The Contribution of Hearing and Hearing Loss to Balance Control

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 195-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Vitkovic ◽  
Carmen Le ◽  
Su-Ling Lee ◽  
Ross A. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Postural Control ◽  
Postural Sway ◽  
Balance Control ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Centre Of Pressure ◽  
Auditory Cues ◽  
Sensory Weighting ◽  
Acoustic Environments ◽  
Pressure Analysis

This study investigated the hypothesis that a hearing ‘map' of our surroundings is used to maintain balance control. We investigated the effects of sound on postural sway using centre of pressure analysis in 50 subjects with normal hearing, 28 with hearing loss and 19 with vestibular dysfunction. The acoustic environments utilized sound cues that were either present or absent. It was found that auditory cues are utilized by subjects with normal hearing to improve postural sway. The ability to utilize sound for postural control is diminished when there is a hearing loss, but this appears to be overcome by the use of a hearing aid. Patients with additional vestibular deficits exploit auditory cues to a greater degree, suggesting that sensory weighting to enhance the use of auditory cues may be applied when there is diminished sensory redundancy.

scholarly journals Postural control in top-level female volleyball players

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorota Borzucka ◽  
Krzysztof Kręcisz ◽  
Zbigniew Rektor ◽  
Michał Kuczyński
Keyword(s):  
Postural Control ◽  
Postural Sway ◽  
Center Of Pressure ◽  
Balance Control ◽  
Sampling Rate ◽  
Force Plate ◽  
Peak Frequency ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Mean Velocity ◽  
Volleyball Players

Abstract Background The aim of this study was to compare the postural control of the Poland national women’s volleyball team players with a control group of non-training young women. It was hypothesized that volleyball players use a specific balance control strategy due to the high motor requirements of their team sport. Methods Static postural sway variables were measured in 31 athletes and 31 non-training women. Participants were standing on a force plate with eyes open, and their center of pressure signals were recorded for the 20s with the sampling rate of 20 Hz in the medial-lateral (ML) and anterior-posterior (AP) planes. Results In both AP and ML planes, athletes had lower range and higher fractal dimension of the COP. They had also higher peak frequency than control group in the ML plane only. The remaining COP indices including variability, mean velocity and mean frequency did not display any intergroup differences. Conclusion It can be assumed that due to the high motor requirements of their sport discipline Polish female volleyball players have developed a unique posture control. On the court they have to distribute their sensory resources optimally between balance control and actions resulting from the specifics of the volleyball game. There are no clearly defined criteria for optimal postural strategies for elite athletes, but they rather vary depending on a given sport. The results of our research confirm this claim. Trial registration The tests were previously approved by the Bioethical Commission of the Chamber of Physicians in Opole. (Resolution No. 151/13.12.2007). This study adheres to the CONSORT guidelines.

scholarly journals Postural control assessment in students with normal hearing and sensorineural hearing loss

2015 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. 431-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renato de Souza Melo ◽  
Andrea Lemos ◽  
Carla Fabiana da Silva Toscano Macky ◽  
Maria Cristina Falcão Raposo ◽  
Karla Mônica Ferraz
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Postural Control ◽  
Sensorineural Hearing Loss ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Sensorineural Hearing

scholarly journals Relation between the Sensory and Anthropometric Variables in the Quiet Standing Postural Control: Is the Inverted Pendulum Important for the Static Balance Control?

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angélica C. Alonso ◽  
Luis Mochizuki ◽  
Natália Mariana Silva Luna ◽  
Sérgio Ayama ◽  
Alexandra Carolina Canonica ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Composition ◽  
Postural Control ◽  
Bone Mineral ◽  
Postural Sway ◽  
Center Of Pressure ◽  
Balance Control ◽  
The Body ◽  
Limb Length ◽  
Quiet Standing ◽  
Mineral Density

The aim of this study was to evaluate the relation between the sensory and anthropometric variables in the quiet standing.Methods. One hundred individuals (50 men, 50 women; 20–40 years old) participated in this study. For all participants, the body composition (fat tissue, lean mass, bone mineral content, and bone mineral density) and body mass, height, trunk-head length, lower limb length, and upper limb length were measured. The center of pressure was measured during the quiet standing posture, the eyes opened and closed with a force platform. Correlation and regression analysis were run to analyze the relation among body composition, anthropometric data, and postural sway.Results. The correlation analysis showed low relation between postural sway and anthropometric variables. The multiple linear regression analyses showed that the height explained 12% of the mediolateral displacement and 11% of the center of pressure area. The length of the trunk head explained 6% of displacement in the anteroposterior postural sway. During eyes closed condition, the support basis and height explained 18% of mediolateral postural sway.Conclusion. The postural control depends on body composition and dimension. This relation is mediated by the sensory information. The height was the anthropometric variable that most influenced the postural sway.

Effects on Postural Kinematics of Performing a Cognitive Task During Upright Standing

2020 ◽  
Vol 127 (4) ◽  
pp. 639-650
Author(s):  
Kohtaroh Hagio ◽  
Hiroki Obata ◽  
Kimitaka Nakazawa
Keyword(s):  
Postural Control ◽  
Postural Sway ◽  
Center Of Pressure ◽  
Mental Arithmetic ◽  
Balance Control ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Uncontrolled Manifold ◽  
Quiet Standing ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Multijoint Coordination

The execution of cognitive tasks is known to alter postural sway during standing, but the underlying mechanisms are still debated. This study investigated how performing a mental task modified balance control during standing. We required 15 healthy adult males to maintain an upright stance under conditions of simply relaxing and maintaining normal quiet standing (control condition) or while performing a secondary cognitive task (mental arithmetic). Under each condition, we measured the participants’ center of pressure and used kinematic measurements for a quantitative evaluation of postural control modulation. We calculated the standard deviation of the joint angles (ankle, knee, and hip) and the estimated joint stiffness to measure joint mobility changes in postural control. To estimate the kinematic pattern of covariation among these joints, we used uncontrolled manifold analysis, an assessment of the strength of multijoint coordination. Compared to normal standing, executing the cognitive task while standing led to reduced movements of the ankle and hip joints. There were no significant differences in ankle stiffness or uncontrolled manifold ratios between the conditions. Our results suggest that when performing a secondary cognitive task during standing, neither changes in the modification of stiffness nor the strength of multijoint coordination (both of which preserve the center of mass position) explains changes in postural sway.

Hearing Loss and Auditory Lateralization

1965 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Melnick ◽  
Robert C. Bilger
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Hard Of Hearing ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Auditory Cues ◽  
Auditory Space ◽  
Binaural Cues ◽  
Interaural Phase ◽  
Auditory Lateralization

An experiment was conducted with 75 subjects (61 with hearing loss and 14 without) to determine if hard-of-hearing listeners could benefit from binaural cues to auditory space. Both speech and noise signals were presented through earphones, and the auditory cues to phenomenal space were provided by reversing the interaural phase of the noise. The results indicate that hard-of-hearing listeners are able to make approximately the same use of these binaural cues as listeners with normal hearing.

Effects of Age and Hearing Loss on Gap Detection and the Precedence Effect

2005 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 482-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer J. Lister ◽  
Richard A. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Temporal Resolution ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Precedence Effect ◽  
Gap Detection ◽  
Speech Understanding ◽  
Fixed Frequency ◽  
Hearing Sensitivity ◽  
Participant Group ◽  
Acoustic Environments

Deficits in temporal resolution and/or the precedence effect may underlie part of the speech understanding difficulties experienced by older listeners in degraded acoustic environments. In a previous investigation, R. Roberts and J. Lister (2004) identified a positive correlation between measures of temporal resolution and the precedence effect, specifically across-channel gap detection (as measured dichotically) and fusion. Across-channel gap detection may also be measured using frequency-disparate markers. Thus, the present investigation was designed to determine if the relation is specific to dichotic gap detection or may generalize to all types of across-channel gap detection. Gap-detection thresholds (GDTs) for fixed-frequency and frequency-disparate markers and lag-burst thresholds (LBTs) were measured for 3 groups of listeners: young with normal hearing sensitivity (YNH), older with normal hearing sensitivity (ONH), and older with sensorineural hearing loss (OIH). Also included were conditions of diotic and dichotic GDT. Largest GDTs were measured for the frequency-disparate markers, whereas largest LBTs were measured for the fixed-frequency markers. ONH and OIH listeners exhibited larger frequency-disparate and dichotic GDTs than YNH listeners. Listener age and hearing loss appeared to influence temporal resolution for frequency-disparate and dichotic stimuli, which is potentially important for the resolution of timing cues in speech. Age and hearing loss did not significantly influence fusion as measured by LBTs. Within each participant group, most GDTs and LBTs were positively, but not significantly, correlated. For all participants combined, across-channel GDTs and LBTs were positively and significantly correlated. This suggests that the 2 tasks may rely on a common across-channel temporal mechanism.

scholarly journals The role of vestibular cues in postural sway

2021 ◽  
Vol 125 (2) ◽  
pp. 672-686
Author(s):  
Faisal Karmali ◽  
Adam D. Goodworth ◽  
Yulia Valko ◽  
Tania Leeder ◽  
Robert J. Peterka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Postural Control ◽  
Postural Sway ◽  
Balance Control ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Healthy Human ◽  
Lateral Translation ◽  
Vestibular Cues ◽  
Healthy Human Subjects ◽  
Vestibular Pathology

Vestibular feedback is important for postural control, but little is known about the role of tilt cues vs. translation cues vs. rotation cues. We studied healthy human subjects with no known vestibular pathology or symptoms. Our findings showed that vestibular encoding of lateral translation correlated with medial-lateral postural sway, consistent with lateral translation cues contributing to balance control. This adds support to the hypothesis that vestibular noise contributes to spontaneous postural sway.

scholarly journals Virtual Sensorimotor Balance Training for Children With Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: Feasibility Study

2015 ◽  
Vol 95 (11) ◽  
pp. 1569-1581 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Westcott McCoy ◽  
Tracy Jirikowic ◽  
Robert Price ◽  
Marcia A. Ciol ◽  
Lin-Ya Hsu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Postural Control ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Postural Sway ◽  
Balance Control ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Therapeutic Effects ◽  
Fetal Alcohol ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum

Background Diminished sensory adaptation has been associated with poor balance control for children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). A virtual reality system, Sensorimotor Training to Affect Balance, Engagement and Learning (STABEL), was developed to train sensory control for balance. Objectives The purpose of this study was to examine the STABEL system in children with FASD and children with typical development (TD) to (1) determine the feasibility of the STABEL system and (2) explore the immediate effects of the STABEL system on sensory attention and postural control. Design This is a technical report with observational study data. Methods Eleven children with FASD and 11 children with TD, aged 8 to 16 years, completed 30 minutes of STABEL training. The children answered questions about their experience using STABEL. Sensory attention and postural control were measured pre- and post-STABEL training with the Multimodal Balance Entrainment Response system and compared using repeated-measures analysis of variance. Results All children engaged in game play and tolerated controlled sensory input during the STABEL protocol. Immediate effects post-STABEL training in both groups were increased postural sway velocity and some changes in entrainment gain. Children with FASD showed higher entrainment gain to vestibular stimuli. There were no significant changes in sensory attention fractions. Limitations The small sample size, dose of STABEL training, and exploratory statistical analyses are study limitations, but findings warrant larger systematic study to examine therapeutic effects. Conclusions Children completed the training protocol, demonstrating the feasibility of the STABEL system. Differences in postural sway velocity post-STABEL training may have been affected by fatigue, warranting further investigation. Limited immediate effects suggest more practice is needed to affect sensory attention; however, entrainment gain changes suggest the STABEL system provoked vestibular responses during balance practice.

When Hearing Does Not Mean Understanding: On the Neural Processing of Syntactically Complex Sentences by Listeners With Hearing Loss

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Margreet Vogelzang ◽  
Christiane M. Thiel ◽  
Stephanie Rosemann ◽  
Jochem W. Rieger ◽  
Esther Ruigendijk
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Cognitive Demands ◽  
Sentence Complexity ◽  
Complex Sentences ◽  
And Task

Purpose Adults with mild-to-moderate age-related hearing loss typically exhibit issues with speech understanding, but their processing of syntactically complex sentences is not well understood. We test the hypothesis that listeners with hearing loss' difficulties with comprehension and processing of syntactically complex sentences are due to the processing of degraded input interfering with the successful processing of complex sentences. Method We performed a neuroimaging study with a sentence comprehension task, varying sentence complexity (through subject–object order and verb–arguments order) and cognitive demands (presence or absence of a secondary task) within subjects. Groups of older subjects with hearing loss ( n = 20) and age-matched normal-hearing controls ( n = 20) were tested. Results The comprehension data show effects of syntactic complexity and hearing ability, with normal-hearing controls outperforming listeners with hearing loss, seemingly more so on syntactically complex sentences. The secondary task did not influence off-line comprehension. The imaging data show effects of group, sentence complexity, and task, with listeners with hearing loss showing decreased activation in typical speech processing areas, such as the inferior frontal gyrus and superior temporal gyrus. No interactions between group, sentence complexity, and task were found in the neuroimaging data. Conclusions The results suggest that listeners with hearing loss process speech differently from their normal-hearing peers, possibly due to the increased demands of processing degraded auditory input. Increased cognitive demands by means of a secondary visual shape processing task influence neural sentence processing, but no evidence was found that it does so in a different way for listeners with hearing loss and normal-hearing listeners.

Hearing Aid Amplification Reduces Communication Effort of People With Hearing Impairment and Their Conversation Partners

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 1299-1311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Beechey ◽  
Jörg M. Buchholz ◽  
Gitte Keidser
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Impairment ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Referential Communication ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Directional Hearing ◽  
Acoustic Environment ◽  
Communication Task ◽  
Acoustic Environments ◽  
The Impact

Objectives This study investigates the hypothesis that hearing aid amplification reduces effort within conversation for both hearing aid wearers and their communication partners. Levels of effort, in the form of speech production modifications, required to maintain successful spoken communication in a range of acoustic environments are compared to earlier reported results measured in unaided conversation conditions. Design Fifteen young adult normal-hearing participants and 15 older adult hearing-impaired participants were tested in pairs. Each pair consisted of one young normal-hearing participant and one older hearing-impaired participant. Hearing-impaired participants received directional hearing aid amplification, according to their audiogram, via a master hearing aid with gain provided according to the NAL-NL2 fitting formula. Pairs of participants were required to take part in naturalistic conversations through the use of a referential communication task. Each pair took part in five conversations, each of 5-min duration. During each conversation, participants were exposed to one of five different realistic acoustic environments presented through highly open headphones. The ordering of acoustic environments across experimental blocks was pseudorandomized. Resulting recordings of conversational speech were analyzed to determine the magnitude of speech modifications, in terms of vocal level and spectrum, produced by normal-hearing talkers as a function of both acoustic environment and the degree of high-frequency average hearing impairment of their conversation partner. Results The magnitude of spectral modifications of speech produced by normal-hearing talkers during conversations with aided hearing-impaired interlocutors was smaller than the speech modifications observed during conversations between the same pairs of participants in the absence of hearing aid amplification. Conclusions The provision of hearing aid amplification reduces the effort required to maintain communication in adverse conditions. This reduction in effort provides benefit to hearing-impaired individuals and also to the conversation partners of hearing-impaired individuals. By considering the impact of amplification on both sides of dyadic conversations, this approach contributes to an increased understanding of the likely impact of hearing impairment on everyday communication.

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