Hearing Impairment, Strategies and Outcomes in VA Emergency Departments

NCT05028972 | Recruiting

• 2 other identifiers: IIR 17-068-1HX002421
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 1,050
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 6

Brief Summary

HearVA involves six VA facility emergency departments (ED) over a 3-year intervention period. The first part of this study will test whether providing personal amplifiers to Veteran ED patients who self-report hearing difficulty is acceptable to these patients, can improve their hearing, enhance understanding of discharge instructions, and can reduce the risk of coming back to the ED in a short period of time (3 days and 30 days). The second part of the study will then identify whether ED staff can implement this program and achieve similar results. The second part will give ED staff increasing levels of responsibility for screening Veterans for hearing difficulty and providing personal amplifiers when such difficulty is detected.

Conditions

Hearing Loss; Emergency Service; Hospital Readmission

Keywords

Hearing loss; Emergency service; ED Revisit; Communication

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• ED 3-day Readmissions

  The Investigators will determine whether patients have had an ED revisit within three days through CPRS review as well as a brief follow-up phone call 3-5 days after ED discharge

  3-5 days after initial ED stay

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• ED 30-day Readmissions

  30-35 days after initial ED stay

• Patient-Rated Quality of Hearing, Understanding, and Communication With Providers During ED Stay

  Duration of ED stay, average of 1 day

• Patient-Rated Quality of Post-Discharge Care

  At time of discharge from ED, average 1 day

• Self-Reported Understanding of Discharge Instructions

  3-5 days after initial ED stay

Study Arms (2)

Intervention: Personal Amplifier

EXPERIMENTAL

Consenting participants will be randomly assigned to the intervention group while receiving care in the emergency department

Other: Personal Amplifier

Control: No Personal Amplifier

OTHER

Consenting participants will be randomly assigned to the control group while receiving care in the emergency department

Other: No Personal Amplifier

Interventions

Personal Amplifier OTHER

The intervention group will receive personal amplifiers (PockeTalkers) while they receive care in the ED

Also known as: Pocketalker

Intervention: Personal Amplifier

No Personal Amplifier OTHER

The control group will not receive personal amplifiers while they receive care in the ED

Control: No Personal Amplifier

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 60 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• English speaking
• Emergency severity index criterion of 3 (medium), 4, or 5 (low acuity)
• Hearing Handicap Inventory-Screen greater than or equal to 10 or positive answer to a single-item screening question
• Capacity to consent to participate in research

You may not qualify if:

• Inability to consent to participate in research
• Emergency severity index criterion of 1-2 (high acuity)
• Hearing Handicap Inventory-Screen less than 10 and negative answer to single item screening question
• Inability to speak English
• Using cochlear implants

Sponsors & Collaborators

• VA Office of Research and Development: lead
• NYU Langone Health: collaborator

Study Sites (6)

Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center, Aurora, CO

Aurora, Colorado, 80045-7211, United States

RECRUITING

VA NY Harbor Healthcare System, New York, NY

New York, New York, 10010-5011, United States

RECRUITING

Syracuse VA Medical Center, Syracuse, NY

Syracuse, New York, 13210, United States

NOT YET RECRUITING

James J. Peters VA Medical Center, Bronx, NY

The Bronx, New York, 10468, United States

RECRUITING

Durham VA Medical Center, Durham, NC

Durham, North Carolina, 27705-3875, United States

RECRUITING

VA North Texas Health Care System Dallas VA Medical Center, Dallas, TX

Dallas, Texas, 75216, United States

NOT YET RECRUITING

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Hearing Loss; Communication

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

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

Study Officials

• Joshua Chodosh, MD MSHS

  VA NY Harbor Healthcare System, New York, NY

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Joshua Chodosh, MD MSHS

CONTACT

(310) 478-3711; Joshua.Chodosh@va.gov

Lin T Tun

CONTACT

(646) 501-4132; lin.tun@va.gov

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: FED
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: Consenting participants will be randomly assigned to the control or intervention arm of the study. Participants in the intervention arm will receive PockeTalkers (personal amplifiers) for the duration of their time in the emergency department. Participants in the control group will not receive personal amplifiers during their time in the emergency department, but will receive one upon discharge from the emergency department. In later stages, there will be no control group and all participants will receive a personal amplifier during their time in the emergency department.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 24, 2021
• First Posted: August 31, 2021
• Study Start: December 8, 2021
• Primary Completion (Estimated): September 30, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): September 30, 2026
• Last Updated: October 21, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-10

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (6)