Individuals with unilateral hearing loss of severe-profound degree face listening difficulties while localizing a sound source and while perceiving speech in the presence of noise. The objective was to compare the efficacy of the digitally programmable bone anchored hearing aid (BAHA), trimmer digital BAHA and the transcranial contralateral routing of signal (T-CROS) in improving the listening performance in adults with unilateral hearing loss. Twenty-four adults with unilateral hearing loss was assessed for sound field thresholds, speech perception performance in quiet and noise (direct and indirect conditions) and the subjective quality rating of speech in unaided and aided with either T-CROS or digitally programmable BAHA or trimmer digital BAHA attached to the headband. Results indicated that the participants performed better with both the digitally programmable and the trimmer digital BAHA than the T-CROS in both quiet and noise. However, the digitally programmable BAHA performed better when the speech arrived from the poorer ear side. The current study helps in prioritizing the hearing amplification devices for the trial and also helps in arriving at the appropriate hearing amplification device for the individuals with unilateral hearing loss.

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Background and Objectives: The influence of musical aptitude on cognitive test performance in musicians is a long-debated research question. Evidence points to the low performance of nonmusicians in visual and auditory cognitive tasks (working memory and attention) compared with musicians. This cannot be generalized to all nonmusicians, as a sub-group in this population can have innate musical abilities even without any formal musical training. The present study aimed to study the effect of musical aptitude on the working memory and selective attention.Subjects and Methods: Three groups of 20 individuals each (a total of 60 participants), including trained-musicians, nonmusicians with good musical aptitude, and nonmusicians with low musical aptitude, participated in the present study. Cognitive-based visual (Flanker’s selective attention test) and auditory (working memory tests: backward digit span and operation span) tests were administered.Results: MANOVA (followed by ANOVA) revealed a benefit of musicianship and musical aptitude on backward digit span and Flanker’s reaction time (p<0.05). Discriminant function analyses showed that the groups could be effectively (accuracy, 80%) segregated based on the backward digit span and Flanker’s selective attention test. Trained musicians and nonmusicians with good musical aptitude were distinguished as one cluster and nonmusicians with low musical aptitude formed another cluster, hinting the role of musical aptitude in working memory and selective attention.Conclusions: Nonmusicians with good musical aptitude can have enhanced working memory and selective attention skills like musicians. Hence, caution is required when these individuals are included as controls in cognitive-based visual and auditory experiments.

Objective: The human auditory system perceives any speech sound through the inherent temporal cues i.e., the temporal fine structure (TFS) and envelope (ENV) cues which has its own predominance for perception across languages. Research in English and Mandarin Chinese language showed the difference between these cues with tonal language employ more of TFS cues and non-tonal language employ ENV cues for perception. Earlier studies on Indian language (Kannada and Malayalam) revealed ENV cues predominance for perception. Based on this, the aim of this study was to compare stimuli in which the TFS and ENV cues had been interchanged (so-called auditory chimeras). The stimuli were Malayalam language sentences delivered through a hearing aid using two compression schemes -syllabic compression and dual compression -and processed by a nonlinear 8-channel and 16-channel system.Method: Thirty-five normal hearing individuals were assessed for the perception of chimeric sentences across eight sets of frequency bands (1, 4, 6, 8, 16, 24, 32, and 64 bands). Before the administration of the chimeric sentences all the individuals were assessed for normal hearing abilities through routine audiological evaluations. Results:The results of the present study reveal there is a significant difference across frequency bands on both the syllabic and dual compression processed stimuli using either 8 or 16 channels. The ENV cues were better perceived whether 4, 6, 8, or 16 frequency bands were used, with dual compression being marginally better than syllabic compression for both 8 and 16 channels. However, 16 channels gave overall better perception than 8 channels. Conclusions:The results of the study revealed a better processing of envelope (ENV) cues, which are most important for understanding speech through a hearing aid.

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