Figure Legends
Fig.
1 (a) Hearing thresholds, (b) WRS in quiet, and (c) SRT in the noise of
patients with UMA in unaided and aided conditions, as well as the
controls. Group means are presented as mean ± SD.
Significant
differences are labelled with *(p < 0.05) and **(p <
0.01) and ns, not significant. WRS, word recognition score; SRT, speech
reception threshold; SNR, speech-to-noise ratio; HSE, head shadow
effect; NH, normal hearing; BCD, bone conduction device; SD, standard
deviation.
Fig. 2 Sound-localisation target–response plots of two
patients (P6 and P7) and one control (N2) in monaural (unaided and P,
left column) and binaural (aided and UP, right column) listening
conditions. Stimulus sound levels are indicated by black circle, white
square, and cross data points (65-, 70-, and 75-dB SPL, respectively).
Best-fit linear regression is indicated by a black line. For
participants with an ideal optimal localisation ability, g is 1,
whereas MAE and b are 0.
MAE,
mean absolute error; g, response gain; b, bias; r2, R
square.
Fig.
3 (a) The MAE and (b) Gain under monaural listening conditions (unaided
and P, Y-axis) are plotted against those under binaural listening
conditions (aided and UP, x-axis). Black circle data points indicate
eleven UMA children, and white circle data points indicate the controls.
The two UMA children and one control depicted in Fig. 2 are marked in
this figure (P6, P7, and N2). An MAE near 0 and a gain near 1
demonstrate a close-to-normal sound localisation performance. Data of
participants with the same sound localisation performance when listening
monaurally and binaurally are displayed on the grey dotted diagonal. A
data point below the diagonal in Fig. 3a and above the diagonal in Fig.
3b represents a better sound localisation performance when listening
under binaural conditions than under monaural conditions. (c–d) The
mean MAE of patients with UMA and the controls, respectively, on the
impaired (including the atretic side of UMA and the plugged side
of
controls) side and the contralateral (the healthy side of UMA and the
unplugged side of controls) side. Error bars represent mean ± SD. UMA,
unilateral microtia and atresia; MAE, mean absolute error;
Gain,
response gain;
Unaided,
the
unaided condition of patients with UMA; Aided, the aided condition of
patients with UMA; P, the plugged condition of control listeners; UP,
the unplugged condition of control listeners; SD, standard deviation.
Fig.
4 (a) MAE outcomes of two subgroups of good performers (n = 5; gain
> 0.75) and poor performers (n = 6; gain ≤ 0.75) were
separately compared on the atretic and healthy sides. (b) Individual
data of response gain of UMA children in unaided conditions are plotted
as a function of delta MAE between unaided and aided conditions. The
linear regression was conducted to explore the predictive effect of gain
on the benefits of sound localisation accuracy by fitting BCDs. P6 and
P7 depicted in Fig. 2 are marked in this figure. Delta MAE = MAEaided – MAE unaided. Significant
differences are labelled with *(p
<
0.05) and **(p < 0.01), and ns, not significant. MAE, mean
absolute error.
Supplementary
Fig. 1 Test setup and listening conditions. (a) Seven loudspeakers were
placed at 30° intervals in a semicircle in a double-walled, soundproof
laboratory. (b) The monaural (the left column) and binaural listening
(the right column) conditions are designed for UMA patients: unaided and
aided conditions and for controls: P and UP conditions. P, the plugged
condition; UP, the unplugged condition.