Training Listening Skills With the Inclusion of Cognitive Control

NCT05766020 | Active Not Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: S63310
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 60
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Participating in spoken conversation constitutes a multitasking situation with concurrent demands on sensorimotor (auditory, postural) and cognitive functioning (memory, updating, task switching and inhibition). As aging affects multisensory integration and cognitive control, these higher-order processes are likely to put accumulating constraints on listening as adults grow older. By training listening skills (not solely auditory skills), the investigators aim at improving overall communication and quality of life. Moreover, the investigators aim at freeing up cognitive resources in the listen task: the better one gets at a certain domain specific task, the less one needs to draw from other resources and, the more resources are free for another concurrent task. The interdisciplinary approach will inform us about ideal audiological rehabilitation or intervention approaches. Pre-posttests comprise behavioral measures to evaluate listening skills and transfer towards non-trained measures. The training is tablet-based and can be performed at home.

Conditions

Hearing Disability

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (8)

• Speech in noise intelligibility

  LIST (Leuven intelligibility sentences test) sentences presented in speech-weighted noise. Participants are required to repeat sentences in noise. The Leuven Intelligibility Sentences Test (LIST) was specifically designed for speech perception in noise assessment in CI users. The test has high test-retest reliability and a steep slope making it very sensitive to small improvements in performance. An improvement of 2dB results in a clinically relevant improvement in speech discrimination in noise. Therefore, the primary endpoint to validate the active training will be an improvement of 2dB on speech perception in noise.

  0 weeks

• Speech in noise intelligibility

  LIST (Leuven intelligibility sentences test) sentences presented in speech-weighted noise. Participants are required to repeat sentences in noise. The Leuven Intelligibility Sentences Test (LIST) was specifically designed for speech perception in noise assessment in CI users. The test has high test-retest reliability and a steep slope making it very sensitive to small improvements in performance. An improvement of 2dB results in a clinically relevant improvement in speech discrimination in noise. Therefore, the primary endpoint to validate the active training will be an improvement of 2dB on speech perception in noise.

  4 weeks

• Speech in noise intelligibility

  LIST (Leuven intelligibility sentences test) sentences presented in speech-weighted noise. Participants are required to repeat sentences in noise. The Leuven Intelligibility Sentences Test (LIST) was specifically designed for speech perception in noise assessment in CI users. The test has high test-retest reliability and a steep slope making it very sensitive to small improvements in performance. An improvement of 2dB results in a clinically relevant improvement in speech discrimination in noise. Therefore, the primary endpoint to validate the active training will be an improvement of 2dB on speech perception in noise.

  8 weeks

• Speech in noise intelligibility

  LIST (Leuven intelligibility sentences test) sentences presented in speech-weighted noise. Participants are required to repeat sentences in noise. The Leuven Intelligibility Sentences Test (LIST) was specifically designed for speech perception in noise assessment in CI users. The test has high test-retest reliability and a steep slope making it very sensitive to small improvements in performance. An improvement of 2dB results in a clinically relevant improvement in speech discrimination in noise. Therefore, the primary endpoint to validate the active training will be an improvement of 2dB on speech perception in noise.

  12 weeks

• phoneme identification in noise

  The consonant identification task in noise consisted of 12 Dutch/Flemish vowels presented in an /a/ context. Stimuli were produced by a female speaker. In order not to obtain 100% at the start, stimuli were presented in speech-weighted noise.

  0 weeks

• phoneme identification in noise

  The consonant identification task in noise consisted of 12 Dutch/Flemish vowels presented in an /a/ context. Stimuli were produced by a female speaker. In order not to obtain 100% at the start, stimuli were presented in speech-weighted noise.

  4 weeks

• phoneme identification in noise

  The consonant identification task in noise consisted of 12 Dutch/Flemish vowels presented in an /a/ context. Stimuli were produced by a female speaker. In order not to obtain 100% at the start, stimuli were presented in speech-weighted noise.

  8 weeks

• phoneme identification in noise

  The consonant identification task in noise consisted of 12 Dutch/Flemish vowels presented in an /a/ context. Stimuli were produced by a female speaker. In order not to obtain 100% at the start, stimuli were presented in speech-weighted noise.

  12 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (16)

• The temporal modulation Transfer function

  0 weeks

• The temporal modulation Transfer function

  4 weeks

• The temporal modulation Transfer function

  8 weeks

• The temporal modulation Transfer function

  12 weeks

• Dual-task listening postural control

  0 weeks

Study Arms (3)

Immediate training group

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants in this group will train immediately for 4 weeks. Afterwards, they will not train for the 8 remaining weeks.

Behavioral: Listen training

Delayed Training Group

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants in this group will receive delayed training after 4 weeks of no training.

Behavioral: Listen training

Active control group

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants in this group will perform an active control for 4 weeks, followed by 4 weeks of training.

Behavioral: Listen training

Interventions

Listen training BEHAVIORAL

Auditory skills with the inclusion of cognitive control.

Active control group; Delayed Training Group; Immediate training group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 55 Years - 80 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Clients who experience listening and communication difficulties.
• Clients must not undergo any audiological rehabilitation (auditory training/hearing aid fitting) during the study.
• Able to operate the training programme as an app on a tablet (e.g. clients have sufficient eyesight to see the exercises; clients must be able to operate the programme).
• At least 18 years old.
• Dutch-speaking, as all training material and counselling questions will be presented in Dutch.

You may not qualify if:

• Severely visually impaired
• Motorically impaired
• Cognitively impaired

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Universitaire Ziekenhuizen KU Leuven: lead

Study Sites (1)

KU Leuven, Experimental ORL, Dept Neurosciences

Leuven, Vlaams Brabant, 3001, Belgium

Location

Related Publications (5)

• van Wieringen A, Wouters J. Natural vowel and consonant recognition by Laura cochlear implantees. Ear Hear. 1999 Apr;20(2):89-103. doi: 10.1097/00003446-199904000-00001.

  PMID: 10229511 BACKGROUND

• van Wieringen A, Wouters J. LIST and LINT: sentences and numbers for quantifying speech understanding in severely impaired listeners for Flanders and the Netherlands. Int J Audiol. 2008 Jun;47(6):348-55. doi: 10.1080/14992020801895144.

  PMID: 18569107 BACKGROUND

• Noble W. Hearing, hearing impairment, and the audible world: a theoretical essay. Audiology. 1983;22(4):325-38. doi: 10.3109/00206098309072793.

  PMID: 6615338 BACKGROUND

• Alhanbali S, Dawes P, Lloyd S, Munro KJ. Self-Reported Listening-Related Effort and Fatigue in Hearing-Impaired Adults. Ear Hear. 2017 Jan/Feb;38(1):e39-e48. doi: 10.1097/AUD.0000000000000361.

  PMID: 27541332 BACKGROUND

• Van Wilderode M, Van Humbeeck N, Krampe RT, van Wieringen A. Enhancing Speech Perception in Noise Through Home-Based Competing Talker Training. Ear Hear. 2025 Jul-Aug 01;46(4):856-870. doi: 10.1097/AUD.0000000000001631. Epub 2025 Feb 10.

  PMID: 39924678 DERIVED

Study Officials

• Astrid van Wieringen, PhD

  KU Leuven

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor, Dr.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 15, 2023
• First Posted: March 13, 2023
• Study Start: April 3, 2023
• Primary Completion: February 5, 2024
• Study Completion: September 30, 2024
• Last Updated: August 9, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-08

Locations

BE (1)