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The effect of hearing protection devices (HPDs) on sound localization was examined in the context of an auditory-cued visual search task. Participants were required to locate and identify a visual target in a field of 5, 20, or 50 visual distractors randomly distributed on the interior surface of a sphere. Four HPD conditions were examined: earplugs, earmuffs, both earplugs and earmuffs simultaneously (double hearing protection), and no hearing protection. In addition, there was a control condition in which no auditory cue was provided. A repeated measures analysis of variance revealed significant main effects of HPD for both search time and head motion data (p < .05), indicating that the degree to which localization is disrupted by HPDs varies with the type of device worn. When both earplugs and earmuffs are worn simultaneously, search times and head motion are more similar to those found when no auditory cue is provided than when either earplugs or earmuffs alone are worn, suggesting that sound localization cues are so severely disrupted by double hearing protection the listener can recover little or no information regarding the direction of sound source origin. Potential applications of this research include high-noise military, aerospace, and industrial settings in which HPDs are necessary but wearing double protection may compromise safety and/or performance.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1518/0018720053653866 | DOI Listing |
Nat Aging
September 2025
Aging Biomarker Consortium (ABC), Beijing, China.
The global surge in the population of people 60 years and older, including that in China, challenges healthcare systems with rising age-related diseases. To address this demographic change, the Aging Biomarker Consortium (ABC) has launched the X-Age Project to develop a comprehensive aging evaluation system tailored to the Chinese population. Our goal is to identify robust biomarkers and construct composite aging clocks that capture biological age, defined as an individual's physiological and molecular state, across diverse Chinese cohorts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Voice
September 2025
Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, Medical School, Federal University of Minas Gerais - UFMG, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Electronic address:
Objective: To analyze the association between the risk of voice disorders and sociodemographic, work, and general health factors in urban and rural school teachers.
Methods: This is an observational, cross-sectional, analytical study with 1705 teachers from urban schools and 202 from rural schools teaching elementary and high school in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The exclusion criteria were being retired or no longer teaching and/or not accepting to participate in the study.
Adv Sci (Weinh)
September 2025
ENT Institute and Otorhinolaryngology Department of Eye & ENT Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disorders and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200031, China.
Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), caused by irreversible cochlear hair cell (HC) damage, lacks effective therapies due to a limited understanding of endogenous protective mechanisms. The echolocating bats exhibit natural resistance to intense noise, and this suggested novel insights into methods to protect against NIHL. Here, through comparative transcriptomic analysis of noise-exposed cochleae from the eastern bent-winged bats (Miniopterus fuliginosus) and mice, the specific transcriptional dynamics in noise-resistant Miniopterus fuliginosus are revealed, thus highlighting potential mechanisms for preventing cochlear damage that mouse models cannot replicate, with Hras emerging as the most significant hub upregulator.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFZhonghua Lao Dong Wei Sheng Zhi Ye Bing Za Zhi
August 2025
Guangdong Provincial Institute of Occupational Disease Prevention and Control, Occupational Health Assessment Department, Guangzhou 510300, China.
To investigate the use of earplugs among noise-exposed workers (Homo sapiens) in Bao'an District, Shenzhen, measure the personal attenuation rating (PAR) of earplugs when wearing earplugs, (Homo sapiens), analyze factors influencing the protective effect of earplugs, and evaluate the role of targeted wearing interventions in improving protective efficacy. From December 2022 to January 2023, 220 workers in noise-exposed positions from 3 enterprises in Bao'an District, Shenzhen were selected as subjects using the convenience sampling method. The Personal Attenuation Rating (PAR) values of workers wearing earplugs were measured using a fit testing system.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMil Med
September 2025
Aerospace Medicine and Vestibular Research Laboratory, Mayo Clinic Arizona, Scottsdale, AZ 85259, United States.
Introduction: In military settings, ear-worn communication systems and hearing protection have equal importance, but opposite purposes. It is crucial to provide clear communication signal free of noise that may also be hazardous to hearing. Electrical auditory stimulation is a mode of transmitting high fidelity speech information with an amplitude modulated electromagnetic signal that is sent transcutaneously through electrodes.
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