Globally, one in three adults has some level of measurable hearing loss, and 1.1 billion young persons are at risk for hearing loss attributable to noise exposure. Although noisy occupations such as construction, mining, and manufacturing are primary causes of hearing loss in adults, nonoccupational noise also can damage hearing. Loud noises can cause permanent hearing loss through metabolic ex...

The extent to which cognitive development and abilities are dependent on language remains controversial. In this study, the analogical reasoning skills of deaf and hard of hearing children are explored. Two groups of children (deaf and hard of hearing children with either cochlear implants or hearing aids and hearing children) completed tests of verbal and spatial analogical reasoning. Their vo...

Auditory brainstem response (ABR) peak measures were compared for a custom ear canal electrode and traditional mastoid and ear lobe reference electrode sites with the assumption that the ear canal electrode would yield larger Wave I amplitudes. In this study, Waves I, III, and V latencies and amplitudes were measured and compared in twenty participants between the ages of 18 and 50, with partic...

BACKGROUND Older adults manifest difficulties in speech perception, especially when speech is accompanied by noise or when speech is rapid. Several explanations have been suggested to account for age-related changes in speech perception, such as changes in hearing sensitivity or a more general decline in cognitive functioning. The purpose of the present study was to directly examine the relativ...

This paper examines sentence repetition and narrative speech data produced by hearing-impaired and normally hearing children with matched gender, age and level of speech comprehension. We assessed these two kinds of speech styles by talker intelligibility, vowel space, and spike production in plosives. In both speaking styles, normally hearing children performed better in talker intelligibility...