Effects of Asymmetries on Binaural-Hearing Abilities Across the Lifespan

Part of paid clinical trials in College Park, Maryland.

Sponsor
University of Maryland, College Park
Study ID
NCT06953700
Status
Enrolling By Invitation

Conditions

  • Aging
  • Hearing Asymmetry
  • Hearing Loss

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
18 Years - 80 Years
Healthy Volunteers
Not accepted

Interventions

  • Test of hearing function — DIAGNOSTIC_TEST
    These are measurements of hearing acuity and spatial hearing.

Study Details

Binaural hearing involves combining auditory information across the ears. With binaural hearing, listeners benefit from perceiving sounds from different spatial locations. This is critical in solving the "cocktail party problem" (i.e., understanding speech in the presence of competing background sounds and noise). As humans get older, hearing loss increases, binaural abilities decrease, and the cocktail party problem becomes increasingly difficult. This research studies the mechanisms underlying the impact of age and hearing loss on speech-perception in noise and cocktail-party listening situations. More specifically, the role of hearing asymmetries between the ears is investigated. The specific aims are to generate an audiological and binaural-hearing-focused dataset for a large cohort of participants that vary in hearing asymmetry, age, and hearing loss and to use machine learning to uncover complex associations and generate novel hypotheses relating audiometric variables and basic binaural-hearing abilities to the cocktail-party problem. Participants in this research will complete perceptual measures of hearing acuity and spatial hearing. Participants will also report on speech understanding under noisy and challenging listening conditions. This research may lead to improvements in audiological care and hearing interventions.

Key Dates

Start date
Jun 17, 2024
Status verified
Apr 2025
Primary completion
May 31, 2026
Completion
May 31, 2026

Study Design

Enrollment
150 participants (estimated)
Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE

Arms

  • Experimental: Test of Hearing Function in Acoustic Hearing Listeners

Primary Outcome Measure

Sound localization [ Time Frame: After enrollment, in one visit lasting 1-2 hours ]

Locations (1)

FacilityCityStateZIPSite coordinators
University of Maryland, College ParkCollege ParkMaryland20742-

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