Diagnosing Contributions of Sensory and Cognitive Deficits to Hearing Dysfunction in Blast-Exposed/TBI Service Members

Abstract

Year 4 of the project was a continuation of Year 3s goals of increasing the number of study participants for the blast exposed group. At the conclusion of Year 4 we have consented 130 (88 male) potential study candidates, of which 93 (57 male) were eligible for full participation. As of the writing of this report, we currently have76 subjects (59 controls and 17 blast exposed) who have participated in the auditory(ASA) and visual (VSA) selective attention/frequency following response tasks. Preliminary results show all subjects perform well in the ASA and VSA tasks. Audiological results (high-frequency thresholds and DPOAEs) show evidence of sub-clinical hearing loss and cochlear dysfunction in the blast-exposed. Although there is some evidence to suggest delayed cognitive processing speed in blast subjects, the results suggest compromised auditory peripheral processing is primarily responsible for reported problems with speech comprehension in noisy and crowded environments in blast exposed military service members.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2019
Accession Number
AD1094820

Entities

People

  • Barbara Shinn-Cunningham
  • Kenneth Grant
  • Scott Bressler

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Brain Injuries
  • Cognition
  • Data Analysis
  • Department Of Defense
  • Dysfunction
  • Ear
  • Employment
  • Engineers
  • Environment
  • Frequency
  • Hearing Disorders
  • Hearing Loss
  • Medical Personnel
  • Mental Processes
  • Military Personnel
  • Neurosciences
  • Standards

Readers

  • Auditory Neuroscience/Auditory Physiology.
  • Clinical Trial Research.