Explore the vast range of titles available.

A major challenge to the auditory system is tracking moving sound sources in complex auditory scenes to predict future paths (e.g., an approaching car). Many psychoacoustic thresholds for moving sounds have not yet been studied, largely due to technical limitations. Current studies are mainly on static or slow-moving sounds in simplistic setups. Existing research on faster moving sounds has shown that listeners lose the sense of direction of circular motion at velocities up to around 2.5 rotations per second with white noise, due to degraded front/back discrimination. We have conducted two studies on auditory thresholds based on this upper limit: the first relating to the perception of revolving sounds at velocities well above the upper limit, and the second to the effect of a static distractor on the perception of a revolving sound. The first study explores the perception of sounds at extremely high velocities, where a sense of direction re-emerges. This creates what can be described informally as the auditory equivalent to the wagon-wheel effect: the sound appears to move in one direction when the velocity is below the fundamental frequency of the revolving sound, and it appears to move in the opposite direction when the velocity is above the fundamental frequency of the sound. The second study explores the ability to track moving sound in the presence of a static distractor by manipulating its spatial position and spectral content. We found that regardless of the spatial position of the distractor, if it energetically masks the relevant frequencies of the moving sounds’ spectra, it effectively hinders motion direction discrimination for a revolving sound. Additionally, we found that there is no effect of the presence of the distractor per se under our conditions, excluding the possibility of informational masking. By establishing these thresholds, we gain insights on the limitations of the auditory system in more complex setups than those currently established in the literature of moving sound perception. Our results lay the ground for future advances toward a better understanding of multiple auditory object tracking, and more generally, perception in complex auditory scenes.

\"A mother whose child has had a cochlear implant tells Laura Mauldin why enrollment in the sign language program at her daughter's school is plummeting: \"The majority of parents want their kids to talk.\" Some parents, however, feel very differently, because \"curing\" deafness with cochlear implants is uncertain, difficult, and freighted with judgment about what is normal, acceptable, and right. Made to Hear sensitively and thoroughly considers the structure and culture of the systems we have built to make deaf children hear.Based on accounts of and interviews with families who adopt the cochlear implant for their deaf children, this book describes the experiences of mothers as they navigate the health care system, their interactions with the professionals who work with them, and the influence of neuroscience on the process. Though Mauldin explains the politics surrounding the issue, her focus is not on the controversy of whether to have a cochlear implant but on the long-term, multiyear undertaking of implantation. Her study provides a nuanced view of a social context in which science, technology, and medicine are trusted to vanquish disability--and in which mothers are expected to use these tools. Made to Hear reveals that implantation has the central goal of controlling the development of the deaf child's brain by boosting synapses for spoken language and inhibiting those for sign language, placing the politics of neuroscience front and center.Examining the consequences of cochlear implant technology for professionals and parents of deaf children, Made to Hear shows how certain neuroscientific claims about neuroplasticity, deafness, and language are deployed to encourage compliance with medical technology. \"-- Provided by publisher.

Background: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are about 466 million people living with a disabling hearing loss globally, with almost 34 million of them being children, and approximately 7 million of these children are living in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In South Africa, the incidence of childhood cancer represents approximately 1% of all cancers in the population. The standard treatment in South Africa consists of platinum compounds such as cisplatin and carboplatin. Morbidity factors amongst childhood cancer survivors include hearing loss. Between 20% and 70% of patients suffer from cisplatin and carboplatinum-related ototoxicity. In any context including the South African context, for preventive audiology, it is important to describe and characterise the hearing function of paediatric patients with cancer. Aim: The main aim of the current study was to investigate the hearing function of paediatric patients with cancer in Johannesburg, South Africa. Methodology: A descriptive retrospective record review design was adopted in this study. The patient records were reviewed from Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital and Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital oncology and audiology units. Nonproportional quota sampling was used in this study. Data was reviewed from 47 patient records from the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital and Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital audiology and oncology units. Analysis: In this current study, descriptive and inferential statistics were used in order to indicate any patterns the data may have assumed and to help summarise the collected data. Findings: Demographic and diagnostic factors were thought to have an influence on the hearing function of the paediatric population with cancer. When establishing if a relationship existed between age of diagnosis, gender, race, type of cancer, treatment duration, and type of treatment and hearing function, all the objectives were found to be statistically non-significant, except for the type of cancer which was found to have a statistically significant association. The researcher was 95% confident that the true prevalence of hearing loss in the paediatric population with cancer would fall between 23.5% and 51.2%. The prevalence of hearing loss was found to be 36.2%. Conclusion: The participants who were found to have a hearing impairment, had a hearing impairment due to ototoxicity. As evident from all the audiological assessments administered, there was an evident change in the hearing function of participants from session one to two. Implications: It was recommended by the researcher that audiological monitoring as well as screening protocols be implemented in the oncology and audiology units. Current findings could contribute towards identifying risk factors that are associated with hearing loss in the paediatric population with cancer. These findings could possibly help guide future researchers, audiologists, pharmacists, oncologists, or policy makers in in developing treatment protocols, policies and interventions that may help minimize the effects and risks of cancer treatment on the hearing function of this population without having to compromise the effectiveness of their treatment. Implications for future research are also raised by current findings.

\"Evidence-based interventions only benefit learners when they are implemented fully. Yet many educators struggle with successful implementation. This unique book gives practitioners a research-based framework for working with PreK-12 educators to support the effective delivery of academic, behavioral, and social-emotional interventions. Step-by-step procedures are presented for assessing existing implementation efforts and using a menu of support strategies to promote intervention fidelity. In a large-size format with lay-flat binding for easy photocopying, the book includes 24 reproducible worksheets, strategy guides, and fidelity assessment tools. Purchasers get access to a Web page where they can download and print the reproducible materials. This book is in The Guilford Practical Intervention in the Schools Series, edited by T. Chris Riley-Tillman\"-- Provided by publisher.

With advancements across various scientific and medical fields, professionals in audiology are in a unique position to integrate cutting-edge technology with real-world situations. Scientific Foundations of Audiology provides a strong basis and philosophical framework for understanding various domains of hearing science in the context of contemporary developments in: genetics, gene expression, bioengineering, neuroimaging, neurochemistry, cochlear and mid-brain implants, associated speech processing and understanding, molecular biology, physics, modeling, medicine, and clinical practice. Key features of this text include: Highly technical information presented in a cohesive and understandable manner (i.e. concepts without complex equations) Discussion of integrating newly developed technology within the clinical practice of audiology State-of-the-art contributions from a stellar array of international world-class experts Scientific Foundations of Audiology is geared towards: doctoral students in audiology, physics, and engineering; residents in otolaryngology, neurology, neurosurgery, and pediatrics; and those intermediaries between innovation and clinical reality.

Since the first edition was published in 1998, considerable advances have been made in the fields of pitch perception and speech perception. In addition, there have been major changes in the way that hearing aids work, and the features they offer. This bo.

A listener’s ability to localize sound primarily relies on the binaural cues available across frequency and time. Observer weighting methods have established the relative influence (or perceptual weighting) of these cues for horizontal plane localization and lateralization. Previous literature demonstrates that, across frequency, listeners rely on cues within an “ITD dominance region” near 400 to 1000 Hz with a peak near 800 Hz. Across time, listeners rely on cues at the onset portion of the stimulus, especially in reverberant environments. However, extant literature focused almost exclusively on quiet situations and listeners with normal hearing. How listeners perceptually weigh these cues for degraded signals due to a competing sound or the impairment of the auditory system has yet to be established. This study measured spectral and temporal perceptual weighting of degraded signals during localization. In the first two experiments, competing sounds were presented at lateral angles. The ITD dominance region peak broadened towards 400 Hz, and onset dominance was reduced. The second two experiments simulated hearing loss in normal-hearing listeners by implementing a diffuse masker. Weighting patterns were compared to those of participants with real sensorineural hearing loss. The ITD dominance region peak broadened towards 400 Hz for both participants with real and simulated hearing loss. Onset dominance was reduced for participants with simulated hearing loss. However, onset dominance remained prevalent in participants with real hearing loss. The now established weighting patterns reveal the spectrotemporal portions of stimuli utilized during localization when signals are degraded due to competing noise and hearing impairment.

Background: Evolving research in the psychiatric literature has suggested that the auditory cortex region is smaller in people with schizophrenia who experience auditory hallucinations than in normal control individuals. These findings are not without controversy. While there has been significant research considering volumetric variance in pathologic brains with AH, there is a paucity of data considering the influence of morphology and surface area of primary auditory structures.Purpose: The purpose of this set of studies was to evaluate and compare the following variables in schizophrenic and control brains, both between groups and between hemispheres within groups: surface area of Heschl’s gyrus (HG) and planum temporale (PT), length of the Sylvian fissure (SF), length of the posterior extending ramus of the SF, and the morphological variants of HG, PT, and the posterior ramus. Evidence of morphologic variance or surface area differences in populations that are prone to experiencing auditory hallucinations may provide new or additional insight into the role of these neuroanatomical structures in central auditory processing during auditory hallucinations. Hypothesis: Based on the previous literature we had several hypotheses: (1) in separate structure analyses with regards to surface area, there will be reduced asymmetry for primary auditory structures (HG & PT) in schizophrenic brains with hallucinations compared to controls; (2) there will be reduced typical asymmetry in Sylvian fissure (SF) length for schizophrenic brains with hallucinations compared to controls; and (3) there will be consistent patterns of morphologic differences in at least one category of Heschl’s gyrus, planum temporale, or posterior ramus variants between schizophrenic brains with hallucinations and control brains.Methods: Imaging analysis was conducted using BrainVISA Anatomist software and MRIcron software to assess 51 control brains (102 hemispheres) from the Open Access Series of Imaging Studies (OASIS) repository and 51 schizophrenic brains (102 hemispheres) obtained from the NUSDAST (Northwestern University Schizophrenia Data and Software Tools) database. These neuroimaging softwares were used to quantify surface area of HG and PT, morphology of HG and PT, length of SF, and angle of the posterior extending ramus of SF.Results: This study found a lack of typical asymmetry between right and left HG in schizophrenic brains, and a significantly larger HG in the right hemisphere of controls compared to schizophrenics. There was also reduced asymmetry of the SF length in schizophrenics compared to controls. No significant findings were established for either PT surface area or morphological classifications of HG, PT, or posterior ramus.

Auditory training resources and techniques have been developed for adult cochlear implant (CI) users. However, it is unclear which aural rehabilitation programs are most effective. A literature review was conducted to investigate the characteristics of an effective self-directed auditory training program. The questions addressed by this literature review were: 1.) What evidence supports the effectiveness of the program? 2.) What are the gaps in our knowledge concerning self-directed auditory training programs for adult CI-users? and 3.) What recommendations can be made about self-directed auditory training programs? The results of the review revealed five self-directed auditory training programs. Auditory training was found to increase speech perception abilities and quality of life for adult cochlear implant users. Additionally, retention of improvements after auditory training were shown to remain after the duration of training. The effects of auditory training are also seen in measures derived from neuro-imaging and auditory evoked potentials that are attributed to brain plasticity. The evidence of the efficacy of self-directed auditory training for adult cochlear implant users published and assessed in this literature review is weak because only 7 of the 22 publications in this literature review were randomized controlled trials, explicitly 4 of which were investigating cochlear implant users. To overcome this lack of evidence, a self-directed auditory training effectiveness study has been proposed that could be carried out at the University of Arizona Hearing Clinic. Keywords: cochlear implant, adults, aural rehabilitation, auditory training, literature review