Characterizing the speech-in-noise abilities of school-age children with a history of middle-ear diseases

Authors

  • Shno Koiek Institute of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
  • Jens Bo Nielsen Hearing Systems, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
  • Christian Brandt Institute of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
  • Jesper Hvass Schmidt Department of Audiology, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark
  • Tobias Neher Institute of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

Abstract

Recently, a number of studies have indicated that recurrent or chronic middle-ear disease during early childhood may lead to long-term supra-threshold hearing deficits. The current study followed up on this by investigating differences in monaural and binaural hearing abilities in noise among school-age children with or without a history of middle-ear diseases. Groups of children aged 6-12 years with either a history of recurrent otitis media (OM) with infection or effusion or without any previous ear diseases participated. All participants had normal middle-ear function and normal audiometric hearing thresholds at the time of testing. Measurements included monaural and binaural speech reception thresholds in the presence of stationary noise or competing speech. Sensitivity to binaural phase information was also assessed. Preliminary analyses based on the data from the first 31 participants suggest that, on average, OM children have poorer thresholds in conditions with binaural or spatial differences compared to children without any previous middle-ear problems. Follow-up analyses based on a larger dataset will substantiate these initial findings and relate them to information obtainable from the OM children’s medical records (e.g., age of onset or duration of conductive hearing loss).

References

Bennett, K. E., and Haggard, M. P. (1999). “Behaviour and cognitive outcomes from middle ear disease,” Arch. Dis. Child., 80, 28-35.
Cameron, S., Brown, D., Keith, R., Martin, J., Watson, C., and Dillon, H. (2009). “Development of the North American Listening in Spatialized Noise-Sentences Test (NA LISN-S): Sentence Equivalence, Normative Data, and Test-Retest Reliability Studies,” J. Am. Acad. Audiol., 20(2), 128-146. doi: doi.org/10.3766/jaaa.20.2.6.
Gardner, B., & Martin, K. (1994). “HRTF measurements of a KEMAR dummy-head microphone,” Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab Perceptual Computing, Cambridge, MA.
Graydon, K., Rance, G., Dowell, R., & Van Dun, B. (2017). “Consequences of early conductive hearing loss on long-term binaural processing,” Ear Hear., 38(5), 621-627. doi: 10.1097/AUD.0000000000000431.
Hall, J. W. 3rd, Grose, J. H., Pillsbury, H. C. (1995b). “Long-term effects of chronic otitis media on binaural hearing in children,” Arch. Otolaryngol. Head Neck Surg., 121, 847-852. doi: 10.1001/archotol.1995.01890080017003.
Hartley, D. E. H., Adams, C. V., Hogan, S. C., and Moore, D. R. (2001). “Temporal resolution and language abilities in children with a prospectively studied history of otitis media with effusion (OME),” Abs. Assoc. Res. Otolaryngol., 24, 173.
Hoffman-Lawless, K., Keith, R. W., and Cotton, R. T. (1981). “Auditory processing abilities in children with previous middle ear effusion,” Ann Otol Rhinol., 90, 543-545. doi:10.1177/000348948109000606.
Hogan, S. C., Meyer, S.E. and Moore, D.R. (1996). “Binaural unmasking returns to normal in teenagers who had otitis media in infancy,” Audiol. Neuro-Otol., 1, 104-111. doi: doi.org/10.1159/000259189.
Keogh, T., Kei, J., Driscoll, C., Cahill, L., Hoffmann, A., Wilce, E., and Marinac, J. (2005). “Measuring the ability of school children with a history of otitis media to understand everyday speech,” J. Am. Acad. Audiol., 16(5), 301-311. doi: doi.org/10.3766/jaaa.16.5.5.
Koiek, S., Nielsen, J. B., Kjærbæk, L., Baltzer, M. G., and Neher, T. (2020). “Development of a Danish test material for assessing speech-in-noise reception in school-age children,” Proc. ISAAR, 7, 413-420.
Kollmeier, B., (1996). “Computer-controlled speech audiometric techniques for the assessment of hearing loss and the evaluation of hearing aids,” Psychoacoustics, Speech and Hearing Aids. Singapore: World Scientific, 57-68.
Moore, D.R., Hartley, D.E.H., and Hogan, S.C.M. (2003). “Effects of otitis media with effusion on central auditory function,” Int. J. Pediatr. Otorhinolaryngol., 67 (Suppl. 1) S63-S67. doi: doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2003.08.015.
Nielsen, J. B., & Dau, T. (2011). “The Danish hearing in noise test,” Int. J. Audiol., 50(3), 202-208, doi: doi.org/10.3109/14992027.2010.524254.
Tomlin, D., & Rance, G. (2014). “Long-term hearing deficits after childhood middle ear disease,” Ear Hear., 35(6), e233-e242, doi: 10.1097/AUD.0000000000000065.
Werker, J. F., and Tees, R. C. (2005). “Speech perception as a window for understanding plasticity and commitment in language systems of the brain,” Dev. Psychobiol., 46, 233-251. doi: doi.org/10.1002/dev.20060.
Auditory Learning in Biological and Artificial Systems

Additional Files

Published

2020-05-01

How to Cite

Koiek, S., Nielsen, J. B., Brandt, C., Schmidt, J. H., & Neher, T. (2020). Characterizing the speech-in-noise abilities of school-age children with a history of middle-ear diseases. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research, 7, 437–444. Retrieved from https://proceedings.isaar.eu/index.php/isaarproc/article/view/2019-51

Issue

Vol. 7 (2019): Auditory Learning in Biological and Artificial Systems

Section

2019/5. Other topics in auditory and audiological research

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

a. Authors retain copyright* and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

b. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

c. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).

*From the 2017 issue onward. The Danavox Jubilee Foundation owns the copyright of all articles published in the 1969-2015 issues. However, authors are still allowed to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.