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The indications for cochlear implants in children were gradually expended during the last 30 years. This concerns both the age at implantation and the audiological criteria, unilateral or bilateral treatment, the treatment of unilateral deafness and of children with multiple disabilities. Due to the improvement in hearing preservation and new technical developments, it is to be expected that the indication limits will continue to shift in the coming decades.
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Language is a fundamental part of human cognition. The question of whether language is processed independently of speech, however, is still heavily discussed. The absence of speech in deaf signers offers the opportunity to disentangle language from speech in the human brain. Using probabilistic tractography, we compared brain structural connectivity of adult deaf signers who had learned sign language early in life to that of matched hearing controls. Quantitative comparison of the connectivity profiles revealed that the core language tracts did not differ between signers and controls, confirming that language is independent of speech. In contrast, pathways involved in the production and perception of speech displayed lower connectivity in deaf signers compared to hearing controls. These differences were located in tracts towards the left pre-supplementary motor area and the thalamus when seeding in Broca's area, and in ipsilateral parietal areas and the precuneus with seeds in left posterior temporal regions. Furthermore, the interhemispheric connectivity between the auditory cortices was lower in the deaf than in the hearing group, underlining the importance of the transcallosal connection for early auditory processes. The present results provide evidence for a functional segregation of the neural pathways for language and speech.
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Encéfalo/anatomia & histologia , Idioma , Língua de Sinais , Fala , Adulto , Surdez/patologia , Imagem de Difusão por Ressonância Magnética , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Vias Neurais/anatomia & histologia , Pessoas com Deficiência Auditiva , Percepção da FalaRESUMO
PurposeHearing loss is genetically extremely heterogeneous, making it suitable for next-generation sequencing (NGS). We identified a four-generation family with nonsyndromic mild to severe hearing loss of the mid- to high frequencies and onset from early childhood to second decade in seven members.MethodsNGS of 66 deafness genes, Sanger sequencing, genome-wide linkage analysis, whole-exome sequencing (WES), semiquantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction.ResultsWe identified a heterozygous nonsense mutation, c.6881G>A (p.Trp2294*), in the last coding exon of PTPRQ. PTPRQ has been linked with recessive (DFNB84A), but not dominant deafness. NGS and Sanger sequencing of all exons (including alternatively spliced 5' and N-scan-predicted exons of a putative "extended" transcript) did not identify a second mutation. The highest logarithm of the odds score was in the PTPRQ-containing region on chromosome 12, and p.Trp2294* cosegregated with hearing loss. WES did not identify other cosegregating candidate variants from the mapped region. PTPRQ expression in patient fibroblasts indicated that the mutant allele escapes nonsense-mediated decay (NMD).ConclusionKnown PTPRQ mutations are recessive and do not affect the C-terminal exon. In contrast to recessive loss-of-function mutations, c.6881G>A transcripts may escape NMD. PTPRQTrp2294* protein would lack only six terminal residues and could exert a dominant-negative effect, a possible explanation for allelic deafness, DFNA73, clinically and genetically distinct from DFNB84A.
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Surdez/genética , Proteínas Tirosina Fosfatases Classe 3 Semelhantes a Receptores/genética , Sequência de Aminoácidos , Códon sem Sentido/genética , Exoma/genética , Éxons/genética , Família , Feminino , Ligação Genética , Estudo de Associação Genômica Ampla , Perda Auditiva/genética , Humanos , Masculino , Mutação , Linhagem , Sequenciamento do ExomaRESUMO
About 4000 patients receive a cochlear implant in Germany every year. Adults have become the main group for cochlear implantation candidacy.Elderly people with progressive and profound hearing loss experienced high communication restraints due to the limits of conventional hearing aids in the past. Nowadays cochlear implants can be offered as a well-established extension to the supply chain of hearing systems. The option of cochlear implantation for children with profound hearing impairment has led to a paradigm shift in hearing rehabilitation. However, there is still great variability in spoken language outcomes in CI children. These range from communicative and linguistic competencies similar to normal hearing children to clearly limited receptive and productive language skills. Besides age of implantation and the quality of previous auditory stimulation, there are additional factors that likely influence the outcome after cochlea implantation. Among them are the quality of caregivers' linguistic input and an intensive post-operative rehabilitation and intervention program. Ideally, children with CI are included into mainstream educational settings. Considering the high incidence of additional disabilities in children with hearing loss, it seems obvious that this goal cannot be achieved by all implanted children. Therefore, highly complex and individualized rehabilitation concepts are needed, which, in addition to oral language intervention programs, include total communication approaches as well.
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Implante Coclear/métodos , Perda Auditiva/reabilitação , Adulto , Idoso , Criança , Implante Coclear/estatística & dados numéricos , Terapia Combinada , Alemanha , Humanos , Comunicação Interdisciplinar , Colaboração Intersetorial , Transtornos do Desenvolvimento da Linguagem/reabilitação , Revisão da Utilização de Recursos de SaúdeRESUMO
One main incentive for supplying hearing impaired children with a cochlear implant is the prospect of oral language acquisition. Only scarce knowledge exists, however, of what congenitally deaf children actually perceive when receiving their first auditory input, and specifically what speech-relevant features they are able to extract from the new modality. We therefore presented congenitally deaf infants and young children implanted before the age of 4 years with an oddball paradigm of long and short vowel variants of the syllable /ba/. We measured the EEG in regular intervals to study their discriminative ability starting with the first activation of the implant up to 8 months later. We were thus able to time-track the emerging ability to differentiate one of the most basic linguistic features that bears semantic differentiation and helps in word segmentation, namely, vowel length. Results show that already 2 months after the first auditory input, but not directly after implant activation, these early implanted children differentiate between long and short syllables. Surprisingly, after only 4 months of hearing experience, the ERPs have reached the same properties as those of the normal hearing control group, demonstrating the plasticity of the brain with respect to the new modality. We thus show that a simple but linguistically highly relevant feature such as vowel length reaches age-appropriate electrophysiological levels as fast as 4 months after the first acoustic stimulation, providing an important basis for further language acquisition.
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Encéfalo/fisiopatologia , Implantes Cocleares , Surdez/fisiopatologia , Surdez/terapia , Desenvolvimento da Linguagem , Percepção da Fala/fisiologia , Estimulação Acústica , Encéfalo/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Pré-Escolar , Implante Coclear , Eletroencefalografia , Potenciais Evocados , Feminino , Humanos , Lactente , Testes de Linguagem , Masculino , Acústica da Fala , Fatores de TempoRESUMO
Beside the cochlear size, the linear insertion depth (LID) influences the insertion depth angle of cochlear implant electrode arrays. For the specific implant CI422 the recommended LID is not fixed but can vary continuously between 20 and 25 mm. In the current study, the influence of cochlea size and LID on the final insertion depth angle was investigated to develop a prediction tool for the insertion depth angle by means of cochlea diameter and LID. Preoperative estimation of insertion depth angles might help surgeons avoid exceeding an intended insertion depth, especially with respect to low-frequency residual hearing preservation. Postoperative, high-resolution 3D-radiographs provided by Flat Panel Computed Volume Tomography (FPCT) were used to investigate the insertion depth angle in 37 CI422 recipients. Furthermore, the FPCT images were used to measure linear insertion depth and diameter of the basal turn of the cochlea. A considerable variation of measured insertion depth angles ranging from 306° to 579° was identified. The measured linear insertion depth ranged from -18.6 to 26.2 mm and correlated positively with the insertion depth angle. The cochlea diameter ranged from 8.11 to 10.42 mm and correlated negatively with the insertion depth angle. The results suggest that preoperatively measured cochlea diameter combined with the option of different array positions by means of LID may act as predictors for the final insertion depth angle.
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Cóclea/diagnóstico por imagem , Implante Coclear/métodos , Tomografia Computadorizada de Feixe Cônico , Adolescente , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Implantes Cocleares , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Adulto JovemRESUMO
MYO1A is considered the gene underlying autosomal dominant nonsyndromic hearing loss DFNA48, based on six missense variants, one small in-frame insertion, and one nonsense mutation. Results from NGS targeting 66 deafness genes in 109 patients identified three families challenging this assumption: two novel nonsense (p.Tyr740* and p.Arg262*) and a known missense variant were identified heterozygously not only in index patients, but also in unaffected relatives. Deafness in these families clearly resulted from mutations in other genes (MYO7A, EYA1, and CIB2). Most of the altogether 10 MYO1A mutations are annotated in dbSNP, and population frequencies (dbSNP, 1000 Genomes, Exome Sequencing Project) above 0.1% contradict pathogenicity under a dominant model. One healthy individual was even homozygous for p.Arg262*, compatible with homozygous Myo1a knockout mice lacking any overt pathology. MYO1A seems dispensable for hearing and overall nonessential. MYO1A adds to the list of "erroneous disease genes", which will expand with increasing availability of large-scale sequencing data.
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Predisposição Genética para Doença , Perda Auditiva Neurossensorial/genética , Mutação de Sentido Incorreto , Cadeias Pesadas de Miosina/genética , Miosina Tipo I/genética , Adolescente , Adulto , Animais , Criança , Pré-Escolar , Bases de Dados Genéticas , Feminino , Perda Auditiva Neurossensorial/etiologia , Perda Auditiva Neurossensorial/patologia , Humanos , Lactente , Camundongos , Camundongos Knockout , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Linhagem , Polimorfismo de Nucleotídeo ÚnicoRESUMO
BACKGROUND: The contribution of the nasal and paranasal cavities to the vocal tract resonator properties is unclear. Here we investigate these resonance phenomena of the sinonasal tract in isolation in a cadaver and compare the results with those gained in a simplified brass tube model. METHODS: The resonance characteristics were measured as the response to sine sweep excitation from an earphone. In the brass model the earphone was placed at the closed end and in the cadaver in the epipharynx. The response was picked up by a microphone placed at the open end of the model and at the nostrils, respectively. A shunting cavity with varied volumes was connected to the model and the effects on the response curve were determined. In the cadaver, different conditions with blocked and unblocked middle meatus and sphenoidal ostium were tested. Additionally, infundibulotomy was performed allowing direct access to and selective occlusion of the maxillary ostium. RESULTS: In both the brass model and the cadaver, a baseline condition with no cavities included produced response curves with clear resonance peaks separated by valleys. Marked dips occurred when shunting cavities were attached to the model. The frequencies of these dips decreased with increasing shunting volume. In the cadaver, a marked dip was observed after removing the unilateral occlusion of the middle meatus and the sphenoidal ostium. Another marked dip was detected at low frequency after removal of the occlusion of the maxillary ostium following infundibulotomy. CONCLUSION: Combining measurements on a simplified nasal model with measurements in a cadaveric sinonasal tract seems a promising method for shedding light on the acoustic properties of the nasal resonator.
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Acústica , Seios Paranasais/fisiologia , Cadáver , Cobre , Humanos , Modelos Estruturais , Cavidade Nasal/fisiologia , Espectrografia do Som , Acústica da Fala , ZincoRESUMO
INTRODUCTION: The morphology of the vocal tract plays a crucial role in singing. Adjustments of the lower part of the vocal tract are essential for voice quality and timbre. Structured investigations of this region are challenging due to the small extent of the morphological modifications. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This study analyzed the morphology of the endolaryngeal tube and parts of the surrounding hypopharynx for the sustained vowels /a/, /e/, /i/, //, and // by 11 female singer subjects who were at the beginning of their academic singing studies. As in a previous study with male subjects, analysis was based on two phonatory conditions: a natural, speech-like phonation and a singing phonation, like in classical singing. By means of 3D image processing from magnetic resonance imaging, multiple measures were derived. The data were statistically analyzed using linear mixed effects models and ANOVA. RESULTS: The female singers enlarged the ratio of the endolaryngeal tube to the adjacent hypopharynx for singing. DISCUSSION: In contrast to the findings of the male singers in a previous study, the ratios of the laryngeal volumes to the neighboring hypopharynx increased while singing. The female singer subjects of the present study increased those ratios, mediated by an over-proportional enlargement of the endolaryngeal tube. Existing acoustic differences to male singers are thus given a morphological basis. CONCLUSION: The study gives insight into the characteristic adjustments of the vocal tract of female classical singers. The resonatory strategies for females in classical singing differ from those found in males.
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Objectives: To describe the inside out surgical anatomy of the superior laryngeal artery and to resolve the ambiguities in the nomenclature of its main branches. Study Design: Endoscopic dissection of the superior laryngeal artery in the paraglottic space of larynges of fresh frozen cadavers and a review of the literature. Setting: A center for anatomy encompassing facilities for latex injection into the cervical arteries of human donor bodies and a laryngeal dissection station equipped with a video-guided endoscope and a 3-dimensional camera. Methods: Video-guided endoscopic dissection of 12 hemilarynges in fresh frozen cadavers whose cervical arteries were injected with red latex. Description of the inside-out surgical anatomy of the superior laryngeal artery and its main branches. Review of the previous reports describing the anatomy of the superior laryngeal artery. Results: From inside the larynx, the artery was exposed upon its entry through the thyrohyoid membrane or through the foramen thyroideum. It was traced ventrocaudally in the paraglottic space exposing its branches to the epiglottis, the arytenoid, and the laryngeal muscles and mucosa. Its terminal branch was followed until it left the larynx through the cricothyroid membrane. Branches of the artery, previously described under different names, appeared to supply the same anatomical domains. Conclusion: Mastering the inside out anatomy of the superior laryngeal artery is mandatory to control any intraoperative or postoperative hemorrhage during transoral laryngeal microsurgery or during transoral robotic surgery. Naming the artery's main branches according to their domain of supply would resolve the ambiguities resulting from various nomenclatures.
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Objectives: The paraglottic space is an essential anatomic compartment of the larynx. It is central to the spread of laryngeal cancer and to the choice of conservative laryngeal surgery and many phonosurgical procedures. Since its description, 60 years ago, the surgical anatomy of the paraglottic space was sparsely revisited. Amid the era of endoscopic and transoral microscopic functional surgery of the larynx, we provide here a long-awaited description of the inside-out anatomy of the paraglottic space. Methodology: Using an endoscope equipped with a 3D camera, we dissected 10 hemilarynges from 5 fresh frozen cadavers from the inside out. Before dissection, we labeled the vessels through injecting them with colored latex. We explored the paraglottic space emphasizing its shape, boundaries, and contents. We documented our findings through endoscopic photography and video recordings. Results: The paraglottic space is a spacious tetrahedral space located parallel not only to the glottic, but also to the subglottic and the supraglottic compartments of the laryngeal lumen. It has musculo-cartilaginous, musculo-fibrous, and mucosal boundaries. It is separated from the pyriform sinus only by mucosa. A cushion of fat surrounds its vascular and to a lesser extent its neural contents. Harbored intrinsic laryngeal muscles are endoscopically identifiable within the space, namely the thyroarytenoid, the lateral, and posterior cricoarytenoid muscles. Conclusion: The endoscopic description of the paraglottic space partly fills the knowledge gap on the laryngeal anatomy from the inside out. It opens the door for novel diagnostic methods and for ultraconservative functional laryngeal interventions under endoscopic control. Level of Evidence: N/A.
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OBJECTIVE/HYPOTHESIS: The aim of the study was to measure the morphology of the epilaryngeal tube during sustained phonation as a function of loudness variation and to compare subjects of different genders. STUDY DESIGN: This is a prospective study. METHODS: Five female and five male classically trained singers were recorded by magnetic resonance imaging with simultaneous audio recordings while sustaining phonation at three different loudness conditions. Three-dimensional subsections of the vocal tract were segmented on multi-image-based cross-sections. Different volume and area measures were determined and their relation to sound pressure level and loudness condition was analyzed. RESULTS: Male singers tended to narrow the epilaryngeal tube when increasing sound pressure level whereas female singers did not. CONCLUSION: Strategies of vocal tract adjustments during loudness variation in classical singing appear to be gender specific.
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Canto , Qualidade da Voz , Feminino , Masculino , Humanos , Estudos Prospectivos , Fonação , SomRESUMO
Musicians, specifically violinists, may experience pain or loss of function as a result of poor playing hygiene, environmental factors, and insufficient guidance from teachers, parents, conductors, and physicians. The causal occurrence of these pathologies and the efficacy of general treatment, along with referral to other specialists for adjunct therapies and rehabilitation, were examined in this literature review. A systematic PubMed search was conducted in May 2022 to gain insight into the current state of the published literature. Inclusion criteria were cross-sectional or comparative studies that address relevant pathologies among violinists by specialty. The search resulted in 25 cross-sectional, 5 comparative studies, and 1 case review including a total of 6010 musicians, among them at least 920 violinists. Orthopedists, neurologists, dentists/orthodontists, dermatologists, and audiologists are most commonly consulted to treat violinists' complaints. Other internists and various paramedical specialists can equally be affected and should be sensitive to the complaints of musicians. In conclusion, the field of performing arts medicine is extremely wide and requires multidisciplinary specialist attention. The studies chosen highlight that violinists may suffer great discomfort at the hands of their instrument and merit adequate guidance from physicians in order to be able to continue playing in a safe, ergonomic way.
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Speaking and singing are activities linked to increased aerosol particle emissions from the respiratory system, dependent on the utilized vocal intensity. As a result, these activities have experienced considerable restrictions in enclosed spaces since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic due to the risk of infection from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, transmitted by virus-carrying aerosols. These constraints have affected public education and extracurricular activities for children as well, from in-person music instruction to children's choirs. However, existing risk assessments for children have been based on emission measurements of adults. To address this, we measured the particle emission rates of 15 pre-adolescent children, all eight to ten years old, with a laser particle counter for the test conditions: breathing at rest, speaking, singing and shouting. Compared with values taken from 15 adults, emission rates for breathing, speaking and singing were significantly lower for children. Particle emission rates were reduced by a factor of 4.3 across all conditions, whereas emitted particle volume rates were reduced by a factor of 4.8. These data can supplement SARS-CoV-2 risk management scenarios for various school and extracurricular settings.
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COVID-19 , Canto , Adolescente , Adulto , Aerossóis , Criança , Humanos , Pandemias , SARS-CoV-2RESUMO
Long before their first words, children communicate by using speech-like vocalizations. These protophones might be indicative of infants' later language development. We here examined infants' (n = 56) early vocalizations at 6 months (vocal reactivity scale of the IBQ-R) as a predictor of their expressive and receptive language at 12 months (German version of the CDI). Regression analyses revealed vocalizations to significantly predict expressive, but not receptive language. Our findings in German-learning 6-month-olds extend previous predictive evidence of early vocalizations reported for older infants. Together these findings are informative in light of early assessments monitoring typical and atypical language development.
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Percepção da Fala , Vocabulário , Criança , Humanos , Lactente , Idioma , Desenvolvimento da Linguagem , FalaRESUMO
In this study, emission rates of aerosols emitted by professional singers were measured with a laser particle counter under cleanroom conditions. The emission rates during singing varied between 753 and 6093 particles/sec with a median of 1537 particles/sec. Emission rates for singing were compared with data for breathing and speaking. Significantly higher emission rates were found for singing. The emission enhancements between singing and speaking were between 4.0 and 99.5 with a median of 17.4, largely due to higher sound pressure levels when singing. Further, significant effects of vocal loudness were found, whereas there were no significant differences between the investigated voice classifications. The present study supports the efforts to improve the risk management in cases of possible aerogenic virus transmission, especially for choir singing.
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Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, singing activities for children and young people have been strictly regulated with far-reaching consequences for music education in schools and ensemble and choir singing in some places. This is also due to the fact, that there has been no reliable data available on aerosol emissions from adolescents speaking, singing, and shouting. By utilizing a laser particle counter in cleanroom conditions we show, that adolescents emit fewer aerosol particles during singing than what has been known so far for adults. In our data, the emission rates ranged from 16 P/s to 267 P/s for speaking, 141 P/s to 1240 P/s for singing, and 683 P/s to 4332 P/s for shouting. The data advocate an adaptation of existing risk management strategies and rules of conduct for groups of singing adolescents, like gatherings in an educational context, e.g. singing lessons or choir rehearsals.
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Aerossóis/análise , COVID-19/epidemiologia , Canto , Fala , Adolescente , COVID-19/transmissão , Surtos de Doenças , Monitoramento Ambiental/instrumentação , Feminino , Humanos , MasculinoRESUMO
Patients with unilateral vocal fold cancer (T1a) have a favorable prognosis. In addition to the oncological results of CO2 transoral laser microsurgery (TOLMS), voice function is among the outcome measures. Previous early glottic cancer studies have reported voice function in patients grouped into combined T stages (Tis, T1, T2) and merged cordectomy types (lesser- vs. larger-extent cordectomies). Some authors have questioned the value of objective vocal parameters. Therefore, the purpose of this exploratory prospective study was to investigate TOLMS-associated oncological and vocal outcomes in 60 T1a patients, applying the ELS protocols for cordectomy classification and voice assessment. Pre- and postoperative voice function analysis included: Vocal Extent Measure (VEM), Dysphonia Severity Index (DSI), auditory-perceptual assessment (GRB), and 9-item Voice Handicap Index (VHI-9i). Altogether, 51 subjects (43 male, eight female, mean age 65 years) completed the study. The 5-year recurrence-free, overall, and disease-specific survival rates (Kaplan-Meier method) were 71.4%, 94.4%, and 100.0%. Voice function was preserved; the objective parameter VEM (64 ± 33 vs. 83 ± 31; mean ± SD) and subjective vocal measures (G: 1.9 ± 0.7 vs. 1.3 ± 0.7; VHI-9i: 18 ± 8 vs. 9 ± 9) even improved significantly (p < 0.001). The VEM best reflected self-perceived voice impairment. It represents a sensitive measure of voice function for quantification of vocal performance.
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This investigation compares vocal tract dimensions and the classification of singer voices by examining an x-ray material assembled between 1959 and 1991 of students admitted to the solo singing education at the University of Music, Dresden, Germany. A total of 132 images were available to analysis. Different classifications' values of the lengths of the total vocal tract, the pharynx, and mouth cavities as well as of the relative position of the larynx, the height of the palatal arch, and the estimated vocal fold length were analyzed statistically, and some significant differences were found. The length of the pharynx cavity seemed particularly influential on the total vocal tract length, which varied systematically with classification. Also studied were the relationships between voice classification and the body height and weight and the body mass index. The data support the hypothesis that there are consistent morphological vocal tract differences between singers of different voice classifications.
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Vértebras Cervicais/diagnóstico por imagem , Laringe/diagnóstico por imagem , Ocupações , Faringe/diagnóstico por imagem , Fala , Traqueia/diagnóstico por imagem , Prega Vocal/fisiologia , Qualidade da Voz , Adolescente , Adulto , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Radiografia , Adulto JovemRESUMO
In the present study we explore the implications of acquiring language when relying mainly or exclusively on input from a cochlear implant (CI), a device providing auditory input to otherwise deaf individuals. We focus on the time course of semantic learning in children within the second year of implant use; a period that equals the auditory age of normal hearing children during which vocabulary emerges and extends dramatically. 32 young bilaterally implanted children saw pictures paired with either matching or non-matching auditory words. Their electroencephalographic responses were recorded after 12, 18 and 24 months of implant use, revealing a large dichotomy: Some children failed to show semantic processing throughout their second year of CI use, which fell in line with their poor language outcomes. The majority of children, though, demonstrated semantic processing in form of the so-called N400 effect already after 12 months of implant use, even when their language experience relied exclusively on the implant. This is slightly earlier than observed for normal hearing children of the same auditory age, suggesting that more mature cognitive faculties at the beginning of language acquisition lead to faster semantic learning.