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Objectives: Children with hearing loss tend to have poorer psychosocial and quality of life outcomes than their typical-hearing (TH) peers-particularly in the areas of peer relationships and school functioning. A small number of studies for TH children have suggested that group-based music activities are beneficial for prosocial outcomes and help develop a sense of belonging. While one might question whether perceptual limitations would impede satisfactory participation in musical activities, findings from a few studies have suggested that group music activities may have similar benefits for children with hearing loss as well. It is important to note that the effect of music on psychosocial outcomes has primarily been investigated at an anecdotal level. The objective of this study was to explore the effect of a music training program on psychosocial and quality of life outcomes for children with hearing loss. It was hypothesized that music training would provide benefits for domains centered upon peer relationships and prosocial measures., Design: Fourteen children aged 6 to 9 years with prelingual sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) participated in a 12-week music training program that consisted of group-based face-to-face music therapy supplemented by online music apps. The design was a pseudorandomized, longitudinal study (9 participants were waitlisted, initially serving as a passive control group). Psychosocial wellbeing and quality of life were assessed using a questionnaire battery comprised of the Strengths and Difficulty Questionnaire (SDQ), the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory, the Hearing Environments and Reflection on Quality of Life (HEAR-QL), and the Glasgow Children's Benefit Inventory. For comparative purposes, responses were measured from 16 TH children that ranged in age from 6 to 9 years., Results: At baseline, children with SNHL had poorer outcomes for internalizing problems, and all measures of the HEAR-QL compared with the TH children. There were no differences for general psychosocial and physical health. After music training, SDQ internalizing problems such as peer relationships and emotional regulation were significantly reduced for the children with SNHL. There were no changes for any outcomes for the passive control group. Additional benefits were noted for emotional and learning factors on the Glasgow Children's Benefit Inventory. However, there were no significant changes for any psychosocial and quality of life outcomes as measured by the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory or HEAR-QL instruments., Conclusions: The present study provides initial evidence that music training has a positive effect on at least some psychosocial and quality of life outcomes for children with hearing loss. As they are at a greater risk of poorer psychosocial and quality of life outcomes, these findings are cause for cautious optimism. Children with hearing loss should be encouraged to participate in group-based musical activities., (Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: Listening effort may be defined as the attentional and cognitive resources needed to understand an auditory message, modulated by motivation. Despite the use of hearing devices such as hearing aids or cochlear implants (CIs), the requirement for high listening effort remains a challenge for individuals with hearing loss. The Listening Effort Questionnaire-Cochlear Implant (LEQ-CI) is a hearing-specific patient-reported outcome measure (PROM), which has been designed for use in the CI candidacy and rehabilitation process to assess perceived listening effort in everyday life in adults with severe-profound hearing loss. The LEQ-CI has been developed in line with international consensus-based standards for best practice in PROM construction. The aim of this study was to improve the measurement precision of the LEQ-CI and to assess its psychometric measurement properties., Design: A field test was undertaken with 330 CI patients from five National Health Service auditory implant centers in the United Kingdom. Participants were adults (≥18 years of age), had a severe-profound hearing loss, and met the UK candidacy criteria for cochlear implantation specified by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Participants completed and returned an anonymized 29-item (each with a 5- or 7-point response option), draft version of the LEQ-CI (LEQ-CI29) and a demographic questionnaire. Rasch analysis was undertaken using Winsteps software and the partial credit model to assess rating scale function and item fit. Results informed refinements to produce a 21-item version (LEQ-CI21), which underwent a further Rasch analysis., Results: The sample was predominantly female: 60.3% (n = 191). Median age of participants was 66 (range 21 to 89) years, with 7.3% (n = 24) of respondents being CI candidates and 92.7% (n = 306) being CI recipients. Mean duration of implantation was 3.8 (SD = 4.8) years. Initial Rasch analysis of the LEQ-CI29 revealed poor rating scale functioning. Collapsing the 5- and 7-point rating scales to 3- and 4-point scales and removing eight items produced a 21-item PROM (LEQ-CI21). Rasch analysis of the LEQ-CI21 showed good fit to the Rasch measurement model. No items showed misfit and dimensionality analysis supported the existence of a single Rasch dimension, defined as perceived listening effort in daily life. Person reliability was 0.91 and the person separation index was 3.28, establishing four levels of person ability. The item separation index was 9.69, confirming the item hierarchy. No items showed differential item functioning for gender or age. The item difficulty range was -0.81 to 1.05, the person ability range for nonextreme persons was -3.54 to 2.49, and the mean person ability was -0.31., Conclusions: Overall, the LEQ-CI21 was found to meet the Rasch model criteria for interval-level measurement. The LEQ-CI21 is the first PROM to be developed specifically for the measurement of perceived listening effort and one of the first patient-reported outcome measures for use with CI patients to be developed using Rasch analysis. The LEQ-CI21 has the potential to be used as a research tool and in clinical practice to evaluate perceived listening effort in daily life. Further psychometric evaluation of the LEQ-CI21 is planned., Competing Interests: This study was funded by a Pathway to Portfolio Grant, Swansea Bay University Health Board. S.E.H. is an independent consultant to Cochlear Ltd. The other authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: Hearing loss (HL) affects a significant proportion of adults aged >50 years by impairing communication and social connectedness and, due to its high prevalence, is a growing global concern. Cochlear implants (CIs) are effective devices for many people with severe or greater sensorineural HL who experience limited benefits from hearing aids. Despite this, uptake rates globally are low among adults. This multimethod, multicountry qualitative study aimed to investigate the barriers and facilitators to CI uptake among adults aged ≥50 years., Design: Adult CI and hearing aid users with postlingual severe or greater sensorineural HL, general practitioners, and audiologists were recruited in Australia using purposive sampling, and a comparative sample of audiologists was recruited in England and Wales in the United Kingdom. Participants were interviewed individually, or in a focus group, completed a demographic questionnaire and a qualitative survey. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis., Results: A total of 143 data capture events were collected from 55 participants. The main barriers to CI uptake related to patients' concerns about surgery and loss of residual hearing. Limited knowledge of CIs, eligibility criteria, and referral processes acted as barriers to CIs assessment referrals by healthcare professionals. Facilitators for CI uptake included patients' desire for improved communication and social engagement, and increased healthcare professional knowledge and awareness of CIs., Conclusions: There are numerous complex barriers and facilitators to CI uptake. Knowledge of these can inform the development of targeted strategies to increase CI referral and surgery for potential beneficiaries.

Objectives: Individuals with hearing loss often report a need for increased effort when listening, particularly in challenging acoustic environments. Despite audiologists' recognition of the impact of listening effort on individuals' quality of life, there are currently no standardized clinical measures of listening effort, including patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). To generate items and content for a new PROM, this qualitative study explored the perceptions, understanding, and experiences of listening effort in adults with severe-profound sensorineural hearing loss before and after cochlear implantation., Design: Three focus groups (1 to 3) were conducted. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 17 participants from a cochlear implant (CI) center in the United Kingdom. The participants included adults (n = 15, mean age = 64.1 years, range 42 to 84 years) with acquired severe-profound sensorineural hearing loss who satisfied the UK's national candidacy criteria for cochlear implantation and their normal-hearing significant others (n = 2). Participants were CI candidates who used hearing aids (HAs) and were awaiting CI surgery or CI recipients who used a unilateral CI or a CI and contralateral HA (CI + HA). Data from a pilot focus group conducted with 2 CI recipients were included in the analysis. The data, verbatim transcripts of the focus group proceedings, were analyzed qualitatively using constructivist grounded theory (GT) methodology., Results: A GT of listening effort in cochlear implantation was developed from participants' accounts. The participants provided rich, nuanced descriptions of the complex and multidimensional nature of their listening effort. Interpreting and integrating these descriptions through GT methodology, listening effort was described as the mental energy required to attend to and process the auditory signal, as well as the effort required to adapt to, and compensate for, a hearing loss. Analyses also suggested that listening effort for most participants was motivated by a need to maintain a sense of social connectedness (i.e., the subjective awareness of being in touch with one's social world). Before implantation, low social connectedness in the presence of high listening effort encouraged self-alienating behaviors and resulted in social isolation with adverse effects for participant's well-being and quality of life. A CI moderated but did not remove the requirement for listening effort. Listening effort, in combination with the improved auditory signal supplied by the CI, enabled most participants to listen and communicate more effectively. These participants reported a restored sense of social connectedness and an acceptance of the continued need for listening effort., Conclusions: Social connectedness, effort-reward balance, and listening effort as a multidimensional phenomenon were the core constructs identified as important to participants' experiences and understanding of listening effort. The study's findings suggest: (1) perceived listening effort is related to social and psychological factors and (2) these factors may influence how individuals with hearing loss report on the actual cognitive processing demands of listening. These findings provide evidence in support of the Framework for Understanding Effortful Listening a heuristic that describes listening effort as a function of both motivation and demands on cognitive capacity. This GT will inform item development and establish the content validity for a new PROM for measuring listening effort.

Objectives: Combined vision and hearing impairment, termed dual sensory impairment (DSI), is associated with poorer health outcomes compared with a single sensory loss alone. Separate systems of care exist for visual and hearing impairment which potentially limit the effectiveness of managing DSI. To address this, a Hearing Screening Education Model (HSEM) was offered to older adults attending a low-vision clinic in Australia within this pilot study. The present study aimed to evaluate the benefits of seeking help on hearing handicap, self-perceived health, and use of community services among those identified with unmet hearing needs after participation in the HSEM., Design: Of 210 older adults (>55 years of age) who completed the HSEM and were referred for follow-up, 169 returned for a follow-up interview at least 12 months later. Of these, 68 (40.2%) sought help, and the majority were seen by a hearing healthcare provider (89.7%). Changes in hearing handicap, quality of life, and reliance on community services between the baseline and 12-month follow-up were compared between those who sought help and those who did not. In addition, the perceived value of the HSEM was assessed., Results: Results showed that there was no significant difference in hearing handicap between those who sought help (mean change -1.02 SD = 7.97, p = 0.3) and those who did not (mean change 0.94 SD = 7.68, p = 0.3), p = 0.18. The mental component of the SF-36 worsened significantly between baseline and follow-up measures across the whole group (mean change -2.49 SD = 9.98, p = 0.002). This was largely driven by those not seeking help, rather than those seeking help, but was not significantly different between the two groups. Those who sought help showed a significant reduction in the use of community services compared with those who did not. Further, all participants positively viewed the HSEM's underlying principle of greater integration between vision and hearing services., Conclusions: These findings suggest a need to further develop and evaluate integrated models of healthcare for older adults with DSI. It also highlights the importance of using broader measures of benefit, other than use of hearing aids to evaluate outcomes of hearing healthcare programs.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to investigate the potential unmet need for hearing services among older people attending low-vision rehabilitation, and pilot a "Hearing Screening and Education Model" (HSEM) of intervention to promote use of hearing services and aids among these individuals., Design: In the Vision-Hearing project, 300 clients attending low-vision clinics in Sydney, Australia, participated in baseline interviews and the HSEM (2010-2011). The HSEM consisted of: (1) standard pure-tone audiometry; (2) discussion of hearing loss and implications of dual sensory impairment; and (3) provision of information on hearing services and facilitated referral. Those with hearing loss who did not own hearing aids, reported low use (<1 hr/day), or used a single aid with bilateral loss were referred for full assessment by an audiologist and to the follow-up arm of the study (n = 210). Follow-up interviews were conducted within 12 months to ascertain actions taken and audiological and other health outcomes., Results: Of 169 participants in the follow-up study, 68 (40.2%) sought help for hearing loss within 12 months. Help-seekers had higher mean hearing handicap scores at baseline compared with non-help-seekers. The majority of help-seekers (85.3%) underwent a complete hearing assessment. Fifty-four percent (n = 37) were recommended hearing aids and the majority of these (n = 27) obtained new hearing aids. Seven participants had existing aids adjusted, and 3 obtained alternate assistive listening devices. Almost half of those receiving new aids or adjustments to hearing aids reported low use (<1 hr/day) at follow-up. Among help-seekers, 40% were unsure or did not believe their audiologist knew of their visual diagnosis. Of concern, 60% of participants did not seek help largely due to perceptions their hearing loss was not bad enough; the presence of competing priorities; concerns over dealing with vision loss and managing hearing aids with poor vision., Conclusions: Hearing- and vision-rehabilitation services need to better screen for, and take account of, dual sensory impairment among their older clients. If audiologists are made more aware of visual conditions affecting their clients, they may be better placed to facilitate access to appropriate technologies and rehabilitation, which may improve aid retention and benefit.

Objectives: Making evidence-based recommendations to prospective unilateral cochlear implant recipients on the potential benefits of implanting one or the other ear is challenging for cochlear implant teams. This particularly occurs in cases where a hearing aid has only been used in one ear for many years (referred to here as the "hearing ear"), and the contralateral ear has, in essence, been sound-deprived. In such cases, research to date is inconclusive, and little anecdotal evidence exists to inform the debate and support best clinical practice., Design: Retrospective data on speech recognition outcomes of 16 adult participants who received a cochlear implant in an ear deprived of sound for a minimum of 15 yr were analyzed. All subjects were implanted through the Quebec Cochlear Implant Program and were provided with personalized intensive rehabilitation services. Data obtained from clinical records included demographic data and speech recognition scores measured after implantation with the sentences of a multimedia auditory test battery in the auditory-only condition. Speech recognition outcomes were compared with the duration of auditory deprivation in the implanted ear, bilateral significant hearing loss, and auditory stimulation before bilateral significant hearing loss., Results: Using nonparametric correlation analyses, a strong negative correlation was demonstrated between speech recognition scores and the duration of bilateral significant hearing loss and with the duration of auditory stimulation before bilateral significant hearing loss. No significant correlation with the duration of auditory deprivation or with the duration of prior auditory stimulation in the implanted ear was found., Conclusions: These findings suggest that functional outcomes of cochlear implantation for unilateral sound deprivation may be more strongly influenced by central processes than peripheral effects stemming from the deprivation per se. This indicates the relevance of considering the client's history of binaural hearing rather than the hearing in each ear individually when discussing possible outcomes with a cochlear implant.

Objectives: There are few epidemiological surveys that have examined age-related hearing loss in an older Australian population. This study reports the prevalence, 5-yr incidence, and progression of hearing impairment in a representative sample of older persons., Design: The Blue Mountains Hearing Study (BMHS) is a population-based survey of age-related hearing loss conducted among participants of the Blue Mountains Eye Study cohort. During the period 1997-1999, 2956 had audiometric testing done. Of these, 870 participants without hearing loss and 439 with hearing loss were re-examined from 2002 to 2004., Results: Some degree of hearing loss was present in 33.0% of this population at baseline. Prevalence of hearing loss increased with age, sex-adjusted (odds ratio [OR] 3.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.1-3.9), with men 70% more likely than women to have hearing loss. The 5-yr incidence of hearing impairment was 17.9%. For each decade of age older than 60 yrs, the risk of hearing loss increased threefold, OR 3.9 (CI 2.3-3.8). Gender was not associated with incident hearing loss OR. However, high occupational prestige was associated with decreased incidence of hearing loss OR 0.6 (CI 0.40-0.94). The 5-yr progression of hearing loss defined as a difference in pure-tone average that exceeded 10 dB was relatively high (15.7%). At the baseline hearing study and at the 5-yr follow-up hearing study, 57.4% and 59.7% of hearing impaired subjects, respectively, reported using a hearing aid for a maximum of 5 yrs., Conclusions: Hearing loss was a frequent sensory disability, with one in three persons having a hearing impairment, and of these, almost one in two showing a decline in hearing over a 5-yr period. This information can potentially contribute to the planning and resource investment in auditory rehabilitation services for older Australians.

Objective: Temporal population-based data on tinnitus are lacking. We used a representative older population-based cohort to establish 5-yr incidence, persistence, and progression of tinnitus symptoms., Design: Two thousand six participants of the Blue Mountains Hearing Study (1997-1999) had complete tinnitus data, and of these, 1214 participants were followed up at 5-yr examinations in 2002-2004. Presence of prolonged tinnitus was assessed by a positive response to a single question administered by an audiologist. Incident tinnitus was defined in participants who were free of tinnitus symptoms at the baseline study in 1997-1999 but who reported tinnitus symptoms at the 5-yr follow-up in 2002-2004. Progression of tinnitus was defined as the increase in annoyance of tinnitus symptoms from baseline to the 5-yr follow-up study. Persistence of tinnitus symptoms was defined as the presence of tinnitus symptoms at both the baseline and follow-up examinations. Hearing impairment was measured as the pure-tone average (PTA) of audiometric hearing thresholds at 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz (PTA0.5-4 kHz), defining bilateral hearing loss as PTA0.5-4 kHz >25 dB HL., Results: Five-year incidence of tinnitus was 18.0%. A significant age trend was observed for the 5-yr incidence (p = 0.005), with incident tinnitus decreasing with age. Hearing loss increased the risk of developing incident tinnitus, age-sex adjusted odds ratio 2.13 (95% confidence interval, 1.40 to 3.24). Most (55.5%) incident tinnitus cases reported symptoms that were only mildly annoying. Tinnitus at baseline persisted in 81.6% of participants. Of those reporting mildly annoying tinnitus at baseline, 39.6% progressed to moderately annoying and 5.9% to severely annoying tinnitus. At the follow-up, a higher frequency of participants with persistent tinnitus (old cases) reported their symptoms as very/extremely annoying compared with the new (incident) cases of tinnitus (p = 0.01). A high proportion (85.2%) of subjects receiving tinnitus treatment (mainly medications and hearing aid) at baseline still reported tinnitus at 5-yr examinations., Conclusions: Incident tinnitus was frequent, with nearly one in five older adults suffering from this condition after 5 yrs. Tinnitus symptoms persisted in more than three-quarters of the cohort, during the 5 yrs. Longitudinal data are an important contribution to the research evidence base to support timely intervention and effective management of this frequent symptom.

Objectives: We aimed to investigate the temporal association between smoking or alcohol consumption and hearing loss, and to confirm previously published cross-sectional associations., Design: The Blue Mountains Hearing Study is a population-based survey of age-related hearing loss conducted in a defined suburban area, west of Sydney. Hearing loss was measured in 2956 participants (aged 50+ yrs) and was defined as the pure-tone average of frequencies 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 4.0 kHz >25 dB HL in the better ear (bilateral hearing loss). Alcohol consumption and smoking status were measured using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Logistic regression was used to obtain odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) that compared the chances of having hearing loss in participants who did or did not smoke or consume alcohol, after adjusting for other factors previously reported to be associated with hearing loss., Results: The prevalence of hearing loss at baseline was 33.0% (N = 929) and the 5-year incidence of hearing loss was 17.9% (N = 156). Cross-sectional analysis demonstrated a significant protective association between the moderate consumption of alcohol (>1 but < or =2 drinks/day) and hearing function in older adults (compared with nondrinkers), OR 0.75 (95% CI, 0.57 to 0.98). Current smokers not exposed to occupational noise had a significantly higher likelihood of hearing loss after adjusting for multiple variables, OR 1.63 (95% CI, 1.01 to 2.64). A formal likelihood ratio test demonstrated that the interaction between smoking and noise exposure was not significant (p = 0.23). When the joint effects of alcohol consumption and smoking on hearing were explored, there was a trend for alcohol to have a protective relationship with hearing loss in smokers, but this was not statistically significant. However, the 5-year incidence of hearing loss was not predicted by either smoking or alcohol consumption., Conclusions: This study confirms previously reported associations between alcohol consumption or smoking and prevalent hearing loss, but these were not demonstrated in temporal data. Other risk factors could confer greater vulnerability or cause the initial damage to hearing. Future large population-based studies, exploring the influence of other risk factors on the development of age-related hearing loss are warranted.

Objectives: Although it has been well established that the prevalence of and severity of hearing loss increase with age, the contribution of familial factors to age-related hearing loss cannot be quantified. This is largely because hearing loss in older people has both genetic and environmental contributions. As environmental factors play an increasing role with age, it is difficult to delineate the separate contribution of genetic factors to age-related hearing loss. In a population-based survey of hearing loss in a representative older Australian community, we attempted to overcome this using logistic regression analysis, accounting for known factors associated with hearing loss including age, sex, noise exposure at work, diabetes, and current smoking., Design: We tested hearing thresholds using pure tone audiometry and used a forced choice questionnaire to determine the nature of family history in a population of individuals aged 50 yrs or older in a defined region, west of Sydney, Australia (N = 2669). We compared the characteristics of participants with and without family history of hearing loss. Of those reporting a positive family history, we compared subgroups for age, gender and severity of hearing loss, and trends by the severity of hearing loss. Logistic regression was used to obtain odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) that compared the chances of having hearing loss in participants with and without family history, after adjusting for other factors known associated with hearing loss., Results: Our findings indicate that family history was most strongly associated with moderate to severe age-related hearing loss. We found a strong association between maternal family history of hearing loss and moderate to severe hearing loss in women (adjusted OR 3.0; 95% CI 1.6-5.6 in women with without a maternal history). Paternal family history of hearing loss was also significantly, though less strongly, associated with moderate-severe hearing loss in men (adjusted OR 2.0; CI 1.01-3.9 in men with than without a paternal history)., Conclusions: Findings from this study are important in the identification of individuals whose auditory system may be genetically susceptible to aging and environmental insult. Genetic counseling may assist in ameliorating the effects of hearing loss.

Objectives: The physiological mechanisms underlying auditory neuropathy (AN) remain unclear and it is likely that the multiple disruptions are classified under the broadly defined term. Cochlear implantation is being more widely used in this population to bypass the suspected site-of-lesion although a number of cases have been identified within the Sydney Cochlear Implant Centre where this management strategy has been unsuccessful. It is likely that this relates to the different physiological mechanisms underlying AN., Design: To investigate the site-of-lesion in AN, frequency-specific round window electrocochleography (ECochG) was used to assess local hair-cell, dendritic, and axonal currents generated within the cochlea in 14 subjects with AN and compared with responses from two normally hearing subjects. ECochG results were then compared with electrically evoked auditory brain stem response (EABR) measured after cochlear implantation., Results: The results of this study demonstrate that two dominant patterns of ECochG waveforms (produced by a high-frequency alternating tone burst) can be identified in this population of AN subjects: (a) gross waveform showing a prolonged summating potential (SP) latency that, in most cases, is followed by a small compound action potential; and (b) gross waveform showing a normal latency SP waveform followed by a broad negative potential [assumed to reflect the dendritic potential (DP) identified in anaesthetized guinea-pigs]. This study demonstrates that in most subjects (n = 7) with a prolonged latency SP but no DP, normal morphology EABR waveforms were elicited for all electrode channels. On the other hand, all subjects (n = 7) who showed a normal latency SP followed by a broad negative DP, showed EABR waveforms that were absent or having poor wave V morphology. The authors' interpretation of this is that ECochG results may provide a classification of AN into pre- and postsynaptic lesions., Conclusions: We suggest that a presynaptic and postsynaptic type of AN exist that may have implications for the fitting of cochlear implants.