Selective Unilateral Inner Hair Cell Injury: A Case Report

Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) is known to be associated with lesions at various sites, including outer hair cell (OHC) and inner hair cell (IHC) injury, as well as auditory dyssynchrony or vestibulocochlear nerve tumors. Therefore, it is important to establish the differential diagnosis of SNHL, which however is particularly challenging in patients with unilateral SNHL. The test battery approach is effective for accurate diagnosis in such cases. In this report, we discuss the usefulness of the test battery approach to accurately detect the site of the lesion in a patient with unilateral hearing loss. A 14-year-9-month-old adolescent who observed decreased hearing sensitivity in the left ear accompanied by difficulty with understanding speech at a distance was diagnosed with unilateral hearing loss in the left ear. In this report, we describe a rare and diagnostically challenging case of unilateral SNHL in a patient with normal OHC function and selective injury to IHCs, which was diagnosed using a test battery approach.

Comparison of a Free-Field and a Closed-Field Sound Source Identification Paradigms in Assessing Spatial Acuity in Adults With Normal Hearing Sensitivity

Background and Objectives@#Traditional sound field localization setups in a free-field environment closely represent real-world situations. However, they are costly and sophisticated, and it is difficult to replicate similar setups in every clinic. Hence, a cost-effective, portable, and less sophisticated virtual setup will be more feasible for assessing spatial acuity in the clinical setting. The virtual auditory space identification (VASI) test was developed to assess spatial acuity using virtual sources in a closed field. The present study compares the legitimacy of these two methods. @*Subjects and Methods@#Fifty-five individuals with normal hearing (mean age±SD: 21± 3.26 years) underwent spatial acuity assessment using two paradigms: 1) the sound field paradigm (localization test) and 2) the virtual paradigm (VASI test). Location-specific and overall accuracy scores and error rates were calculated using confusion matrices for each participant in both paradigms. @*Results@#The results of Wilcoxon signed-rank tests showed that the locationspecific and overall accuracy scores for both paradigms were not significantly different. Further, both paradigms did not yield significantly different localization error rates like right and left intra-hemifield errors, inter-hemifield errors, and front-back errors. Spearman’s correlation analysis showed that all the measures of the two paradigms had mild to moderate correlation. @*Conclusions@#These results demonstrate that both VASI and the sound field paradigm localization test performed equally well in assessing spatial acuity.

Maturation of speech perception in noise abilities during adolescence.

BACKGROUND: Speech perception encompasses the perception of spectro-temporal cues. These cues include temporal envelope, temporal fine structure, and spectral shape of the signal. Extraction of these cues is essential for speech perception and, most importantly, for perceiving speech in the presence of noise (SPIN). Speech perception in noise scores improves with age in children and is crucial in their routine communications, including classroom learning. Though it is established that the speech perception in noise improves with age in children, the age at which SPIN scores become adult-like and the differences in the maturation pattern between the ears remains unclear. The present study aimed to assess and understand the maturation pattern of speech perception in noise abilities during adolescence. METHOD: The study included 146 participants who were divided into six crossectional age groups. Participants were in the age range of 10-15 years and adults of 18-19 years. SPIN was assessed for right and left ears for each of these sub-groups. The scores were compared across the different subgroups for both the ears. RESULTS: Results demonstrated that SPIN scores in the right ear were matured by the age of 10 years and were comparable with the right ear SPIN scores in adults. Pairwise comparison using Bonferroni's corrections for multiple comparisons of left ear SPIN scores revealed that SPIN scores in the left ear become adult-like between 13 and 14 years of age. DISCUSSION: Findings of the current study can be attributed to the morphological changes and differences in the developmental changes across the different regions of the cortex.

Prosthodontic management of worn dentition in pediatric patient with complete overlay dentures: a case report

Overlay complete dentures are simple, reversible and economical treatment modality for patients with congenital or acquired disorders that severely affect the tooth development. It satisfies both the esthetic and functional demands where the extraction of teeth is not generally indicated. In pediatric patients, the overlay dentures establish a relatively stable occlusion that improves patient's tolerance to the future treatment procedures for worn dentition. This clinical report highlights the imperative need of appropriate treatment strategy and application of maxillary and mandibular overlay dentures in a pediatric patient who suffered from congenitally mutilated and worn dentition.