MATERIALS AND METHODS: The EEG signal was used as a brain response signal, which was evoked by two auditory stimuli (Tones and Consonant Vowels stimulus). The study was carried out on Malaysians (Malay and Chinese) with normal hearing and with hearing loss. A ranking process for the subjects' EEG data and the nonlinear features was used to obtain the maximum classification accuracy.
RESULTS: The study formulated the classification of Normal Hearing Ethnicity Index and Sensorineural Hearing Loss Ethnicity Index. These indices classified the human ethnicity according to brain auditory responses by using numerical values of response signal features. Three classification algorithms were used to verify the human ethnicity. Support Vector Machine (SVM) classified the human ethnicity with an accuracy of 90% in the cases of normal hearing and sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL); the SVM classified with an accuracy of 84%.
CONCLUSION: The classification indices categorized or separated the human ethnicity in both hearing cases of normal hearing and SNHL with high accuracy. The SVM classifier provided a good accuracy in the classification of the auditory brain responses. The proposed indices might constitute valuable tools for the classification of the brain responses according to the human ethnicity.
METHODS: Isotropic multiband functional MRI (1.5 mm) with sparse sampling (effective TR = 9000 ms, acquisition duration = 1962 ms) and continuous sampling (TR = 2000 ms) with ANC were compared in 15 normally hearing participants. A sustained broadband noise stimulus was presented to drive activation of both sustained and transient auditory responses within subcortical and cortical auditory regions.
RESULTS: Robust broadband noise-related activity was detected throughout the auditory pathways. Continuous sampling with ANC was found to give a statistically significant advantage over sparse sampling for the detection of the transient (onset) stimulus responses, particularly in the auditory cortex (P < .001) and inferior colliculus (P < .001), whereas gains provided by sparse over continuous ANC for detecting offset and sustained responses were marginal (p ~ 0.05 in superior olivary complex, inferior colliculus, medial geniculate body, and auditory cortex).
CONCLUSIONS: Sparse and continuous ANC multiband functional MRI protocols provide differing advantages for observing the transient (onset and offset) and sustained stimulus responses.
METHODS: A double-blind, placebo-controlled, counter-balanced crossover design with permuted block randomisation for drug order was followed. Dexamphetamine (0.45 mg/kg, PO, q.d.) was administered to healthy participants. Phantom word illusion (speech illusion) and visual-induced flash illusion/VIFI (visual illusion) tests were measured to determine if TBWs were altered as a function of delay between stimuli presentations. Word emotional content for phantom word illusions was also analysed.
RESULTS: Dexamphetamine significantly increased the total number of phantom words/speech illusions (p
METHODS: Speech-and-noise signals were presented to, and recorded from, six hearing aids mounted on a head and torso simulator. Test stimuli were nonsense words mixed with pink, cafeteria, or speech-modulated noise at 0 dB SNR. Fricatives /s, z/ were extracted from the recordings for analysis.
RESULTS: Analysis of the noise confirmed that MBNR in all hearing aids was activated for the recordings. More than 1.0 dB of acoustic change occurred to /s, z/ when MBNR was turned on in four out of the six hearing aids in the pink and cafeteria noise conditions. The acoustics of /s, z/ by female talkers were affected more than male talkers. Significant relationships between amount of noise reduction and acoustic change of /s, z/ were found. Amount of noise reduction accounts for 42.8% and 16.8% of the variability in acoustic change for /s/ and /z/ respectively.
CONCLUSION: Some clinically-available implementations of MBNR have measurable effects on the acoustics of fricatives. Possible implications for speech perception are discussed.
Method: Quasi-experimental and repeated-measures study designs were used in this study. Twenty-six adults with normal hearing (17 females, 9 males) participated. ABRs were acquired from the study participants at 3 intensity levels (80, 60, and 40 dB nHL), 3 frequencies (500, 1000, and 2000 Hz), 2 electrode montages (ipsilateral and vertical), and 2 stimuli (NB LS CE-Chirp and tone-burst) using 2 stopping criteria (fixed averages at 4,000 sweeps and F test at multiple points = 3.1).
Results: Wave V amplitudes were only 19%-26% larger for the vertical recordings than the ipsilateral recordings in both the ABRs obtained from the NB LS CE-Chirp and tone-burst stimuli. The mean differences in the F test at multiple points values and the residual noise levels between the ABRs obtained from the vertical and ipsilateral montages were statistically not significant. In addition, the ABR elicited from the NB LS CE-Chirp was significantly larger (up to 69%) than those from the tone-burst, except at the lower intensity level.
Conclusion: Both the ipsilateral and vertical montages can be used to record ABR to the NB LS CE-Chirp because of the small enhancement in the wave V amplitude provided by the vertical montage.