Purpose Alterations in primary auditory functioning have been reported in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Despite the current findings, the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying these alterations remain unclear, and the effect of dopaminergic medication on auditory functioning in PD has been explored insufficiently. Therefore, this study aimed to systematically investigate primary auditory functioning in patients with PD by using both subjective and objective audiological measurements. Method In this case–control study, 25 patients with PD and 25 age-, gender-, and education-matched healthy controls underwent an audiological test battery consisting of tonal audiometry, short increment sensitivity index, otoacoustic emissions (OAEs), and speech audiometry. Patients with PD were tested in the on- and off-medication states. Results Increased OAE amplitudes were found when patients with PD were tested without dopaminergic medication. In addition, speech audiometry in silence and multitalker babble noise demonstrated higher phoneme scores for patients with PD in the off-medication condition. The results showed no differences in auditory functioning between patients with PD in the on-medication condition and healthy controls. No effect of disease stage or motor score was evident. Conclusions This study provides evidence for a top-down involvement in auditory processing in PD at both central and peripheral levels. Most important, the increase in OAE amplitude in the off-medication condition in PD is hypothesized to be linked to a dysfunction of the olivocochlear efferent system, which is known to have an inhibitory effect on outer hair cell functioning. Future studies may clarify whether OAEs may facilitate an early diagnosis of PD.

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The Dutch VELO questionnaire is a valid, reliable and user-friendly tool that provides important information about HRQOL in patients with cleft (lip and) palate.

Parkinson's disease (PD) has increasingly been associated with auditory dysfunction, including alterations regarding the control of auditory information processing. Although these alterations may interfere with the processing of speech in degraded listening conditions, behavioural studies have generally found preserved speech-in-noise recognition in PD. However, behavioural speech audiometry does not capture the neurophysiological mechanisms supporting speech-in-noise processing. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the neural oscillatory mechanisms associated with speech-in-noise processing in PD. Twelve persons with PD and 12 age-and gender-matched healthy controls (HCs) were included in this study. Persons with PD were studied in the medication off condition. All subjects underwent an audiometric screening and performed a sentence-in-noise recognition task under simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG) recording. Behavioural speech recognition scores and self-reported ratings of effort, performance, and motivation were collected. Time-frequency analysis of EEG data revealed no significant difference between persons with PD and HCs regarding delta-theta (2-8 Hz) inter-trial phase coherence to noise and sentence onset. In contrast, significantly increased alpha (8-12 Hz) power was found in persons with PD compared with HCs during the sentence-in-noise recognition task. Behaviourally, persons with PD demonstrated significantly decreased speech recognition scores, whereas no significant differences were found regarding effort, performance, and motivation ratings. These results suggest that persons with PD allocate more cognitive resources to support speech-in-noise processing. The interpretation of this finding is discussed in the context of a top-down mediated compensation mechanism for inefficient filtering and degradation of auditory input in PD.

Research on auditory processing in Parkinson's disease (PD) has recently made substantial progress. At present, evidence has been found for altered auditory processing in the clinical stage of PD. The auditory alterations in PD have been demonstrated with low-cost and non-invasive assessments that are already used in routine clinical practice. Since auditory alterations have been reported early in disease progression, it would be highly relevant to investigate whether auditory markers could be provided in the prodromal stage of PD. In addition, auditory alterations in early stage PD might be modulated by dopaminergic medication. Therefore, the aim of this review is (1) to summarize the literature on auditory processing in PD with a specific focus on the early disease stages, (2) to give future perspectives on which audiological and electrophysiological measurements could be useful in the prodromal stage of PD and (3) to assess the effect of dopaminergic medication on potential auditory markers in the prodromal stage of PD.

Purpose Several studies have demonstrated increased auditory thresholds in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) based on subjective tonal audiometry. However, the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying auditory dysfunction in PD remain elusive. The primary aim of this study was to investigate cochlear and olivocochlear function in PD using objective measurements and to assess the effect of dopaminergic medication on auditory function. Method Eighteen patients with PD and 18 gender- and age-matched healthy controls (HCs) were included. Patients with PD participated in medication on and off conditions. Linear mixed models were used to determine the effect of PD on tonal audiometry, transient evoked and distortion product otoacoustic emissions (OAEs), and efferent suppression (ES). Results Tonal audiometry revealed normal auditory thresholds in patients with PD for their age across all frequencies. OAE signal amplitudes demonstrated a significant interaction effect between group (PD vs. HC) and frequency, indicating decreased OAEs at low frequencies and increased OAEs at high frequencies in patients with PD. No significant differences were found between patients with PD and HCs regarding ES. In addition, no significant effect of medication status was found on auditory measurements in patients with PD. Conclusions Altered OAEs support the hypothesis of cochlear alterations in PD. No evidence was found for the involvement of the medial olivocochlear system. Altogether, OAEs may provide an objective early indicator of auditory alterations in PD and should complement subjective tonal audiometry when assessing and monitoring auditory function in PD.

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Purpose The main concept analysis (MCA; Kong, 2009) quantifies the effectiveness and efficiency of information transfer during verbal discourse by means of four sets of sequential pictorial stimuli. This test was originally developed for a Cantonese-speaking population. The main goals of this study were (a) to translate and adapt the MCA to Dutch; (b) to establish normative data for healthy native Dutch-speaking adults; (c) to assess the effect of age, education level, and gender on MCA outcome; and (d) to establish inter- and intrarater reliability of the Dutch MCA. Method Language samples were collected from 60 healthy native Dutch speakers, equally recruited in different age (20–39 years, 40–59 years, 60–79 years) and education (middle and highly educated) categories through administration of the MCA. Utterances produced by at least 75% of the participants were included as a main concept in the Dutch MCA. Subsequently, age-specific normative data were established for each of the MCA parameters. Finally, an ICC was calculated in order to verify inter- and intrarater reliability of the Dutch MCA. Results The translated MCA consisted of 19 main concepts. Age-specific normative data were obtained. Both age and education level had a significant effect on MCA outcome. Information transfer in elderly was both less effectively and efficiently compared to young- and middle-aged adults. In addition, highly educated participants transferred information less efficiently compared to middle educated participants. Based on inter- and intrarater reliability measures, the Dutch MCA proved to be a reliable measuring instrument. Conclusions The MCA was translated to Dutch, and age-specific normative data were established for a healthy, Dutch-speaking population. The Dutch MCA is a reliable tool for eliciting and quantifying discourse production. Validation of the test for people with aphasia is necessary in order for the test to be useful in a clinical practice.