Variability In Hearing Aid Outcomes In Older Adults



Status:Recruiting
Conditions:Other Indications
Therapuetic Areas:Other
Healthy:No
Age Range:55 - Any
Updated:4/21/2016
Start Date:July 2015
End Date:July 2017
Contact:Laura Mathews, BS
Email:l-mathews@northwestern.edu
Phone:847-467-0897

Use our guide to learn which trials are right for you!

Characterizing Variability in Hearing Aid Outcomes Among Older Adults

The goal of this project is to find out if the way a hearing aid processes a sound signal
should be determined in part by an individual's cognitive characteristics. We anticipate
that the outcome of this work will be a battery of assessments that will guide hearing aid
processing for older patients with hearing loss.

Response to hearing aids is highly variable, with some individuals reporting much more
benefit than others. Preliminary work by our laboratory and others suggests that patient
factors—including cognition—may contribute to differences in how individuals respond to
altered speech cues, such as those alterations introduced by hearing aid processing. The
long-term goal of this work is to improve hearing aid outcomes by optimizing hearing aid
processing for each individual.

Inclusion Criteria:

- Sensorineural Hearing loss with pure-tone thresholds 25-70 dB HL at octave
frequencies between 250 and 4000 Hz, 4 frequency PTA of ≥ 30 dB HL

- Non hearing aided wearer within the previous year

- Participants will be in good health (self-report)

- Normal or corrected to normal vision(≤20/50)

Exclusion Criteria:

- Conductive, or asymmetric hearing loss

- Hearing loss exceeding the limits that can be successfully aided with hearing aids
(i.e., profound hearing loss)

- Hearing loss remediated with a cochlear implant (cannot wear hearing aids)

- Significant history of otologic or neurologic disorders

- Non English speaking participants

- Score of 23 or below on Mini-Mental Status Exam (MMSE)

- Score of 22 or below on Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)

- Any clinically significant unstable or progressive medical condition

- Any condition which, in the opinion of the investigator, places the participant at
unacceptable risk if he or she were to participate in the study.
We found this trial at
1
site
Boulder, Colorado 80309
(303) 492-1411
Phone: 303-492-3036
University of Colorado, Boulder As the flagship university of the state of Colorado, CU-Boulder is...
?
mi
from
Boulder, CO
Click here to add this to my saved trials