Auditory evoked potentials: Differences by sex, race, and menstrual cycle and correlations with common psychoacoustical tasks

Sensorimotor Processing in Elite and Sub-Elite Adolescent Sprinters during Sprint Starts: An Electrophysiological Study

Most studies on sprint performance have focused on kinematics and kinetics of the musculoskeletal system for adults, with little research on the central sensorimotor transmission and processes, especially for adolescent sprinters. This study aimed to determine whether differences in the integrity of the central auditory system and audiomotor transmissions between the elite and sub-elite adolescent sprinters may affect their performance in the 100 m time. Twenty-nine adolescent junior high school students, including elite national-class and sub-elite regional-class athletes, were assessed. Visual and auditory evoked potentials (VEP and AEP) as well as electroencephalography (EEG) and electromyography (EMG) were recorded and analyzed during a sprint start. The electrophysiological results clearly reveal differences in central auditory transmission between elite and sub-elite groups, and between sexes. There were significant differences between elite and sub-elite groups, and during a sprint start, the EEG activities for elite female and male athletes showed significant time-dependent differences in peak amplitudes following the three auditory cues (ready, set, and gunshot). These findings can provide coaches with a more comprehensive consideration for sports-specific selection based on the athletes' individual conditions, e.g., sensorimotor neuroplastic training for providing precise and efficient training methods to improve young sprinters' performance.

Hyperacusis: Focus on Gender Differences: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND

While gender differences of several diseases have been already described in the literature, studies in the area of hyperacusis are still scant. Despite the fact that hyperacusis is a condition that severely affects the patient's quality of life, it is not well investigated; a comprehensive understanding of its features, eventually including gender differences, could be a valuable asset in developing clinical intervention strategies.

AIM

To evaluate gender differences among subjects affected by hyperacusis.

METHODS

A literature search was conducted focused on adult patients presenting hyperacusis, using the MedLine bibliographic database. Relevant peer-reviewed studies, published in the last 20 years, were sought. A total of 259 papers have been identified, but only 4 met the inclusion criteria. The review was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines.

RESULTS

The four selected papers included data from 604 patients; of these, 282 subjects resulted as affected by hyperacusis (125 females and 157 males). Questionnaires for analyzing factors affecting the attentional, social and emotional variance of hyperacusis (such as VAS, THI, TSCH, MASH) were administered to all included subjects. The data suggest that there are no hyperacusis gender-specific differences in the assessed population samples.

CONCLUSIONS

The literature data suggest that males and females exhibit a similar level of hyperacusis. However, in light of the subjective nature of this condition, the eventual set up of further tests to assess hyperacusis features could be very helpful in the near future.

Auditory brainstem response: Key parameters for good-quality recording

Auditory brainstem response (ABR) is widely used in ENT to investigate hearing loss. This test evaluates the response of the ascending auditory pathway, from cochlea to mesencephalon, following auditory stimulation. It provides precise analysis of waves numbered I to V according to location on the auditory pathway, in terms of amplitude, latency and inter-wave interval. Good-quality assessment requires familiarity with the parameters to be used and the factors likely to modify response. We describe the procedure for ABR examination and the recorded responses, with particular attention to factors influencing response to which the examiner must be vigilant. These factors are related to the individual (age, gender, hearing loss, body temperature, drug treatments), transducer (air or bone conduction), stimulation parameters (type, polarity, intensity, calibration, duration, cadence, number of clicks, background noise) and acquisition parameters (analysis window, scale, electrodes). We also briefly describe the clinical applications of this examination.

Development of Machine-Learning Models for Tinnitus-Related Distress Classification Using Wavelet-Transformed Auditory Evoked Potential Signals and Clinical Data

Tinnitus is a highly prevalent condition, affecting more than 1 in 7 adults in the EU and causing negative effects on sufferers' quality of life. In this study, we utilised data collected within the "UNITI" project, the largest EU tinnitus-related research programme. Initially, we extracted characteristics from both auditory brainstem response (ABR) and auditory middle latency response (AMLR) signals, which were derived from tinnitus patients. We then combined these features with the patients' clinical data, and integrated them to build machine learning models for the classification of individuals and their ears according to their level of tinnitus-related distress. Several models were developed and tested on different datasets to determine the most relevant features and achieve high performances. Specifically, seven widely used classifiers were utilised on all generated datasets: random forest (RF), linear, radial, and polynomial support vector machines (SVM), naive bayes (NB), neural networks (NN), and linear discriminant analysis (LDA). Results showed that features extracted from the wavelet-scattering transformed AMLR signals were the most informative data. In combination with the 15 LASSO-selected clinical features, the SVM classifier achieved optimal performance with an AUC value, sensitivity, and specificity of 92.53%, 84.84%, and 83.04%, respectively, indicating high discrimination performance between the two groups.

Onset-offset cortical auditory evoked potential amplitude differences indicate auditory cortical hyperactivity and reduced inhibition in people with tinnitus

OBJECTIVE

The current study investigates evidence of hypothesized reduced central inhibition and/or increased excitation in individuals with tinnitus by evaluating cortical auditory onset versus offset responses.

METHODS

Cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) were recorded to the onset and offset of 3-second white noise stimuli in tinnitus and control groups matched in pairs by age, hearing, and sex (n = 26 total). Independent t-tests and 2-way mixed model ANOVA were used to evaluate onset-offset differences in amplitude, area, and latency of CAEP components by group. The predictive influence of tinnitus presence and associated participant characteristics on CAEP outcomes was assessed by multiple regression proportional reduction in error.

RESULTS

The tinnitus group had significantly larger onset minus offset P2 amplitudes (ΔP2 amplitudes) than control group participants. No other component variables differed significantly. ΔP2 amplitude was best predicted by tinnitus status and not significantly influenced by other variables such as hearing loss or age.

CONCLUSIONS

Hypothesized reduced central inhibition and/or increased excitation in tinnitus participants was partially supported by a group difference in ΔP2 amplitude.

SIGNIFICANCE

This was the first study to evaluate CAEP onset minus offset differences to investigate changes in central excitation/inhibition in individuals with tinnitus versus controls in matched groups.

Could Tailored Chirp Stimuli Benefit Measurement of the Supra-threshold Auditory Brainstem Wave-I Response?

Auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) to broadband clicks are strongly affected by dyssynchrony, or "latency dispersion", of their frequency-specific cochlear contributions. Optimized chirp stimuli, designed to compensate for cochlear dispersion, can afford substantial increase in broadband ABR amplitudes, particularly for the prominent wave-V deflection. Reports on the smaller wave I, however, which may be useful for measuring cochlear synaptopathy, have been mixed. This study aimed to test previous claims that ABR latency dispersion differs between waves I and V, and between males and females, and thus that using wave- and/or sex-tailored chirps may provide more reliable wave-I benefit. Using the derived-band technique, we measured responses from frequency-restricted (one-octave-wide) cochlear regions to energy-matched click and chirp stimuli. The derived-band responses' latencies were used to assess any wave- and/or sex-related dispersion differences across bands, and their amplitudes, to evaluate any within-band dispersion differences. Our results suggest that sex-related dispersion difference within the lowest-frequency cochlear regions (< 1 kHz), where dispersion is generally greatest, may be a predominant driver of the often-reported sex difference in broadband ABR amplitude. At the same time, they showed no systematic dispersion difference between waves I and V. Instead, they suggest that reduced chirp benefit on wave I may arise as a result of chirp-induced desynchronization of on- and off-frequency responses generated at the same cochlear places, and resultant reduction in response contributions from higher-frequency cochlear regions, to which wave I is thought to be particularly sensitive.

Sex differences in number of X chromosomes and X-chromosome inactivation in females promote greater variability in hearing among males

Background

For more than 150 years, research studies have documented greater variability across males than across females (“greater male variability”—GMV) over a broad range of behavioral and morphological measures. In placental mammals, an ancient difference between males and females that may make an important contribution to GMV is the different pattern of activation of X chromosomes across cells in females (mosaic inactivation of one the two X chromosomes across cells) vs males (consistent activation of a single X chromosome in all cells). In the current study, variability in hearing thresholds was examined for human listeners with thresholds within the normal range. Initial analyses compared variability in thresholds across males vs. across females. If greater across-male than across-female variability was present, and if these differences in variability related to the different patterns X-chromosome activation in males vs. females, it was expected that correlations between related measures within a given subject (e.g., hearing thresholds at given frequency in the two ears) would be greater in males than females.

Methods

Hearing thresholds at audiometric test frequencies (500–6000 or 500–8000 Hz) were extracted from two datasets representing more than 8500 listeners with normal hearing (4590 males, 4376 females). Separate data analyses were carried out on each dataset to compare: (1) relative variability in hearing thresholds across males vs. across females at each test frequency; (2) correlations between both across-ear and within-ear hearing thresholds within  males vs. within  females, and (3) mean thresholds for females vs. males at each frequency.

Results

A consistent pattern of GMV in hearing thresholds was seen across frequencies in both datasets. In addition, both across-ear and within-ear correlations between thresholds were consistently greater in males than females. Previous studies have frequently reported lower mean thresholds for females than males for listeners with normal hearing. One of the datasets replicated this result, showing a clear and consistent pattern of lower mean thresholds for females. The second data set did not show clear evidence of this female advantage.

Conclusions

Hearing thresholds showed clear evidence of greater variability across males than across females and higher correlations across related threshold measures within males than within females. The results support a link between the observed GMV and the mosaic pattern of X-activation for females that is not present in males.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13293-022-00457-9.

Greater variability in hearing thresholds across males than females for human listeners with thresholds within the normal range.

Higher within-ear and between-ear correlations between thresholds for males than females consistent with sex chromosome effects on variability

NIH-mandated inclusion of sex as a biological variable should include sex differences in variability and underlying mechanisms