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Background and Aim: 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. Methods: 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. Results: The total number of childbirth was decreased significantly from 27735 birth cases in Mar 2017-2018 to 18216 births in Mar 2020-2021 (p

Objective To investigate the effect of combination therapy (fluoxetine + alprazolam) and fluoxetine alone in treatment of tinnitus. Material and methods 147 participants with chronic tinnitus were divided into three groups (fluoxetine, fluoxetine+ alprazolam, and placebo). Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Tinnitus Severity Index (TSI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) used to assess tinnitus. Effect size according to partial Eta square calculated and level of significance was considered as P Results Fluoxetine reduced VAS, THI, BDI, and increased BAI. The combination therapy significantly reduced VAS, THI, BAI, and BDI. None of them reduced the TSI. The effect size for BAI and BDI were 0.135 (medium) and 0.075 (small), respectively. There was no significant difference between combination and single-drug therapy. Conclusion Both groups improved THI and VAS. Combination therapy was not significantly different from single-drug treatment. Combination therapy can be considered only according to the psychiatric needs of patients.

With the expansion of the applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning in various areas, many challenges have arisen in the training of learning algorithms. One of the most important challenges is the learning in imbalanced datasets. The imbalanced data generally refers to a classification problem where the number of data samples per class is not equally distributed. Typically there is a large amount of data for one class (referred to as the majority class) and much fewer data for the other class (referred to as the minority class). In such datasets, learning algorithms are biased toward learning the majority class to reach better accuracy, which leads to the lack of learning in minority class data. This article first introduces a method called neighbor competition scoring (NCS) for assigning scores to samples. Each data point is assigned a lower score if it is farther away from its class samples or closer to the samples of other classes. Then, with the help of these scores, neighbor competition undersampling (NCU) method is presented for undersampling the majority class samples that are less important than other samples. The proposed method has been compared with some popular data-based methods in 10 datasets and has performed better according to the experiments.

Background and Objectives Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a disorder that usually occurs in the elderly, leading to dementia in some progressive cases. The purpose of this study is to examine the utility of central auditory processing tests as early diagnostic tools for identifying the elderly with MCI. Subjects and Methods This study was conducted on 20 elderly patients with MCI and 20 healthy matched peers. The speech perception ability in a quiet environment and in the presence of background noise and also temporal resolution were assessed by using Speech Perception in Noise (SPIN) and Gap in Noise (GIN) tests, respectively. Results The results indicated that the ability to understand speech in a quiet environment did not differ significantly between the two groups. However, SPIN at the three signal-tonoise ratios and the temporal resolution scores were significantly different between the two groups (p

Introduction: Deficient auditory processing can cause problems with speech perception and affect the development and evolution of reading skills. The efferent auditory pathway has an important role in normal auditory system functions like speech-in-noise perception, but there is still no general agreement on this. Objective: To study the performance of the efferent auditory system in a group of children with reading impairment in comparison with normal reading and evaluation of its relationship with speech-in-noise perception. Methods: A total of 53 children between the ages of 8–12 years were selected for the study of which 27 were with reading impairment and 26 were normal reading children. Transient evoked otoacoustic emissions suppression and auditory recognition of words-in-noise test were performed for all the children. Results: The average amplitude of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions suppression showed a significant difference between the two groups in the right (p = 0.004) and in the left ear (p = 0.028). Assessment of the relationship between transient evoked otoacoustic emissions suppression and monaural auditory recognition of words-in-noise scores showed a significant moderate negative relationship only in the right ear (p = 0.034, r = −0.41) of the normal reading children. Binaural auditory recognition of words-in-noise scores were significantly correlated with the amplitude of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions suppression in the right ear (p

Objectives Considering the common neurological origins, there is a relationship between the sensory gating and cognitive functions. However, there is no adequate information on this issue. In this study, auditory event-related potentials and the sensory gating performance were assessed in P50, N100 and P200 waves. Besides, their relationship with cognitive performance in auditory and visual modalities was investigated. Materials & Methods Nineteen normal primary school students (14 boys) were tested in Tehran, Iran from 2017 to 2018. In the auditory modality, the Persian version of the non-word repetition test and monaural selective auditory attention test (mSAAT) were used for assessment of the working memory and selective attention, respectively. In order to evaluate the visual working memory and visual selective attention, Rey-Osterrieth complex figure, selective and divided attention test were used, respectively. A 32-channel EEG system was used for electrophysiological assessment. Results The P50 sensory gating was negatively correlated with the visual selective attention (P=0.034, r=-0.49) and N100 sensory gating was negatively correlated with the auditory working memory (P=0.043, r=-0.48) as well as visual selective attention (P=0.039, r=-0.47). For P200, there was a significant negative relationship with auditory selective attention in the right ear (P=0.034, r=-0.49). Conclusion Sensory gating in children is not a modality-specific phenomenon. Sensory gating in a modality could be associated with cognitive functions in other modalities.

Background and Aim: While most of the people with tinnitus have some degrees of hearing impairment, a small percent of patients admitted to ear, nose and throat clinics or hearing evaluation centers are those who complain of tinnitus despite having normal hearing thresholds. This study was performed to better understanding of the reasons of probable causes of tinnitus and to investigate possible changes in the auditory brainstem function in normal-hearing patients with chronic tinnitus. Methods: In this comparative cross-sectional, descriptive and analytic study, 52 ears (26 with and 26 without tinnitus) were examined. Components of the auditory brainstem response (ABR) including wave latencies and wave amplitudes were determined in the two groups and analyzed using appropriate statistical methods. Results: The mean differences between the absolute latencies of waves I, III and V was less than 0.1 ms between the two groups that was not statistically significant. Also, the interpeak latency values of waves I-III, III-V and I-V in both groups had no significant difference. Only, the V/I amplitude ratio in the tinnitus group was significantly higher (p=0.04). Conclusion: The changes observed in amplitude of waves, especially in the latter ones, can be considered as an indication of plastic changes in neuronal activity and its possible role in generation of tinnitus in normal-hearing patients.

Background and Aim: In the last few decades, the total number of preterm newborns, with gestational age less than 35 weeks, who survived the prematurity conditions, has increased significantly. This might lead to a high prevalence of late neurocognitive and developmental abnormalities. The neurological development is closely related to the hearing and language acquisition; these factors play a crucial role in social and emotional growth. The present review emphasizes the consequences of preterm birth on neurodevelopment, speech-language, and auditory system. Recent Findings: The relationship between the preterm birth and neural developmental indicates that prematurity could lead to a higher risk of cerebral palsy, developmental delay, and mental retardation as compared to the birth at term. The preterm newborns would be deprived of normally enriched hearing experience during the length of hospital stay, which is markedly different from that of the typical full-term newborns. This altered hearing ability might impede the early normal development of auditory neural pathways in preterm children, posing serious concerns about the acquisition of speech and language skills as compared to their normal peers. Conclusion: Alterations in auditory and higher cortical functions in preterm children can lead to suboptimal cognition and language skills. In order to prevent and mitigate these consequences, a long-term follow-up of neurodevelopment, auditory, and linguistic abilities is proposed to fully recognize the sources of problems, and if necessary, implement the intervention programs.

Background and Aim: While most of the people with tinnitus have some degrees of hearing impairment, a small percent of patients admitted to ear, nose and throat clinics or hearing evaluation centers are those who complain of tinnitus despite having normal hearing thresholds. This study was performed to better understanding of the reasons of probable causes of tinnitus and to investigate possible changes in the auditory brainstem function in normal-hearing patients with chronic tinnitus.Methods: In this comparative cross-sectional, descriptive and analytic study, 52 ears (26 with and 26 without tinnitus) were examined. Components of the auditory brainstem response (ABR) including wave latencies and wave amplitudes were determined in the two groups and analyzed using appropriate statistical methods.Results: The mean differences between the absolute latencies of waves I, III and V was less than 0.1 ms between the two groups that was not statistically significant. Also, the interpeak latency values of waves I-III, III-V and I-V in both groups had no significant difference. Only, the V/I amplitude ratio in the tinnitus group was significantly higher (p=0.04).Conclusion: The changes observed in amplitude of waves, especially in the latter ones, can be considered as an indication of plastic changes in neuronal activity and its possible role in generation of tinnitus in normal-hearing patients.

Background and Aim: Attention is an important cognitive process that is necessary for educational purposes. Blind people are deprived from the most widely used human sense, the sense of vision. There are reports that blind individuals have a significantly better performance in attentional tasks, as compared with normal subjects. The purpose of this study was to evaluate sustained auditory attention capacity of Persian blind children aged 8 to 10 years. Methods: This study was performed on 60 blind children (50 boys) aged 8 to 10 years. The control group consisted of 60 normal children (49 boys) at the same age of the test group. In this study sustained auditory attention capacity test (SAACT), otoscopy, Edinburgh and audiometry tests were used. For statistical analysis non-parametric Mann-Whitney U and Chi square tests at p=0.05 significance level were used. Results: There was a significant difference in total score of sustained auditory attention capacity test (p=0.038) and Impulsiveness error between blind and normal children (p

While most tinnitus cases have some degree of hearing impairment, a small percent of the patients admitted to Ear, Nose and Throat Clinics or Hearing Evaluation Centers are those who complain of tinnitus despite having normal hearing thresholds. Present study was performed in order to better understanding of the probable causes of tinnitus and to investigate possible changes in the cochlear and auditory brainstem function in normal hearing patients with chronic tinnitus. Altogether, 63 ears (31 ears with tinnitus and 32 ears without tinnitus) were examined. The prevalence of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions and characteristics of the auditory brainstem response components including wave latencies and wave amplitudes was determined in the two groups and analyzed with appropriate statistical methods. There was no difference between the prevalence of transient evoked emissions in the two groups. The mean difference between absolute latencies of waves I, III and V was less than 0.1 ms between the two groups that were not statistically significant. Also, the interpeak latency values of I-III, III-V and I-V in both groups had no significant difference. Only the V/I amplitude ratio in the tinnitus group was significantly larger than the other group (p =0.04). The changes observed in amplitude of waves, especially in the later ones, can be considered as an Audiologic finding in normal hearing tinnitus subjects and its possible role in generation of tinnitus in these patients must be investigated.

Increased serum bilirubin levels during infancy increase the risk of hearing loss in infants. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between pure-tone audiometry hearing thresholds and thresholds estimated using auditory steady-state responses (ASSRs) in children with a history of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia, and to evaluate the usefulness of 90-Hz ASSR in estimating hearing thresholds in children. This study was conducted on 26 children (13 girls and 13 boys) who were aged 2.4-11 years and had a history of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia (bilirubin level17 mg/dL). ASSR thresholds were compared with behavioral thresholds and were interpreted after considering the amount and type of hearing loss. Of the 26 children, 12 had normal hearing thresholds, and 14 had varying degrees of sensorineural hearing loss. In general, a high correlation (r ≥ 0.81, p0.01) was found between the ASSR and behavioral thresholds. The highest correlation was observed at 2,000 Hz (r = 0.88, p0.01). No significant difference was observed (p0.13) between mean behavioral and ASSR thresholds at 52 studied ears. The results of this study showed that 90-Hz ASSR assessments provide reliable estimates of behavioral hearing thresholds in children who have a history of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia and sensorineural hearing loss or normal hearing.