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Damage-associated molecular pattern molecules (DAMPs) play a critical role in mediating cochlear cell death, which leads to noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). High-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), a prototypical DAMP released from cells, has been extensively studied in the context of various diseases. However, whether extracellular HMGB1 contributes to cochlear pathogenesis in NIHL and the potential signals initiating HMGB1 release from cochlear cells are not well understood. Here, through the transfection of the adeno-associated virus with HMGB1-HA-tag, we first investigated early cytoplasmic accumulation of HMGB1 in cochlear hair cells after noise exposure. We found that the cochlear administration of HMGB1-neutralizing antibody immediately after noise exposure significantly alleviated hearing loss and outer hair cells (OHCs) death induced by noise exposure. In addition, activation of signal transducer and activators of transcription 1 (STAT1) and cellular hyperacetylation were verified as potential canonical initiators of HMGB1 cytoplasmic accumulation. These findings reveal the adverse effects of extracellular HMGB1 on the cochlea and the potential signaling events mediating HMGB1 release in hair cells, indicating multiple potential pharmacotherapeutic targets for NIHL.

This study investigated the effect of sound therapy combined with drug therapy (SDT) on gap detection threshold and speech recognition scores in patients with sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL).Patients with SSNHL were grouped randomly into SDT and drug therapy (DT) groups. All patients received standard drug treatment and patients in the SDT group additionally received sound stimulation for the affected ears for 6 days. Pure tone audiogram, speech recognition scores at normal and time-compressed rates under quiet and noisy conditions, and the gap detection threshold of the SDT and DT groups before treatment and on day 6 and 30 after treatment were compared.There were 20 patients in the SDT group and 24 in the DT group. The pure tone thresholds of affected ears were significantly lower in the SDT group on day 6 after treatment than those in the DT group at 125 and 250 Hz. Significantly lower gap detection thresholds and higher speech recognition scores under noisy conditions were observed at the normal and time-compressed rates in the SDT group than those in the DT group on day 6 and 30 after treatment. Significant correlations were observed between the gap thresholds and speech recognition scores in a noisy environment at normal and time-compressed rates on day 6 and 30.SDT may improve the recovery of hearing abilities, such as the gap in noise thresholds and speech recognition in noise, in the case of SSNHL.ChiCTR-IOR-17012262.

Background Temporal envelope cues are conveyed by cochlear implants (CIs) to hearing loss patients to restore hearing. Although CIs could enable users to communicate in clear listening environments, noisy environments still pose a problem. To improve speech-processing strategies used in Chinese CIs, we explored the relative contributions made by the temporal envelope in various frequency regions, as relevant to Mandarin sentence recognition in noise. Methods Original speech material from the Mandarin version of the Hearing in Noise Test (MHINT) was mixed with speech-shaped noise (SSN), sinusoidally amplitude-modulated speech-shaped noise (SAM SSN), and sinusoidally amplitude-modulated (SAM) white noise (4 Hz) at a + 5 dB signal-to-noise ratio, respectively. Envelope information of the noise-corrupted speech material was extracted from 30 contiguous bands that were allocated to five frequency regions. The intelligibility of the noise-corrupted speech material (temporal cues from one or two regions were removed) was measured to estimate the relative weights of temporal envelope cues from the five frequency regions. Results In SSN, the mean weights of Regions 1–5 were 0.34, 0.19, 0.20, 0.16, and 0.11, respectively; in SAM SSN, the mean weights of Regions 1–5 were 0.34, 0.17, 0.24, 0.14, and 0.11, respectively; and in SAM white noise, the mean weights of Regions 1–5 were 0.46, 0.24, 0.22, 0.06, and 0.02, respectively. Conclusions The results suggest that the temporal envelope in the low-frequency region transmits the greatest amount of information in terms of Mandarin sentence recognition for three types of noise, which differed from the perception strategy employed in clear listening environments.

We aimed to retrospectively analyze the therapeutic outcomes of using glucocorticoid combined with a vasodilator, breviscapine, versus glucocorticoid alone in patients with sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) and to explore the impact on different audiometric curves.Data from 154 patients were collected between January 2017 and December 2018. Patients received treatments of either glucocorticoid combined with breviscapine (GC + Bre) or glucocorticoid alone (GC). These two groups were stratified into low frequencies SSNHL (LF-SSNHL), high frequencies SSNHL (HF-SSNHL), all frequencies SSNHL (AF-SSNHL), and total deafness SSNHL (TD-SSNHL) subgroups according to their corresponding audiograms. The hearing level was evaluated by pure tone audiometry, and hearing recovery was calculated by comparing the pure tone average (PTA) at pretreatment and 4 weeks after therapy.Hearing recovery was significantly greater for GC + Bre than GC-only treatment in the AF-SSNHL and TD-SSNHL subgroups (P 0.05) and to a lesser extent in the LF-SSNHL and HF-SSNHL subgroups (P 0.05). Logistic regression analysis also showed a favorable outcome for SSNHL in the GC + Bre group (odds ratio 2.848, P 0.05).Treating SSNHL using glucocorticoid combined with breviscapine could be more beneficial than using glucocorticoid alone, especially for patients with AF-SSNHL and TD-SSNHL.ChiCTR18000170072.

The aim of the present study was to explore the demographic, clinical, and pathogenetic features; and treatment outcomes of patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) who were negative upon positional testing at their first referral. A total of 133 patients presented with histories of BPPV but were negative, in our hands, upon positional testing. Patients were told to cease taking vestibular suppressant medication (if any) and were to return for re-examination when positional vertigo symptoms recurred. If BPPV was diagnosed, the appropriate repositioning maneuver was applied and patients were re-examined weekly until the characteristic nystagmus and vertigo disappeared. Follow-up was performed 1 week, 4 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year after diagnosis. The 133 patients were compared with a group of 250 patients with typical BPPV. Sixty-five of the 133 patients (termed the n-BPPV group) were subsequently identified with typical BPPV. Such diagnoses were made within 10 days of the first referral in 37 (56.9%) cases. Patients of the n-BPPV group had a longer duration of the last episode of vertigo than did others (39.7 ± 38.4 vs. 26.1 ± 36.7 days, p < 0.001), and a higher proportion used vestibular suppressant medication prior to first referral (75.4 vs. 54.8%, p = 0.003). The n-BPPV and typical BPPV patients responded similarly to treatment and exhibited similar recurrence rates. BPPV patients who were negative upon positional testing at first referral were quite common, accounting for 26% of all typical BPPV patients. No significant difference in either treatment outcome or recurrence rate was evident between n-BPPV and typical BPPV positions. Positional vertigo and nystagmus are not always present as BPPV progresses.