A Treatment for a Form of Age-Related Central Auditory Processing Disorder Consisting of Clemastine Fumarate Plus Engineered Sound

Part of paid clinical trials in Aurora, Colorado.

Sponsor
University of Colorado, Denver
Study ID
NCT07304024
Phase
PHASE1/PHASE2
Status
Recruiting
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Conditions

  • Age Problem
  • CAPD
  • Central Auditory Disease
  • Central Auditory Processing Disorder
  • Cocktail Party Skill
  • Cocktail Party Syndrome
  • Hearing
  • Hearing Abnormality
  • Hearing Disability
  • Hearing Disorder
  • Hearing Disorders
  • Hearing Handicap
  • Hearing Impaired
  • Hearing Impaired (Partially)
  • Hearing Impairment
  • Hearing Impairment, Sensorineural
  • Hearing Loss
  • Hidden Hearing Loss
  • Myelin Degeneration
  • Myelin Integrity
  • Myelinopathy
  • Noise Exposure
  • Noise Induced Hearing Loss
  • Noise-Induced Hearing Loss
  • Remyelination
  • Sound Perception

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
45 Years - 65 Years
Healthy Volunteers
Not accepted

Interventions

  • Clemastine Fumarate Combined With Engineered Sound — COMBINATION_PRODUCT
    Treatment Group: Drug: 16.08 mg clemastine fumarate (8.04 mg in the morning and 8.04 mg in the evening) during the first week of the 30 day treatment period, followed by 10.72 mg clemastine fumarate once daily in the evening for the remainder of the 30 day period. Tablets taken with water in morning and evening with or without food. This dosage corresponds to 12 mg clemastine base daily during the first week followed by 8 mg clemastine base daily for the remainder of the 30 day period. This matches dosing proven safe in previous Phase II multiple sclerosis trials. Sound: This medication will be combined with a proprietary engineered acoustic stimulus designed to activate central auditory processing pathways, delivered via provided headphones for 60 minutes daily during the 30-day treatment period. Sound consists of spatially modulated frequency sweeps targeting neural circuits involved in speech-in-noise processing. Participants instructed to listen during quiet, awake periods.
  • Clemastine Fumarate Combined With Pink Noise — DRUG
    Drug and Placebo Sound Group: Drug: 16.08 mg clemastine fumarate (8.04 mg in the morning and 8.04 mg in the evening) during the first week of the 30 day treatment period, followed by 10.72 mg clemastine fumarate once daily in the evening for the remainder of the 30 day period. Tablets taken with water in morning and evening with or without food. This dosage corresponds to 12 mg clemastine base daily during the first week followed by 8 mg clemastine base daily for the remainder of the 30 day period. This matches dosing proven safe in previous Phase II multiple sclerosis trials. Sound: Broadband white noise matched for average intensity to engineered sound. Delivered via provided headphones for 60 minutes daily during the 30-day treatment period. Serves as acoustic control to maintain participant and investigator blinding. Participants instructed to listen during quiet, awake periods.
  • Placebo Drug With Engineered Sound — COMBINATION_PRODUCT
    Placebo Drug and Engineered Sound Group: Drug: Matching placebo tablets administered orally twice daily during the first week and once daily for the remainder of the 30 consecutive days. Tablets identical in appearance, taste, and smell to active drug. Taken with water in morning and evening with or without food. Sound: This placebo will be combined with a proprietary engineered acoustic stimulus designed to activate central auditory processing pathways, delivered via provided headphones for 60 minutes daily during the 30-day treatment period. Sound consists of spatially modulated frequency sweeps targeting neural circuits involved in speech-in-noise processing. Participants instructed to listen during quiet, awake periods.
  • Placebo - Placebo — COMBINATION_PRODUCT
    Placebo Drug and Placebo Sound Group: Drug: Matching placebo tablets administered orally twice daily during the first week and once daily for the remainder of the 30 consecutive days. Tablets identical in appearance, taste, and smell to active drug. Taken with water in morning and evening with or without food. Sound: Broadband white noise matched for average intensity to engineered sound. Delivered via provided headphones for 60 minutes daily during the 30-day treatment period. Serves as acoustic control to maintain participant and investigator blinding. Participants instructed to listen during quiet, awake periods.

Study Details

The goal of this clinical trial is to determine the efficacy of Clemastine Fumarate in the presence of engineered sound to treat age-related central auditory processing disorder (CAPD). This disorder impacts 800M patients worldwide, including \~1/3 people over 40 years of age and \~1/2 people over 65, resulting in an inability to hear in noisy environments. The primary hypothesis this study aims to test is: engineered sound, driving localized neural circuit activity, will enable Clemastine Fumarate to mature Oligodendrocyte cells and thus remyelinate these activated neural circuits. This Localized Oligodendrocyte Optimization Therapy (LOOT) was highly effective in preclinical animal studies so this clinical trial aims to answer if this therapy will translate to humans. The study is an adaptive design intended to compare the efficacy of the drug in the presence or absence of the engineered sound for improving hearing in noise ability. Trial participants will be tested for hearing thresholds and ability to isolate a sound signal from background noise. If they meet the inclusion criteria, they will be enrolled into one of the four arms of the study and undergo the proposed one-month treatment (drug and sound or respective placebos). After the treatment period, trial participants will be tested again for hearing thresholds and their ability to isolate s sound source of interest from background noise. The hypothesis to be tested in this clinical trial is that the one-month treatment will significantly improve the participant's ability to isolate a sound source of interest from background noise. The design has four arms, drug+sound, placebo+sound, drug+white noise, and placebo+white noise. Based on our preclinical data, control arms are all expected to show identical results, thus our adaptive design includes interim analyses to allow for dropping of two of the three placebo arms should the preclinical results be replicated as anticipated. We will also monitor each participant's general health during the duration of the clinical trial, which will be done by performing a number of blood tests, an EKG and a general physical before and after the one-month treatment period. We expect no significant changes since participants will take the drug for the one-month period at dosages already demonstrated safe in several Phase II studies of multiple sclerosis. Similarly, the engineered sound will be listened to for one hour per day during this month at sound intensities well below threshold that might cause noise-induced hearing damage.

Key Dates

Start date
Mar 31, 2025
Status verified
Apr 2026
Primary completion
Jul 31, 2028
Completion
Jul 31, 2028

Study Design

Enrollment
344 participants (estimated)
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT

Arms

  • Experimental: Treatment Group
    Active clemastine fumarate + engineered sound stimulation
  • Active Comparator: Placebo Sound
    Active clemastine fumarate + placebo sound (white/pink noise)
  • Placebo Comparator: Placebo Drug
    Placebo drug + engineered sound stimulation
  • Placebo Comparator: Control Group - Double Placebo
    Placebo drug + placebo sound (white/pink noise)

Primary Outcome Measure

Improvement in hearing-in-noise at 15 degree separation [ Time Frame: At enrollment and again after intervention (Week 5 or 6) ]

Central Contacts

Locations (1)

FacilityCityStateZIPSite coordinators
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical CenterAuroraColorado80045
Achim Klug, PhD
[email protected]
303-724-4621
Samuel Budoff, PhD, MS
[email protected]
Achim Klug, PhD (PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR)
Samuel A Budoff, PhD, MS (SUB_INVESTIGATOR)
Enrique Alvarez, MD, PhD (SUB_INVESTIGATOR)
Yuri Agrawal, MD, MPH (SUB_INVESTIGATOR)
Vinaya Manchaiah, AuD, PhD (SUB_INVESTIGATOR)

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