Background and Aim: The information related to brain oscillation, head rotation and head orientation relative to gravity is obtained from the vestibular system. An important reference for upright posture and navigation is gravity-based vertical perception. Many studies have been conducted for the determination of cortical areas involved in Subjective Visual Vertical (SVV) perception in healthy people or patients with brain injuries. Their results have indicated an extensive and bilateral cortical area involved in SVV perception. The purpose of this review study is to investigate these cortical areas and their functional role.
Recent Findings: Neuroimaging studies in patients with brain injuries showed that multiple cortical areas have a role in SVV perception. These areas mainly include the occipital cortex, frontal cortex, posterior temporoparietal, temporo-occipital, parieto-occipital, superior temporal gyrus, inferior parietal lobe in temporoparietal junction, posterior insula, cuneus, lingual gyrus, precuneus, ventral dentate nucleus, cerebellum, and brainstem.
Conclusion: The cortical areas involved in SVV perception are a part of the vestibular system, which is distributed bilaterally. These areas have a multi-sensory processing task and play a role in processing of cognitive and motor sensory information.

Background and Aim: Untreated hearing loss can severely impact quality of life, mental and physical health, and cognitive performance. Digital hearing aids can mitigate these effects, with the filter bank being a crucial component. It divides signals into frequency bands, compresses, amplifies, and processes speech based on the user's hearing profile. This study focuses on optimizing filter bank architecture in terms of hardware cost, processing speed, and adaptability to enhance the efficiency of digital hearing aids.
Recent Findings: Each filter bank in digital hearing aids relies on Finite Impulse Respons(FIR) filters, and optimizing their architecture is crucial for optimal device performance. Literature suggests that reconfigurable digital FIR filters are preferred for filter bank structures. However, their performance may vary based on specifications such as filter length, bandwidth, sampling frequency, and coefficients. Therefore, this review aims to identify an optimized reconfigurable FIR filter design that improves hearing aid performance while ensuring its parameters remain independent of these specifications.
Conclusion: A hardware-efficient, optimized, and adaptable parallel computing architecture for hearing aid filter banks has been identified from the literature survey. This proposed architecture features reconfigurable sub-band frequencies tailored to the user’s specific hearing loss, utilizing a Coefficient Scanning Mechanism (CSM) and Floating point-Computation Sharing High-Speed Mechanism (FP-CSHM). The CSM dynamically adjusts sub-band selection and reorganizes the FIR structure in each filter bank to reduce multiplication counts based on coefficient matching. The FP-CSHM enhances computation speed by eliminating redundant calculations through parallel processing.

Background and Aim: Misophonia is a condition marked by heightened sensitivity and intense emotional and physiological responses to particular sounds that may not spark the same reactions in others. This study is the first of its kind to assess binaural integration and binaural interaction in misophonia.
Methods: Thirty misophonia and 30 control participants were considered in the age range of 18 to 30 years. All the participants had hearing sensitivity within normal limits and normal middle ear function. Individuals with a history of otological complaints, noise exposure, ototoxic medications, tinnitus, hyperacusis, diabetes, or hypertension were excluded from the study. Misophonia severity was assessed using the Misophonia Assessment Questionnaire (MAQ). Binaural integration was assessed using Dichotic Consonant Vowel (DCV) test, and binaural interaction was assessed using Masking Level Difference (MLD).
Results: The statistical analysis of the independent t-test for DCV and Mann Whitney U test for MLD showed no significant difference between misophonia and the control group for both MLD and DCV.
Conclusion: The results suggest that there is no significant difference in DCV and MLD scores between the control and misophonia groups.

Background and Aim: Wideband Tympanometry (WBT) evaluation of the middle ear is a more accurate approach to identifying middle ear disorders, especially in infants and neonates. Therefore, the need to achieve WBT normative values in the infant population seems obvious. This study aims to evaluate the normative wideband tympanometry values measured in birth to 2-months Iranian infants.
Methods: Sixty-four infants participated in this study, including 9 girls and 11 boys in the age group of 0–14 days and 17 girls and 27 boys in the age group of 15–60 days.
Results: The normative range of the mean resonance frequency in the first and second age groups was between 298–323 Hz and 324–339 Hz, respectively. At the frequencies of 500 Hz and 1000 Hz, the effect of age groups, at the frequency of 2000 Hz, the effect of age groups, gender, and ear side, at the frequency of 6349 Hz, the effect of gender and age groups, and finally at the frequency of 8000 Hz, the effect of gender in different modes was observed. The normative range of the mean ear canal volume in the first and second age groups was between 0.41–0.38 ml and 0.42–0.46 ml, respectively. The normative range of mean peak tympanometric pressure in the first and second age groups was between –21 to 32 daPa and –8 to 25 daPa.
Conclusion: The use of separate norms for males and females in different situations may increase the sensitivity and specificity of the wideband tympanometry.

Background and Aim: Regular physical activities, including sports, are associated with improved balance function. The objectives of our study were to conduct cervical Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials (cVEMPs) and ocular VEMPs (oVEMPs) in young adult football players and to compare the test results with those who are not involved in regular physical activities as the control group.
Methods: We recruited 11 young football players (9 right-leg and two left-leg dominant) who have been playing football regularly since childhood and have participated in inter-school or college/university-level football tournaments. The age-matched control group consisted of 11 healthy participants not involved in any physical activities regularly or as a hobby. Participants in both groups underwent cVEMP and oVEMP tests in both ears.
Results: The peak-to-peak amplitude of both cVEMP and oVEMP were higher in football players than in the control group. The amplitude for left ear stimulation was higher than the right ear for both cVEMP and oVEMP in football players and it reached statistical significance for oVEMP in left ear stimulation (p<0.05). The n10 latency of oVEMP in both right and left ear stimulations and the p13 latency of cVEMP in left ear stimulation was significantly shorter in football players compared to the control group (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Regular football players have stronger vestibule-collic and translational Vestibulo-Ocular Reflexes (t-VOR). The reflex strength, measured as the higher peak-to-peak amplitude of VEMPs, might also be influenced by factors like leg/eye dominance.

Background and Aim: One of the various measures used in speech audiometry is the speech recognition threshold. The aim of this study is to construct psychometrically equivalent lists containing Azeri two-syllable words to evaluate speech reception threshold in Azeri-speaking adults.
Methods: This study is a cross-sectional comparative study of test construction. Common two-syllable words were collected from Azeri books. Words with features of ease, familiarity, and relatedness as well as phonetic balance and phonetic dissimilarity were included in 5 lists of 10 words. The lists were evaluated for psychometric evaluations and validity and reliability on young Azeri population at 5 intensity levels from –5 to 15 dB HL. After two to four weeks, people were tested again under the same conditions.
Results: All 5 lists showed favorable face, content validity index and content validity ratio. The average speech thresholds obtained were 9.62, 9.77, 9.57, 9.67 and 9.57, respectively. Cronbach's alpha coefficient and halving were obtained above 0.8 in all 5 lists. Test-retest reliability was also significant (p<0.001).
Conclusion: The review and analysis performed on the data show that all 5 lists have psychometric homogeneity and alignment and show a high degree of validity and reliability; which makes them suitable for evaluating speech reception threshold in hearing centers of Azari regions.

Background and Aim: Human blood group system variations may impact the individual's health and hearing status. It was found that individuals with O-positive blood are more prone to noise-induced hearing loss, and they exhibit reduced amplitude in otoacoustic emissions, elevated Acoustic Reflex Threshold (ART), and a slightly higher resonance frequency of the middle ear. Hence, a study was needed to observe if the same trend is followed for those with Rh-ve blood groups.
Methods: A cross-sectional group post-test-only design with a non-random convenient sample was applied. This study was conducted with forty adult female participants with a pure tone threshold range of less than or equal to 15 dBHL and ages ranging from 18 to 25 years. In each blood group (A–, B–, O–, AB–), 10 participants were recruited. All participants underwent immittance evaluation, pure tone audiometry, and extended high-frequency audiometry.
Results: On analyzing the data, participants with the O negative blood group showed significantly elevated ART in both ipsilateral and contralateral ears. Also, there was no significant difference for pure tone thresholds for the frequencies 250 Hz to 16 kHz and tympanometry findings.
Conclusion: This study indicates that the elevated ARTs in O negative blood group people could be attributed to relatively increased stiffness in the middle ear and fewer outer hair cells compared with other blood groups.

Background and Aim: Hearing loss often coexists with various comorbidities and is commonly accompanied by tinnitus. Patients frequently report both tinnitus and hearing difficulties, posing challenges in distinguishing
between the two complaints. This study aimed to assess the validity and reliability of the Persian version of the Tinnitus and Hearing Survey (THS) for distinguishing between tinnitus and hearing problems.
Methods: A psychometric study involved 100 participants aged 18-60, categorized into four groups based on hearing status and tinnitus presence. The Persian translation of a questionnaire underwent content and face validity assessments. Convergent validity for tinnitus and sound tolerance sections was evaluated using the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) and Hyperacusis Questionnaire (HQ) respectively, while pure-tone average assessed hearing section validity. Construct validity was confirmed via confirmatory factor analysis, and internal consistency and test-retest reliability were assessed using Cronbach's alpha and ICC respectively.
Results: The Persian version had strong face and content validity, with Cronbach's alpha values of 0.82 and 0.90 for the tinnitus and hearing sections, respectively, and a value of 0.80 for the overall scale. The ICC values for the tinnitus, hearing, and sound tolerance sections were 0.8, 0.83, and 0.82 respectively. Convergent validity using the THI and HQ scores were reported 0.76 and 0.6, respectively, and the correlation value of the THS score with the PTA was 0.82. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed a good 2-factor structure of the THS
Conclusion: The Persian THS is a valid and reliable tool for separating tinnitus from hearing problems in Persian-speaking people .

Background and Aim: Previous research has shown that musicians outperformed non-musicians on consonant recognition in the presence of noise. This experiment aimed to determine the effects of two important variables on this musician advantage: the age of start of musical training, and the number of years of musical activity.
Methods: Thirty-six musicians with a starting age of 4-8 and at least 10 years of musical training, were required to listen to consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) syllable tokens presented in twelve-talker babble noise and write them down. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to determine the effects of age of musical training onset and years of musical training on the recognition of stops and fricatives among young musicians.
Results: Regression analysis revealed that starting age of musical training, rather than years of musical activity, significantly predicted consonant recognition in noise.
Conclusion: This study strongly suggests that an early start of musical training improves the ability to detect consonants in challenging listening environments.

Background and Aim: Individuals who suffer Hearing Loss (HL) from inefficient auditory input will experience difficulty in phonological processing and reading. This study aimed to investigate the phonological processing and word and non-word reading abilities of Farsi-speaking children with Cochlear Implants (CIs), Hearing Aids (HAs) and Normal Hearing (NH).
Methods: Sixty-three children with severe to profound HL and NH who were in the first grade participated. Phonological Awareness (PA) and Phonological Working Memory (PWM) tests were used to assess phonological processing. Word and non-word reading abilities were assessed through reading and dyslexia tests reading abilities, phonological processing as well as the correlation between them were compared among three groups.
Results: The PA, PWM and reading abilities of NH children were significantly different from children with HL (p<0.01). Correlations between words and non-words reading ability and some phonological processing tasks were observed in each of the three groups. Phonemic awareness for all three groups and intra-syllabic awareness for children with HA and NH were the most important predictors for word and non-word reading abilities.
Conclusion: Hearing impairment had a critical effect on phonological processing as an important factor in word and non-word reading.

Background and Aim:  Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is the only  evidence-based and promising management method for tinnitus patients. To assess a patient’s progress during and after CBT intervention, a balanced tool such as a questionnaire is needed. Since there was no such tool available in Iran, the authors decided to investigate the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Tinnitus Cognition Questionnaire (TCQ).
 Methods: At first, TCQ was translated to Persian based on the International Quality of Life Assessment protocol. 102 tinnitus patients filled out the provided documents, and psychometric properties of the Persian version of TCQ were investigated.
Results:. In this study, Content validity evaluation showed that content validity ratio (CVR) and item content validity index (I-CVI) values were higher than the minimum acceptable values (0.74 and 0.79 respectively). Item face validity index (I-FVI) and average of scale face validity indexes(S-FVI) were between 0.8 to 0.96  and  0.88 to  0.90, all of which were higher than the acceptable value of 0.7. Furthermore, fit indexes were higher than the acceptable values and showed satisfied fitness for TCQ. Based on the positive correlations between the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) subscales with TCQ total scores (60%), criterion validity was acceptable. Furthermore, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, and Pearson’s correlation showed that the TCQ has acceptable reliability.
Conclusion: Based on the findings of the current study, we confirmed that TCQ is a balanced and standard questionnaire to evaluate the cognitive aspects of tinnitus in the Iranian population.

Background and Aim: Temporal fine structure (TFS) sensitivity and working memory (WM) abilities have been widely studied individually as the contributing factors for deciding compression speed in hearing aids.The study aimed to develop a clinical framework for setting optimal compression speed using combination of TFS sensitivity and WM abilities.
Methods: Participants were 25 native Kannada-speaking adults (Mean age 70 years). We evaluated the participant's TFS sensitivity using the TFS -adaptive frequency (-AF) and WM abilities using reading span test. Further, aided sentence recognition in noise was tested to obtain find the signal-to-noise ratio 50% (SNR50) correct identification happens in fast acting compression (FAC) and slow acting compression (SAC) modes.
Results: Individuals with good TFS sensitivity demonstrated significantly lower SNR50 scores with FAC and individuals with poor WM showed significantly lower SNR50 with SAC. However, individuals with poor TFS sensitivity and individuals with good WM ability showed no significance on SNR50 obtained between FAC and SAC. A strong negative correlation existed between TFS sensitivity and SNR50 in both SAC and FAC modes even after accounting for WM abilities. There was a mild negative correlation between WM abilities and SNR50 in FAC mode only, but this was not significant after accounting for TFS sensitivity.
Conclusion: Using the results of the present study along with the literature findings, a clinical framework was devised to enable the selection of appropriate compression speed for optimal speech understanding with hearing aids.

Background and Aim: Listening in Spatialized Noise Sentence (LiSN-S) is one of the auditory processing disorder test battery that specifically diagnose spatial processing disorders. This research aimed to develop The Persian version of the LiSN-S, for assessing auditory processing disorders in the Persian speakers’ population.
Methods: The PLiSN-S test was developed based on its original Australian version. The speech stimuli were convolved with head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) to generate speech in the presence of spatialized noise. In total, 120 target sentences (consisting of five 1-3-syllable words) and competing stories were presented in four conditions. These included the Same Voice co-located condition (SV0°), Different Voice co-located condition (DV0°), Same Voice separated condition (SV±90°), and Different Voice separated condition (DV±90°). Then, data from 30 adults aged 18–23 with normal hearing were obtained.
Results: The results from the normal-hearing subjects showed that the Speech Reception Threshold (SRT) scores, expressed as Signal to Noise Ratios (SNR), varied across the four conditions (SV0°, DV0° SV±90°, DV±90°) the highest and lowest SRTs belonged to the first and last conditions, respectively. The amount of advantage in all conditions was lower than in the previously published English versions.
Conclusion: Considering the impact of spatial separation on the SRTs, PLiSN-S appears to be an effective tool for measuring spatial processing skills.

Background and Aim: Musical training causes neuroplasticity changes which are transferred to other modalities like- audition, cognition. All the musical tests uses musical stimulus, thus making it hard for the children without musical training due to the unfamiliarity of the stimulus. Dynamic stimulus like pitch contour, mimics musical stimulus. Hence the present study aimed to investigate the  perception of pitch contour for different tonal stimuli in typically developing children with and without musical training.
Methods: Children aged  9-13 years  were categorized into two groups: group-I with formal musical training and group-II without musical training. Musical abilities were assessed using the Montreal Battery for Evaluation of Music Abilities (MBEMA) test with melody, rhythm, and memory subtests. The melody and rhythm subtests had discrimination of musical tones, while the memory subtest had identification of familiar melodies from previous subtests. The pitch contours for tonal stimulus were generated using PRAAT software . The pitch contour consisted of tones sweeps representing nine patterns (rising, rising-flat,rising-falling, flat, flat-rising, flat-falling, falling, falling-flat, and falling-rising) for 500Hz, 1kHz, and 2kHz tones. Children were familiarized with these contours and then tested using closed-set identification task  using DMDX software
Results: Group I performed better than group-II in both musical ability and pitch contour identification tests. MANOVA revealed significant differences in MBEMA  and  pitch contour identification between the groups.
Conclusion: The contour perception of the different pitch shows evident differences induced by musical training. It is proposed to assess the musical ability of the individual with the tonal pitch contours.

Background and Aim: Acceptance of tinnitus may play a role in the perception of its intensity and the distress caused by it. Therefore, the Tinnitus Acceptance Questionnaire (TAQ) is useful in therapeutic processes. This study aimed to translate the TAQ into Persian, verify its validity, and reliability and determine the correlation between questionnaire scores and psychoacoustic measurements in patients with chronic tinnitus.
Methods: After confirming face validity and translation, the Persian version of the TAQ (P-TAQ) was acquired. Then, the P-TAQ and the Persian Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI-P) were completed by 85 patients with chronic tinnitus. The P-TAQ’s reliability was assessed in 30 patients after two weeks. Psychoacoustic tinnitus evaluations including pitch matching, loudness matching, and minimum masking level were conducted for all patients.
Results: The P-TAQ had high face validity. The internal consistency was confirmed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α=0.92). The Interclass Correlation Coefficient confirmed reliability (0.994). A strong correlation was observed between the P-TAQ’s total score with the THI’s total score (r=-0.788) and the score of each of the HADS anxiety (r=-0.623) and depression (r=-0.728) subscales. There was a weak negative correlation between the P-TAQ’s total score and the subjective loudness of tinnitus (r=-0.322). There is no significant correlation between age, tinnitus duration, pitch and, minimum masking level of tinnitus with the P-TAQ’s total score.
Conclusion: The P-TAQ has excellent validity and reliability. Therefore, it can be used to assess the acceptance of tinnitus among Persian-speaking patients with chronic tinnitus.

Background and Aim: Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) impacts the quality of life of affected people, especially the elderly. The Epley maneuver and the Gans maneuver are used to treat posterior canal BPPV (PC-BPPV). The effectiveness of the Epley maneuver has been verified, but further studies are required to prove the effectiveness of the Gans maneuver. The main purpose of the current study was to compare the effectiveness of the Gans maneuver with the Epley maneuver in the treatment of the elderly with PC-BPPV, considering emotional, physical, and functional symptoms by assessing anxiety, dizziness, and quality of life after treatment.
Method: Sixty-three elderly patient (74.38±5.34 years) with unilateral PC- BPPV were recruited in this study. They were randomly assigned to two groups. The experimental group received the Gans maneuver, and the control group received the Epley maneuver. All patients completed the Persian version of the Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) and Vestibular Rehabilitation Benefit Questionnaire (VRBQ) before, 48 hours and 1 month after treatment. Recurrence rate was assessed after the 2-month follow up.
Results: Significant differences were observed between pre-treatment and post-treatment questionnaire outcomes for both study groups; nevertheless, in each phase of the study, there were no significant differences between the two groups in the DHI and VRBQ scores.
Conclusion: Both the Gans maneuver and Epley maneuver were almost equally effective and made elderly with PC-BPPV report a better condition in terms of anxiety, emotional factors and quality of life after receiving the maneuvers.

Background and Aim: Many older adults experience difficulty in speech perception in noisy environments and fast speech. Speech perception is dependent on bottom-up and top-down auditory processing information. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between Interaural Time Difference (ITD) and speech processing speed in older adults with difficulty in speech perception in noise.
Methods: In this study, 36 Iranian older adults with normal hearing (23 men and 13 women) aged 65–75 years who had complaints about the difficulty with speech perception in noise, participated. The ITD test with two stimuli (high-pass and low-pass noise) was used to asess the auditory localization ability. Time-Compressed Speech Test (TCST) and reaction time test were used to measure their speech processing speed. Pearson correlation test was performed to examine the relationship between ITD and speech processing speed.
Results: The auditory localization errors were more significant for ITDs with low-pass noise than high-pass noise. The results showed a negative correlation between localization errors and the TCST score at time compression ratios of 40% (p=0.005) and 60% (p=0.002). The highest correlation was observed between ITD (low-pass noise) and the TCST score at the time compression ratio of 60% in the right ear (r=–0.66). The mean ITD errors were not significantly correlated to the reaction time test score (p>0.05).
Conclusion: Word recognition in the elderly declines with increasing speech rate. The findings of this study can be used in clinical practice for consultation and rehabilitation of older adults with communication difficulties.

Abstract
Introduction: The present research was conducted to develop the Persian Staggered Spondaic Word (P-SSW) test using perceptual simultaneity, analyze its psychometric properties, and obtain normative data.

Materials & Methods: The test was developed by optimizing the materials and using perceptual simultaneity. The test psychometric properties were also assessed and the test-retest reliability was evaluated after four weeks. This study recruited 380 participants. Twenty-four experts evaluated the content validity.  Forty-two individuals provided comments for the face validity verification. Two hundred and thirteen healthy individuals were recruited to evaluate the psychometric properties.

Results: The content and face validity were confirmed. Insignificant differences were observed between the two genders. Significant differences were found in the total score and different conditions among specific age groups. Significant and positive correlations were observed between the test and retest scores (r>0.8).

Conclusion: Auditory processing can be assessed in Persian speakers using the P-SSW test as a valid and reliable instrument. Perceptual simultaneity might be the most appropriate technique to develop this test given the potential effects of other methods on the results

Background and aim: Many tinnitus sufferers have reported significant difficulties in social situations. Nobody knows for sure if this disability is a direct consequence of tinnitus or not. Due to the possibility of controlling longitudinal data in animal studies (pre and post tinnitus induction and its duration), this study set out to examine how acute and chronic salicylate-induced tinnitus influences on rat social interactions and aggressive behaviors.
Methods: Seven rats have been assigned to the acute salicylate group and seven to the chronic salicylate group with separately sham/salin peers (n=7) for each of them to examine the effects of duration of salicylate-induced tinnitus on social behaviors. Rats has been evaluated using the following measures: auditory brainstem response (ABR), pre-pulse inhibition (PPI), gap pre-pulse inhibition of acoustic startle (GPIAS), social interaction and aggressive behaviors tests. These assessments were conducted at baseline, 6 hours post salicylate injection in acute group and one day after salicylate injection in chronic group (400mg/kg, per day).
Results: GPIAS test was significantly decreased after acute and chronic salicylate injection, which confirmed the induction of tinnitus. Some social contact and aggressive behaviors after salicylate injection were significantly different in both acute and chronic groups. However, other social interactions and aggressive behaviors were significantly increased only after chronic salicylate injections.
Conclusions: According to the findings, salicylate induced tinnitus may have an effect on social behavior and aggression. Rats' aggressive behavior increased following chronic tinnitus induction, suggesting that the duration of tinnitus has an effect.

Background and Aim: Generally, peripheral hearing loss in the elderly is associated with decreased auditory processing ability. Researchers have drawn attention to the role of auditory processing in the success of hearing amplification. The present study investigates the relationship between auditory processing and the benefit and satisfaction of binaural hearing aids in the elderly.
Methods: Forty-seven elderly users (aged 58–85 years) of binaural hearing aids, all of whom presented symmetrically mild to moderate sensory-neural hearing loss, completed the International Outcome Inventory-Hearing Aids (IOI-HA) and Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB) questionnaires and the Persian version of Words-in-Noise (WIN), and two-pair Dichotic Digits (DD) tests.
Results: Signal-to-Noise Ratio-50% (SNR-50) and Non-Dominant Ear Score (NDES) collectively explained 16% of the binaural hearing aid benefit variance. NDES accounted for 14% of the variance observed in satisfaction.
Conclusion: Binaural hearing aid benefit and satisfaction in the elderly were not similarly related to auditory processing abilities. NDES alone is a weak but significant predictor of satisfaction and in combination with WIN SNR-50 is a moderate predictor of benefit.

Background and Aim: Deaf individuals in India face significant auditory impairment, leading to challenges in accessing services. Studies highlight the need to enhance communication services and accessibility to ensure fair access to resources for the deaf community. The present study aimed to address the barriers faced by deaf individuals while availing speech and hearing services in India.
Methods: A total of 325 deaf individuals were considered in the age range of 18–30 years, and a survey research design was employed. A 25-item questionnaire was developed under three domains: communication barriers, service access barriers, and psychological barriers. The questionnaires were given to the participants to fill, and the responses were calculated.
Results: The overall results revealed that service access barriers were more compared to communication barriers and psychological barriers. In services-related barriers, the results revealed communication barriers, 74% of the participants preferred sign language during speech and hearing consultations and required counselling by professionals in sign language. Further, in terms of psychological barriers, 70% of participants lacked confidence in visiting speech and hearing institutes/clinics. Moreover, 78.8% of participants reported a need for more materials in sign language at the appointment sections and a lack of sign language interpreters while accessing services in terms of service access barriers.
Conclusion: Addressing these barriers faced by deaf individuals is critical to ensure equitable access to services and promote positive experiences while they are availing speech and hearing services.

Background and Aim: Structural and functional changes in the auditory and cognitive system caused by aging can lead to impaired speech perception and speed processing, especially in the presence of noise. This study aimed to enhance cognitive system performance including speed processing and speech perception by improving the temporal information through lateralization training.
Methods: In this interventional study, 36 participants aged 65–75 years with normal hearing, who complained about speech perception in noise, were randomly assigned to the intervention group and the control group. The intervention group received twelve 45-minute sessions of auditory lateralization training. The quick speech-in-noise, words-in-noise, and consonant-vowel-in-noise tests are used as behavioral tests of speech perception in noise at the sentence, word and phoneme levels, respectively. The time-compressed speech test was adopted to measure processing speed. The repeated measures ANOVA was used to analyze the test results before, after, and one month after rehabilitation.
Results: A significant decrease in the lateralization errors, and signal-to-noise ratio loss in both the quick speech-in-noise and words-in-noise tests were observed in the intervention group (p<0.001). Moreover, a considerable increase in the word recognition score in the time-compressed speech test and the consonant-vowel in noise test were observed (p<0.001). Coefficient effects were obtained for the quick speech-in-noise test (0.74), the words-in-noise test (0.59) and the consonant-vowel in noise test (0.12). Statistical analyses revealed the stability of the outcomes one month after rehabilitation.
Conclusion:  Auditory lateralization training can improve the speed of processing and speech perception in noise in the elderly.

Background and Aim: Executive functions (EFs) are essential for learning and self-regulation in children.  This study explored the transformative potential of cognitive rehabilitation (CR) in enhancing EFs among children with cochlear implants (CI). The focus was on assessing key areas of cognitive flexibility, rule acquisition, attention, spatial planning, , working memory, and strategy use.
Methods: Utilizing a semi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test evaluations, our study focused on children aged 8 to 11 years. A total of 24 children (13 girls and 11 boys) were randomly assigned to either an experimental or a control group. The experimental group underwent 12 sessions of targeted computerized CR, while the control group received no intervention. Post-intervention, we compared the outcomes of both groups.
Results: The results revealed a significant improvement in the EFs of the experimental group compared to the control group (p = 0.01). These findings underscore the effectiveness of CR in enhancing executive functioning in children with CI.
Conclusion: the results of this study showed that cognitive rehabilitation could improve and enhance cognitive flexibility, rule acquisition, attentional set shifting, spatial planning, motor control, working memory capacity, and strategy use.

Background and Aim: Motion sickness is common during various forms of transportation. The Motion sickness susceptibility questionnaire-short form (MSSQ-Short) is a self-report tool designed to assess this problem. This study aimed to translate and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Persian version of MSSQ-Short.
Method: The questionnaire was translated to Persian and culturally adapted as the P-MSSQ-Short. After confirming face validity, the P-MSSQ-Short was administered to 354 university students (274 non-pilots, 80 pilots). One hundred participants were categorized into low-, moderate-, and high-susceptibility groups based on their numeric rating scale (NRS) scores. Construct, concurrent, and discriminant validity were assessed. Test-retest reliability was analyzed with 113 participants, along with measurements of intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), standard error of measurement (SEM), and smallest detectable change (SDC).
Results: The P-MSSQ-Short demonstrated good face validity. Total score showed strong correlations with sections A and B. Four factors were identified, with no ceiling effect but some floor effect observed. Scores significantly differed across NRS-based groups. The P-MSSQ-Short correlated strongly with NRS scores. Cronbach’s α for the total questionnaire, and sections A and B were 0.93, 0.88, and 0.86, respectively. Strong test-retest correlation was noted. ICCs for total, and sections A and B were 0.82-0.84. SEMs were 2.48, 2.15, and 4.29 while SDCs were 4.43, 4.18, and 5.65 for sections A, B, and total scores, respectively. Pilot students were significantly less susceptible than non-pilots (p<0.001).
Conclusions: The P-MSSQ-Short exhibits high validity and reliability, making it a useful tool for predicting motion sickness susceptibility in Persian-speaking individuals.

Background and Aim: Auditory discrimination is one of obstacles for low performance of phonological processing in Down syndrome. Here, this study aimed to evaluate auditory acuity in Down syndrome to explore a possible underlying deficit for phonological processing in this population.
Methods: Phonetic gap detection test was used to evaluate auditory temporal threshold of sixteen male students with Down syndrome. They were asked to discriminate sounds of six syllables at 20, 50, 100, 200 and 300 ms temporal gap.
Results: The mean of phonetic gap detection threshold for participants was 246.8 ms in the range of 183.3-300 ms. There was no significant correlation between auditory temporal thresholds and age or intelligence quotient.
Conclusion: Participants discriminated sounds of syllables at higher threshold compared to typically-developing children examined in previous studies. Increased gap detection threshold might be an underlying deficit for low performance of phonological processing in Down syndrome.