The delta variant of COVID-19 causing India’s second wave of disease, is believed to be linked to symptoms not previously seen in COVID patients, according to an article on Bloomberg.
Hearing impairment, blood clots leading to gangrene, and “severe gastric upsets,” are being seen by doctors in India, England, and Scotland, where the B.1.617.2 delta strain is prevalent and are more likely to lead to hospitalization, Bloomberg reported.
India has reported 18.6 million cases of COVID so far this year compared to 10.3 million last year; the delta strain is believed to be 50% more contagious than the previous alpha strain, according to Bloomberg, leading to a surge in cases and COVID-related complications.
The delta variant has also spread to countries that previously reported few COVID-19 cases such as Vietnam, Singapore, and Taiwan. It’s possible that current vaccines will need to be tweaked or reformulated to account for new variants.
“New vaccines have to be prepared with new variants in mind,” said Abdul Ghafur, an infectious disease physician at the Apollo Hospital in Chennai, who was quoted in the Bloomberg article. “We can’t get ahead of the virus, but at least we can keep up with it.”
To read the story in its entirety, please click here.
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‘BMJ’ Publishes ‘First Reported UK Case’ of Sudden Hearing Loss Linked to COVID-19
Although uncommon, sudden permanent hearing loss seems to be linked to COVID-19 infection in some people, warn doctors, reporting the first UK case in the journal BMJ Case Reports. An article summariSing the results appears on the EurekAlert website.
Awareness of this possible side effect is important, because a prompt course of steroid treatment can reverse this disabling condition, they emphasise.
Sudden hearing loss is frequently seen by ear, nose, and throat specialists, with around 5-160 cases per 100,000 people reported every year. It’s not clear what the causes are, but the condition can follow a viral infection, such as flu, herpes, or cytomegalovirus.
Despite plenty of published research on sudden onset hearing loss, only a handful of other cases associated with COVID-19 have been reported, and none in the UK—until now.
The doctors describe a case of a 45-year-old man with asthma who was referred to the ear, nose, and throat department at their hospital after suddenly experiencing hearing loss in one ear while being treated for COVID-19 infection as an inpatient.
He had been admitted to hospital with COVID-19 symptoms which had been going on for 10 days. He was transferred to intensive care as he was struggling to breathe.
He was put on a ventilator for 30 days and developed other complications as a result. He was treated with remdesivir, intravenous steroids, and a blood transfusion after which he started to get better.
But a week after the breathing tube was removed and he left intensive care, he noticed ringing (tinnitus) in his left ear followed by sudden hearing loss in that ear.
He had not lost his hearing or had ear problems before. And apart from asthma, he was otherwise fit and well.
Examination of his ear canals revealed that he had no blockages or inflammation. But a hearing test showed that he had substantially lost his hearing in the left ear. He was treated with steroid tablets and injections after which his hearing partially recovered.
He tested negative for other potential causes, including rheumatoid arthritis, flu, and HIV, prompting his doctors to conclude that his hearing loss was associated with COVID-19 infection.
“Despite the considerable literature on COVID-19 and the various symptoms associated with the virus, there is a lack of discussion on the relationship between COVID-19 and hearing,” say the report authors. “Hearing loss and tinnitus are symptoms that have been seen in patients with both COVID-19 and influenza virus, but have not been highlighted.”
The first case of hearing loss mentioning COVID-19 alone was reported in April this year.
SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, is thought to lock on to a particular type of cell lining the lungs. And the virus has also recently been found in similar cells lining the middle ear, explain the report authors. SARS-CoV-2 also generates an inflammatory response and an increase in the chemicals that have been linked to hearing loss.
“This is the first reported case of sensorineural hearing loss following COVID-19 infection in the UK,” write the report authors. “Given the widespread presence of the virus in the population and the significant morbidity of hearing loss, it is important to investigate this further.”
They add: “This is especially true given the need to promptly identify and treat the hearing loss and the current difficulty in accessing medical services.”
Doctors should ask patients in intensive care about hearing loss and refer them for urgent treatment, they advise.
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Signia announced the launch of its newest lineup of Motion Charge&Go X hearing aids, which includes the Motion Charge&Go SP X – said to be the “first-ever rechargeable super power hearing aid that delivers uncompromised hearing with up to 61 hours of run-time per charge.” The Motion Charge&Go SP X, and its rechargeability, helps “ensure that even individuals with severe-to-profound hearing loss can enhance their human performance through improved hearing in every situation.”
This joins two other all-new Motion hearing aids – Motion Charge&Go P X and Motion Charge&Go X – to complete Signia’s latest lineup of Motion Charge&Go behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing solutions that are said to address “all levels of hearing loss.”
“Those with moderate to severe hearing loss depend heavily on their hearing aids – and not just for catching the total at the grocery checkout line or the specials at a restaurant, but for the real connections and sounds that give life meaning,” said Dr Tish Ramirez, Signia’s Vice President of Professional Relations and Product Management. “Signia Motion X delivers industry-best rechargeability and connectivity to ensure wearers stay better connected to their world without any limitations. Motion X hearing aids don’t just provide better hearing, they help provide a better life.”
Motion Charge&Go SP X is said to have up to 61 hours per charge, according to Signia, and is “the world’s most powerful rechargeable hearing aid.” The Motion Charge&Go P X offers up to 30 hours per charge, while the Motion Charge&Go X offers up to 24 hours per charge.
Signia Motion Charge&Go X: A new era in hearing technology
Signa’s “first-of-its-kind acoustic-motion sensor technology” is said to recognize one’s movements and adjusts sounds accordingly to ensure hearing in any situation is as precise and personalized as possible. Signia’s world’s-first OVP is a cutting-edge technology that processes the wearer’s voice separately from other sounds, leading to higher user satisfaction with the sound of their own voice.[1]
The Signia app provides access to hearing aid controls, streaming capabilities, tinnitus therapy, the Signia Assistant for a more personalized listening experience, and 24/7 digital support, Signia Telecare for remote care support, Signia Face Mask Mode for better speech understanding through masks, and much more.
Furthermore, the Xperience fitting (XFit) strategy helps offer a choice between more linear and more compressive gain settings for those with moderate-to-profound hearing loss. With the Dynamic Soundscape Processing slider, the wearer can “easily find a preferred balance of sound for best performance.” Additionally, the AI-based Signia Assistant helps allow the wearer to be more involved in actively shaping the sound quality of their own hearing aid.
All three models of Motion Charge&Go X offer Li-ion charging, Bluetooth connectivity, and an optional telecoil. They are available in all performance levels and can be ordered with an optional charger upgrade that includes a UV Dry&Clean function.
“Signia has invested heavily in developing first-of-its-kind, industry-leading technologies – across rechargeability, connectivity, speech intelligibility, and more,” said Ramirez. “However, this investment has been made with the sole aim of creating hearing solutions that prove people don’t have to be limited by their hearing loss – and that with one’s hearing restored, there’s nothing holding them back from performing their best.”
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By Laura Winther Balling, PhD, Oliver Townend, BSc, and Dana Helmink, AuD
Sound quality plays a key feature for overall hearing aid satisfaction as well as in everyday moments of real-life hearing. A large international survey of hearing aid users confirms the importance of sound quality, showing higher satisfaction with the WIDEX MOMENT™ hearing aids for overall sound quality, for specific situations of real-life use and for hearing aid users’ ability to participate in daily life.
As one of the major global hearing aid manufacturers, Widex has a long history of focusing on sound quality, designing all signal processing with the aim of achieving the best and most natural sound quality possible. For example, True Input Technology, with a linear transfer function up to 113 dB SPL and a linear input dynamic range of 108 dB SPL, was groundbreaking when launched,1 as was Variable Speed Compression, which offers the benefits of both slow and fast-acting compression.2
Most recently, WIDEX MOMENT™ launched with the focus on sound quality expressed in two main features:
TruAcoustics™ is an intelligent algorithm by which the acoustics in the individual ear canal is integrated in the parameter settings of the hearing aid, so the output at the eardrum is exactly right for the individual ear canal with the specific earware choice.3
Widex PureSound™ drastically reduces hearing aid delay and eliminates the delay-based distortions which are characteristic of other digital hearing aids.4
Innovations like these improve the sound quality in clearly audible ways and result in sound quality preferences in studies, such as the one reported by Balling et al.4 However, it is also an important assumption of the Widex design philosophy that good sound is not an isolated quality but a means to achieving higher hearing aid satisfaction across many situations in real life. With this broader view of sound quality, it is arguably the most important parameter for hearing aid satisfaction, along with speech understanding (especially in noise).
For these reasons, the survey reported below focused on satisfaction with sound quality in itself, as well as the experience in diverse situations of real-life hearing with Widex MOMENT hearing aid.
Survey Method
Our survey included 101 experienced hearing aid users recruited at local hearing clinics in 7 countries (US, Canada, China, Germany, France, Portugal, UK). They all wore the MOMENT mRIC R D rechargeable hearing aids and rated their satisfaction with them in comparison to their own existing hearing aids, which were from all major brands. Respondents were 60% male with a median age of 66 years (range 18-88). Close to half (45%) were work active, and they had a median of 6 years’ hearing aid experience (range 1-59 years).
Respondents fell into two groups: 39 of them had mild-to-moderate hearing losses going from 40 dBHL at low frequencies to 70 dBHL at high and had as their primary program PureSound™, which is particularly suitable for open fits and milder losses. The other 62 respondents had hearing losses up to 80 dB HL across frequencies (the mRIC M-receiver fitting range) and were fitted with the Universal program as their primary program. The MOMENT hearing aids were fitted with the ear tip recommended in the Compass GPS fitting software.
The survey used a cross-over design where respondents started a 7-week survey period by rating their satisfaction with their own existing hearing aids before being fitted with the MOMENT hearing aids and wearing them for 3 weeks. After 3 weeks, they rated their satisfaction with the MOMENT devices, before switching back to their own hearing aids, wearing those for 2 weeks and rating them at Week 6. For the final 2 weeks of the survey, respondents wore MOMENT and filled in a final set of questions about those at Week 7. This resulted in two ratings for own hearing aids (at Weeks 0 and 5) and two for MOMENT (at Weeks 3 and 7).
The questionnaires were filled in online using SMART-TRIAL software, using a format inspired by the MarkeTrak surveys,5 where respondents rate their satisfaction with their hearing aids on a 7-point scale ranging from “Very dissatisfied” (a rating of 1) to ‘Very satisfied’ (a rating of 7). Following the MarkeTrak approach, respondents who gave ratings in the top-3 satisfaction categories may be classified together as being “satisfied.” We asked questions about satisfaction both in general and in specific real-life situations.
The responses show that people are reasonably satisfied with their own hearing aids at the beginning of the survey period, but once they try the MOMENT hearing aids, their ratings of their own hearing aids in many cases become significantly lower. This in itself is evidence in favor of the MOMENT devices. However, the more interesting direct comparison is between the ratings of own hearing aids in Week 5 and MOMENT in Week 7, where respondents have had the most time to form an opinion about the new hearing aids.
We also estimated the age of the respondents’ own hearing aids based on the launch date of the device. Interestingly, we found no significant effects of this variable, indicating that the MOMENT advantages that we observe throughout are not simply explained by the contrast between older own hearing aids and new MOMENT devices, but by a genuine preference for the MOMENT sound.
Unless otherwise indicated, statistical testing of results was done using mixed-effects models that take into account the crucial fact that we have multiple responses per person. The significance levels for the relevant contrasts between own and MOMENT hearing aids are all below 0.0001, which means that potential concerns about repeated testing are unfounded.
Sound Quality Across Situations
As we would expect given the Widex design focus, the responses show a solid sound quality advantage for the MOMENT hearing aids, with significantly higher satisfaction for MOMENT than for own hearing aids (p < 0.0001). Looking at the average ratings plotted in the left panel of Figure 1, there is a 1-point advantage for MOMENT, with the average rating “Satisfied” for MOMENT and “Somewhat satisfied” for own hearing aids. Examining the distribution of answers in the right panel of Figure 1, we see many more “Very satisfied” and “Satisfied” MOMENT users. In total, considering the top-3 satisfaction categories, 91% of respondents are satisfied with the MOMENT sound quality.
Figure 1. Ratings of satisfaction with sound quality. The left panel shows mean ratings of satisfaction with sound quality as filled circles, with the whiskers representing ±1 standard deviation (SD) around the mean. The right plot shows ratings of own hearing aids in Week 5 and of MOMENT hearing aids in Week 7 of the survey.
An intriguing question is which aspects of sound and hearing aid use influence these high-satisfaction sound quality ratings. This is a complex issue that this survey cannot fully address, but it is informative to look at which other questions are correlated with sound quality satisfaction. In Table 1, such correlations are listed for the ratings of MOMENT at the end of the survey period. They are all strong correlations ranging between 0.522 to 0.698, and although there is some variation between individual situations, the correlations are all highly significant and of similar size. These correlations do not, of course, indicate causation but do suggest that sound quality plays a similar role across different situations.
Table 1. Spearman Rho correlations between sound quality satisfaction and satisfaction in specific situations for WIDEX MOMENT. (Notations: *** indicates significance at the p<0.001 level; a) Speech-in-noise situations; b) Outdoor situations; c) Listening through devices.
Another way of assessing the impact of sound quality on everyday satisfaction with hearing aids is analyzing the average satisfaction across the specific situations listed in Table 1 (excepting satisfaction with soft and loud sounds, which are not specific situations). A regression model shows that satisfaction with sound quality is a highly significant predictor of mean satisfaction across situations, accounting for more than 50% of the variance in satisfaction across situations (R2 = 0.51).
Sound Quality and Naturalness
In addition to the different listening situations, Table 1 also lists respondents’ agreement with the statement “I find that the sound is natural with the MOMENT hearing aids” on a 7-point scale. This shows one of the highest correlations with sound quality satisfaction, which means that those hearing aid wearers who are highly satisfied with the sound quality also perceive the sound as more natural.
In addition, naturalness ratings show a very similar pattern across weeks to sound quality satisfaction, as illustrated in Figure 2. Again, we see approximately a 1-point difference between the ratings of own and MOMENT hearing aids, and many more who “Agree” or “Strongly agree” that the sound of MOMENT is natural.
Figure 2. Ratings of naturalness of sound, with the left panel showing mean ratings per week and the right panel showing ratings for own hearing aids in Week 5 and for MOMENT in Week 7.
Satisfaction in Everyday Situations
As seen in Table 1, the survey included questions on a wide range of everyday situations. In Figure 3, these are grouped into four different more general categories, showing the distribution of ratings in Week 5 (own hearing aids) and Week 7 (MOMENT hearing aids).
Figure 3. Histograms showing distribution of ratings in Weeks 5 (own hearing aids) and 7 (MOMENT hearing aids).
The top-left panel shows the satisfaction with conversations in quiet, assessed by a single question. Level of satisfaction is generally high, as we would expect for this relatively easy listening environment. However, although the baseline is already high, the MOMENT ratings are still higher, with the most frequent response being “Very satisfied” and the difference to own hearing aids being highly significant (p < 0.0001).
Speech-in-noise ratings are shown in the top-right panel, based on a mean across questions on satisfaction in restaurants and with conversations in noise and during transport. These tend to be difficult situations for hearing aid users, which is also clear if we compare the general level of satisfaction with speech in quiet. This makes the significant advantage for MOMENT (p < 0.0001) all the more noteworthy: the most frequent mean rating for these questions is clearly in the “Satisfied” category for MOMENT, whereas ratings for own hearing aids are more spread out, with “Somewhat dissatisfied” as the most frequent. If we compare the own-vs-MOMENT hearing aid ratings per respondent, five times as many respondents are more satisfied with the MOMENT hearing aids compared with their own: 74% of respondents are more satisfied with MOMENT, 12% more satisfied with their own, and the remaining 14% give the same ratings to both.
The bottom left panel illustrates mean ratings in outdoor situations, again with a markedly differently distribution of ratings for own and MOMENT hearing aids (p < 0.0001). Part of the explanation for the MOMENT advantage could be that respondents experience the sound of MOMENT as more natural, something that is likely to play a larger role outdoors.
The final panel of Figure 3 represents the frequent listening situations where sound comes from a device, with TV likely being the most frequent for most people, but also telephone and music. As for conversations in quiet, the general level of satisfaction is higher here than for more difficult listening situations, but the MOMENT advantage remains, with a significant difference to own hearing aids (p < 0.0001). Collectively, the four types of situations illustrated in Figure 3 give a comprehensive view of the everyday lives of hearing aid users, and across all these situations MOMENT shows a solid advantage.
Participation in Daily Life
A common problem for people with hearing loss, reported both scientifically6,7 and by hearing aid users and their relatives to HCPs all over the world, is the difficulty of participating in everyday life. Therefore, the survey included a question inspired by the International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids (IOI-HA)8: “How satisfied are you with your ability to participate effortlessly in everyday life with [your own hearing aids/the WIDEX MOMENT hearing aids]?” The ratings for this question are shown in Figure 4, where both plots illustrate a similar 1-point MOMENT advantage that was also seen previously (p < 0.0001). An interesting statistic is how many people are satisfied (in the top-3 categories) with their ability to participate in everyday life; this number is 69% for own hearing aids but 90% for MOMENT. Conversely, only 6% of respondents indicate dissatisfaction with participation when wearing MOMENT, while the corresponding number is 20% for own hearing aids, in spite of the fact that the MOMENT devices are new to the respondents and they cannot be expected to be completely habituated to them yet.
Figure 4. Ratings of ability to participate in everyday life, with the left panel showing mean ratings per week and the right panel showing ratings for own hearing aids in Week 5 and for MOMENT in Week 7.
Overall Satisfaction
Finally, a question about overall satisfaction examines how all these different elements of real-life hearing come together in the respondents’ entire experience of wearing the MOMENT hearing aids, compared with their own. The responses to this question were tested in the same way as previous results, showing significantly higher ratings (p < 0.0001) for MOMENT than own hearing aids. The left panel in Figure 5 is a particularly clear example that respondents’ ratings of their own hearing aids change when they have tried MOMENT, as evidenced by the lower ratings in Week 5 compared to Week 0. More generally, Figure 5 confirms the MOMENT advantage that has also been clear in the more detailed questions, with the most frequent overall response to the MOMENT hearing aids being “Very satisfied.”
Figure 5. Ratings of overall satisfaction, with the left panel showing mean ratings per week and the right panel showing ratings for own hearing aids in Week 5 and for MOMENT in Week 7.
The Importance of Sound Quality in Real Life Hearing Aid Use
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Phonak announced the launch of the second generation of Roger Focus, the ear-level receiver that allows “children, teens, and adults to hear a speaker’s voice via any Roger microphone.” Research has shown that speech recognition in noise is significantly improved for children with unilateral hearing loss 1,2, autism spectrum disorder 3,4 , and auditory processing disorder 5 when using Phonak remote microphone technologies like Roger Focus II compared to no technology.
Potential applications for Roger Focus II include:
Unilateral hearing loss (UHL) UHL affects 1-3% of school children 6,7 and left untreated, can impact a child’s behavior, social engagement, and anxiety levels.8-10 Emerging research shows that when using Roger Focus II, children with UHL have 53 percentage-points better speech understanding in noise at five meters distance compared to their normal hearing peers and even show significant improvement in quiet environments compared to no technology.11
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) Some children on the autism spectrum with normal hearing have “functional hearing loss,” which is loosely defined as a hearing loss with no natural or physiological cause.12 In other words, these children have impaired auditory filtering that makes it difficult to hear, function, and complete tasks in the presence of background noise.8 Parents reported improved listening in children with ASD and teachers reported that classroom attentiveness, behavior, and listening improved in children with ASD when using Phonak remote microphone technology like Roger Focus II. 13-15
Auditory processing disorder (APD)
Children with APD may also experience functional hearing loss despite normal hearing and may have difficulties with spatial sound processing and word discrimination. This can result in poorer behavior, attention, and concentration7 while leading to negative psychosocial effects like social withdrawal, difficulty with interpersonal relationships, and increased anxiety.16 Speech understanding in noise is improved significantly in children with APD when using Phonak remote microphone technology like Roger Focus II compared to no technology, according to Phonak. Meanwhile, students report improvement in anxiety, depression, and interpersonal relationships.
“Roger Focus II was developed to help children overcome the challenges of hearing over distance and in background noise so that they can focus on what matters,” said Angela Pelosi, director of global audiology at Phonak. “As a leading innovator of world-class pediatric hearing solutions, it’s critically important that we provide children with unilateral or functional hearing loss the confidence that they can fully participate in everyday activities—and the Roger Focus II does just that.”
The new Roger Focus II is available in a new lithium-ion rechargeable option or a traditional zinc-air battery featuring a “tamper-proof” battery door. According to Phonak, it received an IP68-rating for water and dust resistance and has new coupling options to fit even smaller ears than its predecessor. The rechargeable version comes in ten assorted colors and offers up to 20 hours of battery life on a full charge.
Roger Focus II is intended for children over three years old and is available to order today via licensed hearing care professionals in the US and other select markets.
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Primary progressive aphasia is a rare neurodegenerative condition characterised by prominent language problems that worsen over time. About 40% of people with the condition have underlying Alzheimer’s disease. But a new study has found that people with the condition may not develop the memory problems associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The study is published in the January 13, 2021, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). A summary of the research was also published on the AAN website.
“While we knew that the memories of people with primary progressive aphasia were not affected at first, we did not know if they maintained their memory functioning over years,” said study author M. Marsel Mesulam, MD, of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago and a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology. “This has been difficult to determine because most memory tests rely on verbal skills that these people have lost or are losing.”
Honiton hearing centre
The study included 17 people with primary progressive aphasia associated with Alzheimer’s disease. They were compared to 14 people who had typical Alzheimer’s disease with memory loss.
Researchers tested memory skills of the people with primary progressive aphasia by showing them pictures of common objects. After waiting 10 minutes, they were shown the same pictures along with others and had to indicate whether they had seen the picture before. This test was given once and then again an average of 2.4 years later. The people with typical Alzheimer’s disease listened to a list of common words and were later given the same words along with others and asked to choose the ones they had heard before. They were tested once and then again an average of 1.7 years later.
Both groups also had tests of their language skills. Brain scans were taken of the people with primary progressive aphasia to look at how the disease was affecting their brains, especially in the areas related to memory.
The people with primary progressive aphasia had no decline in their memory skills when they took the tests a second time. At that point, they had been showing symptoms of the disorder for an average of six years. In contrast, their language skills declined significantly during the same period. For the people with typical Alzheimer’s disease, their verbal memory and language skills declined with equal severity during the study.
Exeter ear wax removal
Researchers had brain autopsies from eight of the people with primary progressive aphasia and all of the people with typical Alzheimer’s disease. The people with primary progressive aphasia had similar amounts of the plaques and tangles that are signs of Alzheimer’s disease as the people with typical Alzheimer’s, Mesulam said. Left sided asymmetry of brain shrinkage and a lower incidence of brain proteins known as ApoE4 and TDP-43 were identified as potential contributors to the preservation of memory in this rare type of Alzheimer’s disease.
“More research is needed to help us determine what factors allow these people to show this resilience of memory skills even in the face of considerable Alzheimer’s disease pathology in the brain,” Mesulam said.
Limitations of the study are the relatively small sample size and that autopsies were not available for all of the primary progressive aphasia cases.
Original Paper: Mesulam MM, Coventry C, Kuang A, et al. Memory resilience in Alzheimer’s disease with primary progressive aphasia. Neurology. 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000011397.
Source: AAN, Neurology
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Oticon Launches Oticon More at 2021 OticonNext Event
Oticon announced that over 5,000 hearing care professionals registered to join the company for its 2021 OticonNext “Discover More” Conference, the company’s “biggest ever launch event for a new product.” The live, virtual knowledge-sharing experience introduced participants to Oticon More, “the world’s first hearing aid with an on-board deep neural network.” This new hearing aid is said to build on Oticon’s “proven BrainHearing approach to deliver a full and precisely balanced sound scene that makes it easier for the brain to perform optimally.” Oticon President Gary Rosenblum and Oticon staff experts showed conference participants how Oticon More represents a “fundamentally new approach” to signal processing.
“Through the OticonNext Conference, we aimed to equip practitioners with the knowledge and tools they need to continue to bring life-changing technology to patients,” said Rosenblum. “Over the past decade, Oticon has pioneered new standards and advanced its portfolio of hearing solutions dramatically. From our newest addition, Oticon More, to our innovative power and pediatric solutions, we continue to offer hearing care professionals and their patients one of the industry’s most comprehensive portfolios of hearing technology.”
Rosenblum shared recent honors for the new hearing solution with conference participants. On January 11, the Consumer Electronics Association named Oticon More an honoree in the CES 2021 Innovation Awards in the Health & Wellness and Wearable Technologies categories. This is the fifth consecutive year that Oticon, Inc has been recognized by the international awards program that annually selects the best of the best in consumer electronics. The most recent awards bring to an even dozen the number of times Oticon has been honored by the CES InnovationAwards program.
Inspiration, Innovation, and Practice Support
Keynote speaker Dan Buettner, author of The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest, provided guidance on how technology like Oticon More contributes to health and long life by enabling patients to maintain vital connections to people and the world. A panel discussion addressed questions from the online audience on Oticon More’s technology innovations, including the new Polaris platform. Following the conference, hearing care professionals were invited to explore The Zone exhibit hall to learn more about the variety of clinical and business support available through Oticon and the company’s business partners.
Interactive Webisodes Continue Knowledge Sharing
The conference’s interactive virtual format extends beyond the launch event with a series of post-conference educational webisodes that build on the knowledge gained at OticonNext. The live interactive sessions take a deeper dive into the audiology of Oticon More and the new research that shows the brain needs access to all sounds—not just speech—in order to work in a natural way. Scheduled for February and March, the five webisodes each last approximately one hour and require prior registration.
Learn more about Oticon More and the entire portfolio of Oticon hearing solutions with BrainHearing technology at: www.Oticon.com/More.
Available at the Honiton hearing centre near Exeter Devon
Source: Oticon
Images: Oticon
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Neurophysiologists at the University of Connecticut (UConn) have discovered a new drug that may prevent tinnitus and treat epilepsy by selectively affecting potassium channels in the brain. According to an article in the June 10, 2015 edition of The Journal of Neuroscience, Anastasios V. Tzingounis, PhD, and colleagues say that both tinnitus and epilepsy are caused by overly excitable cells that flood the brain with an overload of signals that can lead to seizures (epilepsy) or phantom ringing in the ears (tinnitus).
The authors report that roughly 65 million people worldwide are affected by epilepsy. While exact statistics on tinnitus are not easy to determine, the American Tinnutus Association estimates that two million people in the US suffer from disabling tinnitus.
Anastasios V. Tzingounis, PhD, University of Connecticut
According to Tzingounis and co-authors, the existing drugs available to treat epilepsy don’t always work and can have serious side effects. One of the more effective drugs, retigabine, helps open KCNQ potassium channels, which serve as the “brakes” that shut down the signaling of overly excited nerves. Retigabine, however, has terrible side effects and is usually only given to adults who don’t get relief from other epilepsy drugs. The side effects of retigabine include sleepiness, dizziness, problems with hearing and urination, and a disturbing tendency to turn patients’ skin and eyes blue.
In 2013, Tzingounis began collaborating with Thanos Tzounopoulos, PhD, a tinnitus expert at the University of Pittsburgh, to create a new drug candidate. The new drug, SF0034, was chemically identical to retigabine, but included an extra fluorine atom. Originally developed by SciFluor, the company wanted to know whether the compound had promise for treating epilepsy and tinnitus.
Thanos Tzounopoulos, PhD, University of Pittsburgh
Tzingounis and Tzounopoulos thought the drug had the potential to be much better than retigabine in treating both conditions. They first had to determine if SF0034 worked on KCNQ potassium channels the same way retigabine does, and if so, if it would be better or worse.
The co-authors explain in their article that KCNQ potassium channels are found in the initial segment of axons, long nerve fibers that reach out and almost touch other cells. The gap between the axon and the other cell is called a synapse. When the cell wants to signal to the axon, it floods the synapse with sodium ions to create an electrical potential. When that electrical potential goes on too long, or gets overactive, the KCNQ potassium channel kicks in. The result is that it opens, potassium ions flood out, and the sodium-induced electrical potential shuts down.
In some types of epilepsy, the KCNQ potassium channels have trouble opening and shutting down runaway electrical potentials in the nerve synapse. Retigabine helps them open. According to the authors, there are five different kinds of KCNQ potassium channels in the body, but only two are important in epilepsy and tinnitus: KCNQ2 and KCNQ3. The problem with retigabine is that it acts on other KCNQ potassium channels as well. That’s why it has so many unwanted side effects.
When testing SF0034 in neurons, the researchers found that it was more selective than retigabine. It appeared to open only KCNQ2 and KCNQ3 potassium channels, and to not affect the KCNQ 4 or 5 potassium channels. The research showed that SF0034 was more effective than retigabine at preventing seizures in animals, and it was also less toxic.
The results are promising, and SciFluor plans to start FDA trials with SF0034 to test its safety and efficacy in people. Treating epilepsy is the primary goal, but treating or preventing tinnitus is a secondary goal.
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Zoom Charges Monthly Fee for Closed Captioning During Pandemic, ‘WBFO’ Reports
The challenges for hearing impaired people working remotely and utilizing video conferencing services during the coronavirus pandemic can make communication difficult. According to an article on the WBFO/NPR website, hearing advocate and Living With Hearing Loss founder Shari Eberts recently wrote an open letter—that turned into a petition with 58,000 signatures—asking video conferencing companies to remove the paywall from their captioning services.
According to the article, both Google and Microsoft have complied, but Zoom is still charging a $200 monthly fee for users to be able to access closed captioning.
Issues with video conferencing that include poor audio and/or sound quality as well as spotty internet connection, can make lip reading difficult. Even when using workarounds like speaker mode to be able to see a larger version of the person they’re speaking with and/or headphones to improve sound quality, a person’s lips can be out of sync with their words, Eberts says in the article. Closed captions could improve communication in these situations, she says.
“It’s hard for us to want to jump in or to share our thoughts because we’re not sure what’s been said. And obviously, there’s a lot of trepidation about looking silly or repeating something that someone just said,” Eberts is quoted in the article as saying.
To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
Source: WBFO
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BySarah E. McQuate, PhD, Science Writer | University of Washington News & UW College of Engineering
Smartwatches offer people a private method for getting notifications about their surroundings — such as a phone call, health alerts, or an upcoming package delivery.
Now University of Washington researchers have developed SoundWatch, a smartwatch app for deaf, Deaf, and hard-of-hearing people who want to be aware of nearby sounds. When the smartwatch picks up a sound the user is interested in — examples include a siren, a microwave beeping, or a bird chirping — SoundWatch will identify it and send the user a friendly buzz along with information about the sound, according to an article on the UW News website.
The team presented these findings October 28 at the ACM conference on computing and accessibility.
“This technology provides people with a way to experience sounds that require an action — such as getting food from the microwave when it beeps. But these devices can also enhance people’s experiences and help them feel more connected to the world,” said lead author Dhruv Jain, a UW doctoral student in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. “I use the watch prototype to notice birds chirping and waterfall sounds when I am hiking. It makes me feel present in nature. My hope is that other d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing people who are interested in sounds will also find SoundWatch helpful.”
The team started this project by designing a system for d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing people who wanted to be able to know what was going on around their homes.
“I used to sleep through the fire alarm,” said Jain, who was born hard of hearing.
The first system, called HomeSound, uses Microsoft Surface tablets scattered throughout the home which act like a network of interconnected displays. Each display provides a basic floor plan of the house and alerts a user to a sound and its source. The displays also show the sound’s waveforms, to help users identify the sound, and store a history of all the sounds a user might have missed when they were not home.
The researchers tested HomeSound in the Seattle-area homes of six d/Deaf or hard-of-hearing participants for three weeks. Participants were instructed to go about their lives as normal and complete weekly surveys.
Based on feedback, a second prototype used machine learning to classify sounds in real time. The researchers created a dataset of over 31 hours of 19 common home-related sounds — such as a dog bark or a cat meow, a baby crying, and a door knock.
“People mentioned being able to train their pets when they noticed dog barking sounds from another room or realizing they didn’t have to wait by the door when they were expecting someone to come over,” Jain said. “HomeSound enabled all these new types of interactions people could have in their homes. But many people wanted information throughout the day, when they were out in their cars or going for walks.”
In the second prototype of HomeSound, the tablets sent information to a smartwatch, which is how the researchers got the idea to make the standalone app. Jain et al./CHI 2020
The researchers then pivoted to a smartwatch system, which allows users to get sound alerts wherever they are, even in places they might not have their phones, such as at the gym.
Because smartwatches have limited storage and processing abilities, the team needed a system that didn’t eat the watch’s battery and was also fast and accurate. First the researchers compared a compressed version of the HomeSound classifier against three other available sound classifiers. The HomeSound variant was the most accurate, but also the slowest.
To speed up the system, the team has the watch send the sound to a device with more processing power — the user’s phone — for classification. Having a phone classify sounds and send the results back to the watch not only saves time but also maintains the user’s privacy because sounds are only transferred between the user’s own devices.
The researchers tested the SoundWatch app in March 2020 — before Washington’s stay-at-home order — with eight d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing participants in the Seattle area. Users tested the app at three different locations on or around the UW campus: in a grad student office, in a building lounge and at a bus stop.
People found the app was useful for letting them know if there was something that they should pay attention to. For example: that they had left the faucet running or that a car was honking. On the other hand, it sometimes misclassified sounds (labeling a car driving by as running water) or was slow to notify users (one user was surprised by a person entering the room way before the watch sent a notification about a door opening).
The team is also developing HoloSound, which uses augmented reality to provide real-time captions and other sound information through HoloLens glasses.
“We want to harness the emergence of state-of-the-art machine learning technology to make systems that enhance the lives of people in a variety of communities,” said senior author Jon Froehlich, an associate professor in the Allen School.
Another current focus is developing a method to pick out specific sounds from background noise, and identifying the direction a sound, like a siren, is coming from.
The SoundWatch app is available for free as an Android download. The researchers are eager to hear feedback so that they can make the app more useful.
“Disability is highly personal, and we want these devices to allow people to have deeper experiences,” Jain said. “We’re now looking into ways for people to personalise these systems for their own specific needs. We want people to be notified about the sounds they care about — a spouse’s voice versus general speech, the back door opening versus the front door opening, and more.”
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