Clinical Trial: Computer-Based Auditory Rehabilitation

Study Status: Completed
Recruit Status: Completed
Study Type: Interventional

Official Title: Neurological Treatment to Improve the Hearing in Noise Abilities of Older Adults With Hearing Impairments.

Brief Summary: Hearing in noisy environments is a perceptual problem that is ubiquitous in modern industrialized societies. This particular listening context offers a particular challenge to individuals living with hearing impairment (30 million in US alone) even after treatment with hearing aids or cochlear implants. The ability of the brain to extract regularities from the environment and suppress distracting information can be improved with intensive cognitive training. The investigators will test whether the hearing in noise abilities of adults living with hearing impairment can be improved with a cognitive training paradigm.

Detailed Summary: Hearing impairment (HI) represents the most common cause of moderate to severe disability in the world, with an estimated prevalence of 636 million individuals (30 million in the US alone). Amplification devices (i.e., hearing aids) are commonly used to compensate for HI stemming from acoustic trauma, ototoxic insult, normal aging or other sources of cochlear degeneration. The chief complaint of individuals with HI is hearing in the types of noisy environments that characterize most work, educational, and social situations. Unfortunately, hearing aids do not completely address the perceptual impairments in these situations. That is because the difficulties that individuals with HI have hearing in noise result from the reduced salience of cues that are used to sort out auditory scenes. Making sounds louder improves audibility, but does not afford adaptation of the brain to the abnormal coding of sensory information by the damaged cochlea. The investigators will test whether the hearing in noise abilities of adults living with hearing impairment can be improved with a cognitive training paradigm.
Sponsor: Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary

Current Primary Outcome: Speech Perception in Noise [ Time Frame: up to 3 months ]

Participants will report words spoken by a target speaker while several speakers serve as distractors.


Original Primary Outcome: Same as current

Current Secondary Outcome:

  • Frequency Modulation Detection [ Time Frame: up to 3 months ]
    We will measure the detectability of frequency excursions psychoacoustically.
  • Stroop Task [ Time Frame: up to 3 months ]
    Participants will be asked to attend and report one feature of a stimulus while ignoring another
  • Letter-Numbers Sequencing Test [ Time Frame: up to 3 months ]
    Participants are asked to repeat a string of letters and numbers.


Original Secondary Outcome: Same as current

Information By: Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary

Dates:
Date Received: May 15, 2014
Date Started: April 2015
Date Completion:
Last Updated: October 17, 2016
Last Verified: May 2016