Spectral Dynamics and Speech Understanding by Hearing Impaired People

NCT01867515 | Completed Results

• 2 other identifiers: C1020-R5I01RX001020-03
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 50
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The purpose of this program of research is to understand the perception of the dynamic spectral properties of speech by hearing-impaired listeners, with the long-term goal of improving speech understanding by these individuals in adverse listening conditions. The proposed research compares the performance of normally-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners on measures of speech understanding in the presence of different types of signal distortion and speech understanding of signals with enhanced spectral dynamics. A computational model based on the amount of potential information available in speech will be used to quantify differences in speech intelligibility due to hearing status and stimulus characteristics.

Conditions

Hearing Loss, Sensorineural

Keywords

Hearing; Hearing Loss, sensorineural; Speech Perception

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Percent Correct Words Identified

  The experimental approach compares speech identification performance among younger, normally-hearing listeners, older normally-hearing listeners and hearing-impaired listeners. Tasks will be carried out in quiet and in the presence of continuous, speech-shaped background noise. The investigators compared the understanding of unprocessed stimuli with 1) time-compressed stimuli, 2) time-compressed stimuli expanded in time via gaps and 3) uncompressed stimuli where portions of the signal were replaced with silence. Experimental metrics were percentage of correct/incorrect speech identification in each listening condition.

  average of two blocks per condition obtained over the course of up to three 2-hour visits, spaced an average of one week apart

Study Arms (3)

Younger normally-hearing listeners

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Participants with auditory thresholds within the normal limits. * age between 18 and 35 * individuals with hearing thresholds of 20 dB HL or better at all octave frequencies between 250 Hz and 4000 Hz Acoustic distortion of speech

Other: Acoustic distortion of speech

Hearing-impaired listeners

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

individuals with bilateral sensorineural hearing losses with thresholds between 25 and 70 dB HL and no losses greater than 70 dB HL at frequencies of 4000 Hz or below * age 18 to 65 Acoustic distortion of speech

Other: Acoustic distortion of speech

Older normally-hearing listeners

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Participants with auditory thresholds within the normal limits. * age between 36 and 65 * individuals with hearing thresholds of 20 dB HL or better at all octave frequencies between 250 Hz and 4000 Hz Acoustic distortion of speech

Other: Acoustic distortion of speech

Interventions

Acoustic distortion of speech OTHER

Hearing-impaired listeners; Older normally-hearing listeners; Younger normally-hearing listeners

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 65 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• individuals with hearing thresholds of 20 dB HL or better at all octave frequencies between 250 Hz and 4000 Hz
• or, individuals with bilateral sensorineural hearing losses with thresholds between 25 and 70 dB HL and no losses greater than 70 dB HL at frequencies of 4000 Hz or below

You may not qualify if:

• a conductive hearing impairment or other otological pathology
• hearing thresholds greater than 70 dB HL at any frequencies of 4000 Hz or below or pure-tone averages (averaged across 500, 1000, and 2000 Hz) of greater than 65 dB HL
• bilateral differences greater than 20 dB at any frequency below 4000 Hz
• an inability to complete the experimental tasks

Sponsors & Collaborators

• VA Office of Research and Development: lead

Study Sites (1)

VA Portland Health Care System, Portland, OR

Portland, Oregon, 97239, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Hearing Loss, Sensorineural

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Hearing Loss; Hearing Disorders; Ear Diseases; Otorhinolaryngologic Diseases; Sensation Disorders; Neurologic Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Results Point of Contact

• Title: Michelle R. Molis, PhD
• Organization: VA Portland HCS, RR&D National Center for Auditory Rehabilitative Research

michelle.molis@va.gov

503-220-8262

Study Officials

• Michelle R Molis, PhD

  VA Portland Health Care System, Portland, OR

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Publication Agreements

• PI is Sponsor Employee: Yes

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: FED
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: May 20, 2013
• First Posted: June 4, 2013
• Study Start: August 1, 2013
• Primary Completion: September 1, 2016
• Study Completion: September 1, 2016
• Last Updated: April 26, 2018
• Results First Posted: April 26, 2018

Record last verified: 2018-04

Locations

US (1)