| 1. |
- Wierenga, Lara M., et al.
(författare)
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Greater male than female variability in regional brain structure across the lifespan
- 2022
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Ingår i: Human Brain Mapping. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1065-9471 .- 1097-0193. ; 43:1, s. 470-499
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- For many traits, males show greater variability than females, with possible implications for understanding sex differences in health and disease. Here, the ENIGMA (Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis) Consortium presents the largest-ever mega-analysis of sex differences in variability of brain structure, based on international data spanning nine decades of life. Subcortical volumes, cortical surface area and cortical thickness were assessed in MRI data of 16,683 healthy individuals 1-90 years old (47% females). We observed significant patterns of greater male than female between-subject variance for all subcortical volumetric measures, all cortical surface area measures, and 60% of cortical thickness measures. This pattern was stable across the lifespan for 50% of the subcortical structures, 70% of the regional area measures, and nearly all regions for thickness. Our findings that these sex differences are present in childhood implicate early life genetic or gene-environment interaction mechanisms. The findings highlight the importance of individual differences within the sexes, that may underpin sex-specific vulnerability to disorders.
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| 2. |
- Knudsen, Line V, et al.
(författare)
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Conducting qualitative research in audiology : A tutorial
- 2012
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Ingår i: International Journal of Audiology. - : Informa Healthcare. - 1499-2027 .- 1708-8186. ; 51:2, s. 83-92
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVE:Qualitative research methodologies are being used more frequently in audiology as it allows for a better understanding of the perspectives of people with hearing impairment. This article describes why and how international interdisciplinary qualitative research can be conducted.DESIGN:This paper is based on a literature review and our recent experience with the conduction of an international interdisciplinary qualitative study in audiology.RESULTS:We describe some available qualitative methods for sampling, data collection, and analysis and we discuss the rationale for choosing particular methods. The focus is on four approaches which have all previously been applied to audiologic research: grounded theory, interpretative phenomenological analysis, conversational analysis, and qualitative content analysis.CONCLUSIONS:This article provides a review of methodological issues useful for those designing qualitative research projects in audiology or needing assistance in the interpretation of qualitative literature.
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| 3. |
- Kramer, Sophia E., et al.
(författare)
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Cortisol, Chromogranin A, and Pupillary Responses Evoked by Speech Recognition Tasks in Normally Hearing and Hard-of-Hearing Listeners: A Pilot Study
- 2016
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Ingår i: Ear and Hearing. - : LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS. - 0196-0202 .- 1538-4667. ; 37, s. 126S-135S
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Pupillometry is one method that has been used to measure processing load expended during speech understanding. Notably, speech perception (in noise) tasks can evoke a pupil response. It is not known if there is concurrent activation of the sympathetic nervous system as indexed by salivary cortisol and chromogranin A (CgA) and whether such activation differs between normally hearing (NH) and hard-of-hearing (HH) adults. Ten NH and 10 adults with mild-to-moderate hearing loss (mean age 52 years) participated. Two speech perception tests were administered in random order: one in quiet targeting 100% correct performance and one in noise targeting 50% correct performance. Pupil responses and salivary samples for cortisol and CgA analyses were collected four times: before testing, after the two speech perception tests, and at the end of the session. Participants rated their perceived accuracy, effort, and motivation. Effects were examined using repeated-measures analyses of variance. Correlations between outcomes were calculated. HH listeners had smaller peak pupil dilations (PPDs) than NH listeners in the speech in noise condition only. No group or condition effects were observed for the cortisol data, but HH listeners tended to have higher cortisol levels across conditions. CgA levels were larger at the pretesting time than at the three other test times. Hearing impairment did not affect CgA. Self-rated motivation correlated most often with cortisol or PPD values. The three physiological indicators of cognitive load and stress (PPD, cortisol, and CgA) are not equally affected by speech testing or hearing impairment. Each of them seem to capture a different dimension of sympathetic nervous system activity.
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| 4. |
- Laplante-Levesque, Ariane, et al.
(författare)
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Hearing help-seeking and rehabilitation : Perspectives of adults with hearing impairment
- 2012
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Ingår i: International Journal of Audiology. - : Informa Healthcare. - 1499-2027 .- 1708-8186. ; 51:2, s. 93-102
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVE:This study investigated the perspectives of adults with hearing impairment on hearing help-seeking and rehabilitation.DESIGN:Individual semi-structured interviews were completed.STUDY SAMPLE:In total, 34 adults with hearing impairment in four countries (Australia, Denmark, UK, and USA) participated. Participants had a range of experience with hearing help-seeking and rehabilitation, from never having sought help to being satisfied hearing-aid users.RESULTS:Qualitative content analysis identified four main categories ('perceiving my hearing impairment', 'seeking hearing help', 'using my hearing aids', and 'perspectives and knowledge') and, at the next level, 25 categories. This article reports on the densest categories: they are described, exemplified with interview quotes, and discussed.CONCLUSIONS:People largely described hearing help-seeking and rehabilitation in the context of their daily lives. Adults with hearing impairment rarely described clinical encounters towards hearing help-seeking and rehabilitation as a connected process. They portrayed interactions with clinicians as isolated events rather than chronologically-ordered steps relating to a common goal. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed.
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| 5. |
- Pichora-Fuller, Kathleen M., et al.
(författare)
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Hearing Impairment and Cognitive Energy: The Framework for Understanding Effortful Listening (FUEL)
- 2016
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Ingår i: Ear and Hearing. - : LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS. - 0196-0202 .- 1538-4667. ; 37, s. 5S-27S
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Fifth Eriksholm Workshop on "Hearing Impairment and Cognitive Energy" was convened to develop a consensus among interdisciplinary experts about what is known on the topic, gaps in knowledge, the use of terminology, priorities for future research, and implications for practice. The general term cognitive energy was chosen to facilitate the broadest possible discussion of the topic. It goes back to Titchener (1908) who described the effects of attention on perception; he used the term psychic energy for the notion that limited mental resources can be flexibly allocated among perceptual and mental activities. The workshop focused on three main areas: (1) theories, models, concepts, definitions, and frameworks; (2) methods and measures; and (3) knowledge translation. We defined effort as the deliberate allocation of mental resources to overcome obstacles in goal pursuit when carrying out a task, with listening effort applying more specifically when tasks involve listening. We adapted Kahnemans seminal (1973) Capacity Model of Attention to listening and proposed a heuristically useful Framework for Understanding Effortful Listening (FUEL). Our FUEL incorporates the well-known relationship between cognitive demand and the supply of cognitive capacity that is the foundation of cognitive theories of attention. Our FUEL also incorporates a motivation dimension based on complementary theories of motivational intensity, adaptive gain control, and optimal performance, fatigue, and pleasure. Using a three-dimensional illustration, we highlight how listening effort depends not only on hearing difficulties and task demands but also on the listeners motivation to expend mental effort in the challenging situations of everyday life.
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| 6. |
- Alfandari, Defne, et al.
(författare)
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Brain Volume Differences Associated With Hearing Impairment in Adults
- 2018
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Ingår i: TRENDS IN HEARING. - : SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC. - 2331-2165. ; 22
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Speech comprehension depends on the successful operation of a network of brain regions. Processing of degraded speech is associated with different patterns of brain activity in comparison with that of high-quality speech. In this exploratory study, we studied whether processing degraded auditory input in daily life because of hearing impairment is associated with differences in brain volume. We compared TI-weighted structural magnetic resonance images of 17 hearing-impaired (HI) adults with those of 17 normal-hearing (NH) controls using a voxel-based morphometry analysis. HI adults were individually matched with NH adults based on age and educational level. Gray and white matter brain volumes were compared between the groups by region-of-interest analyses in structures associated with speech processing, and by whole-brain analyses. The results suggest increased gray matter volume in the right angular gyrus and decreased white matter volume in the left fusiform gyrus in HI listeners as compared with NH ones. In the HI group, there was a significant correlation between hearing acuity and cluster volume of the gray matter cluster in the right angular gyrus. This correlation supports the link between partial hearing loss and altered brain volume. The alterations in volume may reflect the operation of compensatory mechanisms that are related to decoding meaning from degraded auditory input.
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| 7. |
- Besser, Jana, et al.
(författare)
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How Linguistic Closure and Verbal Working Memory Relate to Speech Recognition in Noise-A Review
- 2013
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Ingår i: Trends in Amplification. - : Sage Publications. - 1084-7138. ; 17:2, s. 75-93
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The ability to recognize masked speech, commonly measured with a speech reception threshold (SRT) test, is associated with cognitive processing abilities. Two cognitive factors frequently assessed in speech recognition research are the capacity of working memory (WM), measured by means of a reading span (Rspan) or listening span (Lspan) test, and the ability to read masked text (linguistic closure), measured by the text reception threshold (TRT). The current article provides a review of recent hearing research that examined the relationship of TRT and WM span to SRTs in various maskers. Furthermore, modality differences in WM capacity assessed with the Rspan compared to the Lspan test were examined and related to speech recognition abilities in an experimental study with young adults with normal hearing (NH). Span scores were strongly associated with each other, but were higher in the auditory modality. The results of the reviewed studies suggest that TRT and WM span are related to each other, but differ in their relationships with SRT performance. In NH adults of middle age or older, both TRT and Rspan were associated with SRTs in speech maskers, whereas TRT better predicted speech recognition in fluctuating nonspeech maskers. The associations with SRTs in steady-state noise were inconclusive for both measures. WM span was positively related to benefit from contextual information in speech recognition, but better TRTs related to less interference from unrelated cues. Data for individuals with impaired hearing are limited, but larger WM span seems to give a general advantage in various listening situations.
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| 8. |
- Besser, Jana, et al.
(författare)
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New measures of masked text recognition in relation to speech-in-noise perception and their associations with age and cognitive abilities
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research. - : American Speech Language Hearing Association. - 1092-4388 .- 1558-9102. ; 55:1, s. 194-209
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: This research aimed to increase the analogy between text reception threshold (TRT) and speech reception threshold (SRT) and to examine the TRT's value in estimating cognitive abilities important for speech comprehension in noise. Method: We administered five TRT versions, SRT tests in stationary (SRTSTAT) and modulated (SRTMOD) noise, and two cognitive tests: a reading span (RSpan) test for working memory capacity, and a letter-digit-substitution test for information processing speed. Fifty-five normal hearing adults (18–78 years, mean = 44) participated. We examined mutual associations of the tests and their predictive value for the SRTs with correlation and linear regression analyses. Results: SRTs and TRTs were well associated, also when controlling for age. Correlations for the SRTSTAT were generally lower than for the SRTMOD. The cognitive tests were only correlated to the SRTs when age was not controlled for. Age and the TRTs were the only significant predictors of SRTMOD. SRTSTATwas predicted by level of education and some of the TRT versions. Conclusions: TRTs and SRTs are robustly associated, nearly independent of age. The association between SRTs and RSpan is largely age-dependent. The TRT test and the RSpan test measure different non-auditory components of linguistic processing relevant for speech perception in noise.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Besser, Jana, et al.
(författare)
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Speech-in-Speech Listening on the LiSN-S Test by Older Adults With Good Audiograms Depends on Cognition and Hearing Acuity at High Frequencies
- 2015
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Ingår i: Ear and Hearing. - : LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS and WILKINS. - 0196-0202 .- 1538-4667. ; 36:1, s. 24-41
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objectives: The main objective was to investigate age-related differences on the listening in spatialized noise-sentences (LiSN-S) test in adults with normal audiometric thresholds in most of the speech range. A second objective was to examine the contributions of auditory, cognitive, and linguistic abilities to LiSN-S outcomes. Design: The LiSN-S test was administered to participants in an older group (M-Age = 72.0, SD = 4.3 years) and a younger group (M-Age = 21.7, SD = 2.6 years) with N = 26 per group. All the participants had clinically normal audiometric thresholds at frequencies up to and including 3000 Hz. The LiSN-S test yields a speech reception threshold (SRT) in each of the four speech-in-speech listening conditions that differ in the availability of voice difference cues and/or spatial separation cues. Based on these four SRTs, the scores were calculated for the talker advantage, the spatial advantage, and the total advantage as a result of both the types of cues. Additionally, the participants completed four auditory temporal-processing tests, a cognitive screening test, a vocabulary test, and tests of linguistic closure for high-and low-context sentences. The contributions of these predictor variables and measures of pure-tone hearing acuity to LiSN-S outcomes were analyzed for both the groups using regression analyses. Results: Younger listeners outperformed the older listeners on all four LiSN-S SRTs and all the three LiSN-S advantage measures. Age-related differences were larger for conditions involving the use of spatial cues. For the younger group, all LiSN-S SRTs were predicted by the measure of linguistic closure in low-context sentences; in addition, the SRT for the condition with voice difference cues but without spatial separation cues was predicted by vocabulary, and the SRT for the condition with both voice difference cues and spatial separation cues was predicted by temporal resolution at low frequencies. Vocabulary also contributed to the talker advantage in the younger group, whereas the spatial advantage was predicted by high-frequency pure-tone hearing acuity in the range 6,000 to 10,000 Hz (pure-tone average [ PTA] HIGH). For the older group, the LiSN-S SRT in the condition with neither voice difference cues nor spatial separation cues was predicted by age; their other three LiSN-S SRTs and all advantage measures were predicted by PTA HIGH. In addition, for the older group, cognition predicted LiSN-S SRT outcomes in three of the four conditions. Measures of auditory temporal processing, linguistic abilities, or hearing acuity up to and including 4000 Hz did not predict LiSN-S outcomes in this group. Conclusions: LiSN-S outcomes were poorer for adults aged 65 years or older, even those with good audiograms, compared with younger adults and also compared with people up to the age of 60 years from a previous study. In the present study, regardless of the types of cues, auditory and cognitive interactions were reflected by the combined influences on LiSN-S outcomes of high-frequency hearing acuity and measures of linguistic and cognitive processing. The data also suggest a hierarchy in the deployment of processing resources, which would account for the observed shift from linguistic abilities in the younger group to general cognitive abilities in the older group.
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