinergic neuronal populations and cognitive behavior. This recovery likely occurs through paracrine effects that resemble microglia function rather than direct differentiation of injected pMSCs into cholinergic neurons.

Literature Review of Listening Effort Using Subjective Scaling / 대한이비인후과학회지

Listening effort is defined as a listener's mental exertion required to understand a speaker's auditory message, especially when distracting conditions are present. This review paper analyzed several subjective scaling tools used to measure the listening effort in order to suggest the best tool for use with hearing-impaired listeners who have to expend much effort even in everyday life. We first explained the importance of measuring listening effort and discussed various kinds of measurements. We then analyzed and categorized 15 recently published articles (i.e., from 2014 to 2016) into three topics: performance and listening effort, listening effort and fatigue, and clinical implication of listening effort. We compared the articles in terms of pros and cons and also identified 10 tools for use in the subjective scaling. Although none of these tools were unified or standardized easily, we concluded that 7-point scale would be the most reasonable as a less time-consuming measurement for compartmentalizing the degree of listening effort. If used with objective tools for measuring the listening effort, the subjective scaling could be a powerful tool for clinical use.

Basal Forebrain Cholinergic Deficits Reduce Glucose Metabolism and Function of Cholinergic and GABAergic Systems in the Cingulate Cortex

PURPOSE: Reduced brain glucose metabolism and basal forebrain cholinergic neuron degeneration are common features of Alzheimer's disease and have been correlated with memory function. Although regions representing glucose hypometabolism in patients with Alzheimer's disease are targets of cholinergic basal forebrain neurons, the interaction between cholinergic denervation and glucose hypometabolism is still unclear. The aim of the present study was to evaluate glucose metabolism changes caused by cholinergic deficits. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We lesioned basal forebrain cholinergic neurons in rats using 192 immunoglobulin G-saporin. After 3 weeks, lesioned animals underwent water maze testing or were analyzed by 18F-2-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography. RESULTS: During water maze probe testing, performance of the lesioned group decreased with respect to time spent in the target quadrant and platform zone. Cingulate cortex glucose metabolism in the lesioned group decreased, compared with the normal group. Additionally, acetylcholinesterase activity and glutamate decarboxylase 65/67 expression declined in the cingulate cortex. CONCLUSION: Our results reveal that spatial memory impairment in animals with selective basal forebrain cholinergic neuron damage is associated with a functional decline in the GABAergic and cholinergic system associated with cingulate cortex glucose hypometabolism.

Influence of Hospital Website Attributes on the Recommendation of Customers in Mid-sized Hospitals / 대한의료정보학회지

OBJECTIVE: Mid-sized hospital websites were assessed to examine how their attributes influence outcome indicators as a potential marketing strategy. Specifically, the website attributes considered were accessibility, content sufficiency, and layout design, while outcome indicators were evaluated, based on satisfaction with the website, intention to revisit the website, and intention to recommend the hospital. METHODS: Five representative websites were selected according to their ranks derived from major ranking sites. The diversity of the websites were emphasized. Then, a questionnaire survey was conducted on 74 respondents. Collected data was analyzed, using frequency, correlation, and repeated measures analysis of variance. RESULTS: All three attributes were related to satisfaction with the website; in addition, both content sufficiency and layout design were significantly related to the intention to revisit. As for the intention to recommend the hospital, only the content sufficiency was significant. In particular, the sufficiencies on 'disease or symptoms' and 'question and answer' were important to all three outcome indicators. CONCLUSION: The websites serve as a marketing tool in managing mid-sized hospitals. Well-designed websites containing sufficient contents facilitate visitor's satisfaction and intention to revisit the website, as well as furthering their intention to recommend the hospital.