Tehran University of Medical Sciences Auditory and Vestibular Research 2423-480X 34 2 2024 10 10 97 108 Rekha Karuppaiah School of Electronics Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai Campus, Chennai, India Umadevi Seerengasamy Centre for Nanoelectronics and VLSI Design, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai Campus, Chennai, India Nagajayanthi Boobalakrishnan School of Electronics Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai Campus, Chennai, India 2024 07 20 2024 10 05 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 focused 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 aimed 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. https://avr.tums.ac.ir/index.php/avr/article/view/1337

Tehran University of Medical Sciences Auditory and Vestibular Research 2423-480X 34 2 2024 08 24 109 115 Nastaran Nayeri Department of Audiology, School of Rehabilitation, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Saeid Farahani Department of Audiology, School of Rehabilitation, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Farzaneh Fatahi Department of Audiology, School of Rehabilitation, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Elham Faghihzadeh Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Medicine, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran 2024 03 17 2024 06 30 Background and Aim: Acceptance of tinnitus may influence the perceived intensity and the distress it causes. The Tinnitus Acceptance Questionnaire (TAQ) is a useful tool for assessing tinnitus acceptance. This study aimed to assess the validity and reliability of the Persian version of the TAQ (P-TAQ) and determine the correlation of its scores with psychoacoustic measures in patients with chronic tinnitus. Methods: After translation and confirming face validity, 85 patients with chronic tinnitus completed the P-TAQ, along with the Persian versions of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI). To determine the reliability, the P-TAQ was completed by 30 patients after two weeks. Psychoacoustic parameters including pitch matching, loudness matching, and Minimum Masking Level (MML) were measured for all patients. Results: The P-TAQ had high face validity. The internal consistency was confirmed using Cronbach’s alpha (α=0.92). The interclass correlation coefficient (0.994) confirmed reliability. A strong negative correlation was found between the total P-TAQ score and total THI score (p<0.001, r=–0.788), and the scores of the HADS subscales of anxiety (p<0.001, r=–0.623) and depression (p<0.001, r=–0.728). The total P-TAQ score showed a weak negative correlation with tinnitus loudness (p=0.003, r=–0.322) and PTA of both ears (r=–0.223, p=0.040). There was no significant correlation between the total P-TAQ score and the factors of age, tinnitus duration, tinnitus pitch, or MML. Conclusion: The P-TAQ has excellent validity and reliability. Therefore, it can be used to assess tinnitus acceptance among Persian-speaking patients with chronic tinnitus. https://avr.tums.ac.ir/index.php/avr/article/view/1285

Tehran University of Medical Sciences Auditory and Vestibular Research 2423-480X 34 2 2024 07 14 116 123 EN Rashmi Eraiah Department of Audiology, All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysore, India Devi Neelamegarajan Department of Audiology, All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysore, India 2024 03 06 2024 07 05 Background and Aim: Musical training causes neuroplasticity changes which are transferred to other modalities like- audition, cognition. All the musical tests use musical stimuli, which can be challenging for children without musical training due to the unfamiliarity of the stimuli. Dynamic stimuli like pitch contours, mimic musical stimuli. 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. Pitch contours for tonal stimulus were generated using PRAAT software. These contours consisted of tone sweeps representing nine patterns (rising, rising-flat, rising-falling, flat, flat-rising, flat-falling, falling, falling-flat, and falling-rising) for 500 Hz, 1, and 2 kHz tones. Children were familiarized with these contours and tested using closedset identification task using DMDX software. Results: Group I outperformed 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. https://avr.tums.ac.ir/index.php/avr/article/view/1275 https://avr.tums.ac.ir/index.php/avr/article/download/1275/595

Tehran University of Medical Sciences Auditory and Vestibular Research 2423-480X 34 2 2024 07 08 124 133 Zahra Hosseini Dastgerdi Department of Audiology, School of Rehabilitation, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran Nasrin Gohari Department of Audiology, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran AND Hearing Disorders Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran Abbas Yousefi Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Nematollah Rouhbakhsh Department of Audiology, School of Rehabilitation, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2024 03 11 2024 05 29 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. https://avr.tums.ac.ir/index.php/avr/article/view/1277

Tehran University of Medical Sciences Auditory and Vestibular Research 2423-480X 34 2 2024 07 07 134 143 Vishal Kooknoor Department of Audiology, Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeshwara Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysore, India Jesteena Joy Department of Audiology, Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeshwara Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysore, India Hemanth Narayana Shetty Department of Audiology, Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeshwara Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysore, India 2024 04 15 2024 07 06 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% (SNR 50) correct identification happens in Fast Acting Compression (FAC) and Slow Acting Compression (SAC) modes. Results: Individuals with good TFS sensitivity demonstrated significantly lower SNR 50 scores with FAC and individuals with poor WM showed significantly lower SNR 50 with SAC. However, individuals with poor TFS sensitivity and individuals with good WM ability showed no significance on SNR 50 obtained between FAC and SAC. A strong negative correlation existed between TFS sensitivity and SNR 50 in both SAC and FAC modes even after accounting for WM abilities. There was a mild negative correlation between WM abilities and SNR 50 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. https://avr.tums.ac.ir/index.php/avr/article/view/1296 https://avr.tums.ac.ir/index.php/avr/article/download/1296/593

Tehran University of Medical Sciences Auditory and Vestibular Research 2423-480X 34 2 2024 08 26 144 150 EN Amirreza Fazelifard - Majid Ashrafi - 2024 05 16 2024 07 07 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. Methods: 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. https://avr.tums.ac.ir/index.php/avr/article/view/1307

Tehran University of Medical Sciences Auditory and Vestibular Research 2423-480X 34 2 2024 08 27 151 157 EN Jafar Aghazadeh Department of Audiology, School of Rehabilitation, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran Saeideh Mehrkian Department of Audiology, School of Rehabilitation, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran AND Department of Clinical Sciences, School of Rehabilitation, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran Enayatollah Bakhshi Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Education Sciences and Social Welfare, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran Talieh Zarifian Department of Speech Therapy, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2024 06 22 2024 08 04 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 localiz/Author> Enayatollah Bakhshi Department of Biostatistics, School of Education Sciences and Social Welfare, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2023 12 09 2023 12 23 Background and Aim: Perception of speech in noise (SIN) is based on the accurate extraction of spectral and temporal cues. Disruption of this process can reduce the productivity of the spectral and temporal features of the target stimulus and speech recognition in noise. Auditory processing disorder is one of the main challenges of people with stroke, which leads to social, mental, and even physical failures. This study aimed to investigate the spectral and temporal processing abilities of people with stroke compared to healthy peers. Methods: In this study, participants were 15 patients with stroke referred to the neurology clinic of Imam Khomeini Hospital and 30 healthy people aged 20–60 years. Spectral Modulation Detection Test (SMDT), Pitch Pattern Sequencing Test (PPST), Random Gap Detection Test (RGDT) and QuickSIN tests were performed for all participants. The mean scores of the two groups were compared. Results: Patients with stroke had poorer performance in SMDT, PPST, RGDT and QuickSIN tests (p<0.001) compared to healthy subjects. The results showed that there was a significant correlation between SIN test with temporal and spectral processing in the normal group, but the correlation pattern was different in people with stroke. The scores of all the tests were not significantly different between the right and left ears. Conclusion: The results showed that people with stroke have poorer performance in all tests compared to normal people and have more problems in speech perception in challenging areas. https://avr.tums.ac.ir/index.php/avr/article/view/1194 https://avr.tums.ac.ir/index.php/avr/article/download/1194/569

Tehran University of Medical Sciences Auditory and Vestibular Research 2423-480X 33 3 2024 02 21 243 251 Mostafa Tavakoli Department of Audiology, School of Rehabilitation, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Hamid Jalilvand Department of Audiology, School of Rehabilitation, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Mohammad Ebrahim Mahdavi Department of Audiology, School of Rehabilitation, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Alireza Akbarzadeh Baghban Proteomics Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran AND Department of Biostatistics, School of Allied Medical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2023 12 20 2024 01 10 Background and Aim: The Acceptable Noise Level (ANL), which is an effective clinical tool for quantitative assessment of noise tolerance, is affected by some known variables related to both subject and testing materials. The present study examined how the characteristics of different babble noises may affect the ANL results in normal adult listeners. Methods: Forty Persian listeners with normal hearing participated. In addition to typical ANL testing with 12-talker noise, the ANL was obtained in 8 different conditions varying in number of talkers from 2 to 10 in the babble noises presenting forward and backward. Results: There was a significantly lower ANL for 2-talker babble compared to 4, 8, 10, and 12-talker babble in both forward and backward noise conditions. With the increase in talkers in noise, the ANL becomes worse but reaches almost a plateau with more than 4 talkers in babble noise. There was a statistically significant difference between 2-talker forward and 2-talker backward noises, with no difference for the other conditions. Conclusion: This finding that the ANL is affected by the number of talkers in babble noise and by the forward and backward background noise suggests that informational masking and listening in dip mechanisms are involved in ANL for normal hearing people at least. https://avr.tums.ac.ir/index.php/avr/article/view/1237 https://avr.tums.ac.ir/index.php/avr/article/download/1237/570

Tehran University of Medical Sciences Auditory and Vestibular Research 2423-480X 33 3 2024 01 31 252 262 EN Shubhaganga Dhrruvakumar Department of Speech and Hearing, Manipal College of Health Professions, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India Vishal Kooknoor Department of Audiology, Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeshwara Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysore, India Rakesh Chowkalli Veerabhadrappa Department of Speech and Hearing, Manipal College of Health Professions, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India 2023 09 04 2024 01 14 Background and Aim: The output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) is one of the essential factors in hearing aid benefits. There is limited evidence regarding SNR improvement by the Channel-Free (CFHA) and Multi-Channel Hearing Aid (MCHA) and the speech understanding in noise through them. This study aimed to investigate the extent to which output SNR was modified by CFHA and MCHA processing and the variation in aided speech recognition abilities with a change in output SNR. Methods: Thirty-six participants aged 50–65 years were included. A chosen CFHA and MCHA were used to obtain the output SNR and sentence recognition in noise in four different processing algorithms (linear, linear+noise reduction, WDRC, WDRC+noise reduction). Hagerman’s phase inversion technique was used to measure the attenuation of noise and, in turn, to obtain the output SNR of the hearing aid. Results: In all hearing aid processing algorithms among those with normal hearing and people with hearing loss, the output of CFHA revealed higher attenuation values than that of MCHA. There was a significant effect of the hearing aids and processing algorithms in both normal and individuals with hearing impairment on the mean SNR. Further, multiple linear regression analysis results showed that whether the hearing is channel-free or multichannel significantly predicted speech recognition scores, while output SNR and processing algorithms did not. Conclusion: The signal processing algorithms in CFHA had greater noise attenuation values, better output SNR, and speech recognition scores, showing an advantage over the modern MCHA among individuals with hearing impairment. https://avr.tums.ac.ir/index.php/avr/article/view/1206 https://avr.tums.ac.ir/index.php/avr/article/download/1206/564

Tehran University of Medical Sciences Auditory and Vestibular Research 2423-480X 33 3 2024 04 14 263 272 Bahareh Soufinia Psychosis Research Center, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran AND Department of Audiology, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran Younes Lotfi Psychosis Research Center, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran AND Department of Audiology, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran Mohammad Ali Mirshekar Clinical Immunology Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran Moslem Shaabani Department of Audiology, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran Enayatollah Bakhshi Department of Biostatistics, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2023 11 14 2024 01 14 Background and Aim: Previous studies have shown promising findings on effectiveness of noisy Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation (nGVS) in various cognitive disorders. The connections of the vestibular system with the hippocampus has been proven. Here we investigated the effect of vestibular galvanic stimulation on the improvement of spatial learning and memory of rats. Methods: Twelve Wistar rats were randomly divided into control and nGVS groups. The nGVS group underwent 30-minute sessions of stimulation at sub-threshold levels for a duration of fourteen days. Following the intervention, both groups underwent assessments of cognitive indices through the Morris water maze task, hippocampal neuronal spike rate by Single-Unit Recording (SUR) and the concentrations of c-fos protein in the hippocampus were measured using ELISA device. Results: The nGVS group exhibited a significant difference compared to the control group in both the time taken to reach the target platform and the percentage of time spent in the goal quarter during the Morris water maze test. The nGVS treatment significantly enhanced spike rate of hippocampal dentate gyrus (p<0.01) compared to the control group. Additionally, c-fos protein concentrations were increased in the nGVS (5.833) than the control group (4.126), (p<0.001). Conclusion: According to the obtained results, nGVS plays a role in improving spatial memory, and a longer duration of intervention is suggested to achieve more obvious improvement results. https://avr.tums.ac.ir/index.php/avr/article/view/1221 https://avr.tums.ac.ir/index.php/avr/article/download/1221/572

Tehran University of Medical Sciences Auditory and Vestibular Research 2423-480X 33 3 2024 02 03 273 279 Shubhaganga Dhrruvakumar Department of Speech and Hearing, Manipal College of Health Professions, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India Kamalakannan Karupaiah Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, Holy Cross College (Autonomous), Tiruchirappalli, India Perpetua Nancy