All Outputs (25)

Muddy, muddled, or muffled? Understanding the perception of audio quality in music by hearing aid users (2024)
Journal Article
Bannister, S., Greasley, A. E., Cox, T. J., Akeroyd, M. A., Barker, J., Fazenda, B., …Whitmer, W. M. (2024). Muddy, muddled, or muffled? Understanding the perception of audio quality in music by hearing aid users. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1310176

Introduction: Previous work on audio quality evaluation has demonstrated a developing convergence of the key perceptual attributes underlying judgments of quality, such as timbral, spatial and technical attributes. However, across existing research t... Read More about Muddy, muddled, or muffled? Understanding the perception of audio quality in music by hearing aid users.

Tinnitus, Suicide, and Suicidal Ideation: A Scoping Review of Primary Research (2023)
Journal Article
MacDonald, C., Caimino, C., Burns-O’Connell, G., Hartley, D., Lockwood, J., Sereda, M., …J. Hoare, D. (2023). Tinnitus, Suicide, and Suicidal Ideation: A Scoping Review of Primary Research. Brain Sciences, 13(10), Article 1496. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13101496

Tinnitus (the perception of sound in the absence of any corresponding external source) is highly prevalent and can be distressing. There are unanswered questions about how tinnitus, suicidal thoughts, and suicidal behaviours co-occur and interact. To... Read More about Tinnitus, Suicide, and Suicidal Ideation: A Scoping Review of Primary Research.

The effect of stimulus duration on preferences for gain adjustments when listening to speech (2021)
Journal Article
Whitmer, W. M., Caswell-Midwinter, B., & Naylor, G. (2022). The effect of stimulus duration on preferences for gain adjustments when listening to speech. International Journal of Audiology, 61(11), 940-947. https://doi.org/10.1080/14992027.2021.1998676

Objectives: In the personalisation of hearing-aid fittings, gain is often adjusted to suit patient preferences using live speech. When using brief sentences as stimuli, the minimum gain adjustments necessary to elicit consistent preferences (“prefere... Read More about The effect of stimulus duration on preferences for gain adjustments when listening to speech.

Clinical Trials and Outcome Measures in Adults With Hearing Loss (2021)
Journal Article
Munro, K. J., Whitmer, W. M., & Heinrich, A. (2021). Clinical Trials and Outcome Measures in Adults With Hearing Loss. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, Article 733060. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.733060

Clinical trials are designed to evaluate interventions that prevent, diagnose or treat a health condition and provide the evidence base for improving practice in health care. Many health professionals, including those working within or allied to hear... Read More about Clinical Trials and Outcome Measures in Adults With Hearing Loss.

Changes in Orientation Behavior due to Extended High-Frequency (5 to 10 kHz) Spatial Cues (2021)
Journal Article
Whitmer, W. M., McShefferty, D., Levy, S. C., Naylor, G., & Edwards, B. (2022). Changes in Orientation Behavior due to Extended High-Frequency (5 to 10 kHz) Spatial Cues. Ear and Hearing, 43(2), 545-553. https://doi.org/10.1097/AUD.0000000000001113

Objectives:
Current hearing aids have a limited bandwidth, which limits the intelligibility and quality of their output, and inhibits their uptake. Recent advances in signal processing, as well as novel methods of transduction, allow for a greater... Read More about Changes in Orientation Behavior due to Extended High-Frequency (5 to 10 kHz) Spatial Cues.

Audiometric profiles and patterns of benefit: a data-driven analysis of subjective hearing difficulties and handicaps (2021)
Journal Article
Sanchez-Lopez, R., Dau, T., & Whitmer, W. M. (2022). Audiometric profiles and patterns of benefit: a data-driven analysis of subjective hearing difficulties and handicaps. International Journal of Audiology, 61(4), 301-310. https://doi.org/10.1080/14992027.2021.1905890

Objective: Hearing rehabilitation attempts to compensate for auditory dysfunction, reduce hearing difficulties and minimize participation restrictions that can lead to social isolation. However, there is no systematic approach to assess the quality o... Read More about Audiometric profiles and patterns of benefit: a data-driven analysis of subjective hearing difficulties and handicaps.

The perceptual limitations of troubleshooting hearing-aids based on patients’ descriptions (2020)
Journal Article
Caswell-Midwinter, B., & Whitmer, W. M. (2021). The perceptual limitations of troubleshooting hearing-aids based on patients’ descriptions. International Journal of Audiology, 60(6), 427-437. https://doi.org/10.1080/14992027.2020.1839679

Objectives: Hearing-aid frequency-gain responses are routinely adjusted by clinicians to patient preferences and descriptions. This study measured the minimum gain adjustments required to elicit preferences, and the assignment of descriptors to gain... Read More about The perceptual limitations of troubleshooting hearing-aids based on patients’ descriptions.

Exploring the Factor Structure of the Glasgow Children’s Benefit Inventory: New Recommendations for Reporting Results (2020)
Journal Article
Kubba, H., & Whitmer, W. M. (2021). Exploring the Factor Structure of the Glasgow Children’s Benefit Inventory: New Recommendations for Reporting Results. Annals of Otology, Rhinology & Laryngology, 130(6), 614-622. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003489420965634

Objective
Patient-reported outcomes can be useful for reporting benefit from non-life-saving interventions, but often they report a single overall score, which means that much information on the specific areas of benefit is lost. Our aim was to per... Read More about Exploring the Factor Structure of the Glasgow Children’s Benefit Inventory: New Recommendations for Reporting Results.

Conversation in small groups: Speaking and listening strategies depend on the complexities of the environment and group (2020)
Journal Article
Hadley, L. V., Whitmer, W. M., Brimijoin, W. O., & Naylor, G. (2021). Conversation in small groups: Speaking and listening strategies depend on the complexities of the environment and group. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 28(2), 632-640. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-020-01821-9

Many conversations in our day-to-day lives are held in noisy environments, impeding comprehension, and in groups, taxing auditory attention-switching processes. These situations are particularly challenging for older adults in cognitive and sensory d... Read More about Conversation in small groups: Speaking and listening strategies depend on the complexities of the environment and group.

An Exploratory Study of EEG Alpha Oscillation and Pupil Dilation in Hearing-Aid Users During Effortful listening to Continuous Speech (2020)
Journal Article
Seifi Ala, T., Graversen, C., Wendt, D., Alickovic, E., Whitmer, W. M., & Lunner, T. (2020). An Exploratory Study of EEG Alpha Oscillation and Pupil Dilation in Hearing-Aid Users During Effortful listening to Continuous Speech. PLoS ONE, 15(7), Article e0235782. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235782

Individuals with hearing loss allocate cognitive resources to comprehend noisy speech in everyday life scenarios. Such a scenario could be when they are exposed to ongoing speech and need to sustain their attention for a rather long period of time, w... Read More about An Exploratory Study of EEG Alpha Oscillation and Pupil Dilation in Hearing-Aid Users During Effortful listening to Continuous Speech.

Speech, movement and gaze behaviours during dyadic conversation in noise (2019)
Journal Article
Hadley, L. V., Owen Brimijoin, W., & Whitmer, W. M. (2019). Speech, movement and gaze behaviours during dyadic conversation in noise. Scientific Reports, 9, Article 10451. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-46416-0

How do people have conversations in noise and make themselves understood? While many previous studies have investigated speaking and listening in isolation, this study focuses on the behaviour of pairs of individuals in an ecologically valid context.... Read More about Speech, movement and gaze behaviours during dyadic conversation in noise.

Discrimination of Gain Increments in Speech (2019)
Journal Article
Caswell-Midwinter, B., & Whitmer, W. M. (2019). Discrimination of Gain Increments in Speech. Trends in Hearing, 23, 233121651988668. https://doi.org/10.1177/2331216519886684

© The Author(s) 2019. During a hearing-aid fitting, the gain applied across frequencies is often adjusted from an initial prescription in order to meet individual needs and preferences. These gain adjustments in one or more frequency bands are common... Read More about Discrimination of Gain Increments in Speech.

Discrimination of gain increments in speech-shaped noises (2019)
Journal Article
Caswell-Midwinter, B., & Whitmer, W. (2019). Discrimination of gain increments in speech-shaped noises. Trends in Hearing, 23, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1177/2331216518820220

Frequency-dependent gain adjustments are routine in hearing-aid fittings, whether in matching to real-ear targets or fine-tuning to patient feedback. Patient feedback may be unreliable and fittings inefficient if adjustments are not discriminable. To... Read More about Discrimination of gain increments in speech-shaped noises.

A low-frequency dual-band operational microphone mimicking the hearing property of Ormia Ochracea (2018)
Journal Article
Zhang, Y., Bauer, R., Jackson, J. C., Whitmer, W. M., Windmill, J. F. C., & Uttamchandani, D. (2018). A low-frequency dual-band operational microphone mimicking the hearing property of Ormia Ochracea. Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, 27(4), 667-676. https://doi.org/10.1109/jmems.2018.2845680

This paper introduces a directional MEMS microphone designed for hearing aid applications appropriate to low-frequency hearing impairment, inspired by the hearing mechanism of a fly, the female Ormia ochracea. It uses both piezoelectric and capacitiv... Read More about A low-frequency dual-band operational microphone mimicking the hearing property of Ormia Ochracea.

Influence of microphone housing on the directional response of piezoelectric MEMS microphones inspired by Ormia ochracea (2017)
Journal Article
Bauer, R., Zhang, Y., Jackson, J. C., Whitmer, W. M., Brimijoin, W. O., Akeroyd, M. A., …Windmill, J. F. (2017). Influence of microphone housing on the directional response of piezoelectric MEMS microphones inspired by Ormia ochracea. IEEE Sensors Journal, 17(17), 5529 - 5536. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSEN.2017.2729619

The influence of custom microphone housings on the acoustic directionality and frequency response of a multi-band bio-inspired MEMS microphone is presented. The 3.2mm by 1.7mm piezoelectric MEMS microphone, fabricated by a cost-effective multi-user p... Read More about Influence of microphone housing on the directional response of piezoelectric MEMS microphones inspired by Ormia ochracea.

Unilateral versus bilateral hearing aids for bilateral hearing impairment in adults (2017)
Journal Article
Browning, G. G., Howell, P., Whitmer, W. M., Ftouh, S., Chong, L. Y., & Naylor, G. (in press). Unilateral versus bilateral hearing aids for bilateral hearing impairment in adults. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD012665

This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows:
To assess the effects of bilateral versus unilateral hearing aids in adults with a bilateral hearing impairment.

The effect of tonsillectomy on the morbidity from recurrent tonsillitis (2017)
Journal Article
Douglas, C. M., Lang, K., Whitmer, W. M., Wilson, J. A., & Mackenzie, K. (2017). The effect of tonsillectomy on the morbidity from recurrent tonsillitis. Clinical Otolaryngology, 42(6), 1206-1210. https://doi.org/10.1111/coa.12850

Background

Tonsillitis is a common condition with an incidence in UK general practice of 37 per 1000 population a year.1 Recurrent tonsillitis results in significant morbidity and impacts on individuals’ quality of life. This study assesses the mo... Read More about The effect of tonsillectomy on the morbidity from recurrent tonsillitis.

Lifetime leisure music exposure associated with increased frequency of tinnitus (2016)
Journal Article
Moore, D. R., Zobay, O., Mackinnon, R. C., Whitmer, W. M., & Akeroyd, M. A. (2017). Lifetime leisure music exposure associated with increased frequency of tinnitus. Hearing Research, 347, 18-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2016.10.030

Tinnitus has been linked to noise exposure, a common form of which is listening to music as a leisure activity. The relationship between tinnitus and type and duration of music exposure is not well understood. We conducted an internet-based populatio... Read More about Lifetime leisure music exposure associated with increased frequency of tinnitus.

On detectable and meaningful speech-intelligibility benefits (2016)
Journal Article
Whitmer, W. M., McShefferty, D., & Akeroyd, M. A. (in press). On detectable and meaningful speech-intelligibility benefits. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, 894, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25474-6_47

The most important parameter that affects the ability to hear and understand speech in the presence of background noise is the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Despite decades of research in speech intelligibility, it is not currently known how much impr... Read More about On detectable and meaningful speech-intelligibility benefits.

The just meaningful difference in speech-to-noise ratio (2016)
Journal Article
McShefferty, D., Whitmer, W. M., & Akeroyd, M. A. (2016). The just meaningful difference in speech-to-noise ratio. Trends in Hearing, 20, https://doi.org/10.1177/2331216515626570

The speech-to-noise ratio (SNR) in an environment plays a vital role in speech communication for both normal-hearing (NH) and hearing-impaired (HI) listeners. While hearing-assistance devices attempt to deliver as favorable an SNR as possible, there... Read More about The just meaningful difference in speech-to-noise ratio.