View clinical trials related to Deafness.
Filter by:Hearing loss and loss of vision can be very harmful to the well-being and life of people who suffer from them. Usher syndrome is the name of a disease where people have both hearing loss and visual loss. In fact more than half of people who are deaf and blind have Usher syndrome. In this study we are trying to find the causes of all types of Usher syndrome and to learn more about how the eyes and ears work. Usher syndrome is caused by changes in our genes that lead to mistakes in the functioning of our eyes and ears. We may conduct hearing tests called audiograms to test hearing and a vision test called an electroretinogram (ERG) to test how well the retina (the part of your eye that senses light) is working on participants in the study. From these tests we can tell what kind of Usher syndrome a participant may have. We will then get DNA from participants by drawing blood. The DNA will be studied, along with DNA from members of the participant's family and other families, to try to find the gene that is causing Usher syndrome in the participant. Once the gene is found we will be able to study it to learn more about how the eyes and ears work. If a subject has already been diagnosed we may just need copies of their medical records and blood can be drawn locally. In order to increase the power of the study and the likelihood of detecting relevant genes participants will be taken from the Ashkenazi Jewish population group only. This will make it much easier to find the genes.
Tinnitus is a prevalent issue for veterans who are proportionally more hearing-impaired than the civilian population. This study will be conducted as three concurrent projects designed to develop an efficient clinical technique to quantify tinnitus perception: (1)Laboratory development of the automated technique for comprehensive tinnitus quantification;(2)Development of a technique to test for tinnitus "malingering"; and (3)Evaluation of the automated technique in the clinical environment.
The long-term goal of this research program is to develop methods to predict both the benefit and the satisfaction that hearing-impaired patients will derive from auditory amplification in daily life. This proposal has three primary objectives: (1) To determine the influence of extra-audiological variables, such as personality attributes and expectations, on the subjective outcomes of hearing aid fittings, (2) To establish a scientific basis for selection, administration, and interpretation of self-report measures of hearing aid fitting outcome, (3) To resolve the long-standing debate about the efficacy of using clinically measured loudness perception data in hearing aid prescriptions.
The effects of talker variability will be investigated with four groups of listeners (young normal-hearing; old normal-hearing; young hearing-impaired; old hearing-impaired). Experimental conditions will include between-talker differences, speaking rate, lexical difficult and semantic/linguistic context. A preliminary experiment will evaluate the relative merit of adaptive vs fixed-level methods of stimulus presentation.
This study will examine the hereditary basis of tone deafness by identifying regions of the human genome linked to this condition. Both exceptionally good pitch recognition (perfect pitch) and exceptionally poor pitch recognition (tone deafness) run in families. A better understanding of what causes tone deafness may provide new insights into auditory (hearing) function. Individuals with two or more family members 15 years of age or older who are tone deaf or have trouble recognizing different melodies may be eligible for this study. Candidates will be screened with a short listening test for pitch and a short written test. Those identified with poor pitch recognition will fill out a brief questionnaire about their family tree and family members (without identifying names) who have trouble recognizing melodies or tones. Individuals with poor pitch recognition will be asked to help contact family members who may be interested in participating. Members of families with two or more first-degree relatives (parents, grandparents, siblings) who are tone deaf may enroll in the study. They will provide a blood sample (about 2 tablespoons) for genetic studies and may take a 20-minute hearing test using headphones.
The human brain is made up of two halves called hemispheres. Each half of the brain is responsible for processing different kinds of information. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that both the right and left hemispheres are involved when processing information given in American Sign Language (ASL). However, the study also showed that when processing spoken language, the left hemisphere was mostly involved. Researchers would like to find out more about how the brain processes American Sign Language (ASL). This study is designed to determine if the right hemisphere is necessary for normal understanding of ASL.
The von Hippel Lindau (VHL) gene has recently been identified as the genetic defect resulting in a syndrome of multiple neoplasias. Patients with VHL disease develop retinal angiomata, renal cysts and/or carcinomas, CNS hemangioblastomas as well as pancreatic cysts and pheochromocytomas. Investigators have shown the gene to be a tumor suppressor type proto-oncogene located at chromosomal locus 3p26. The gene includes three exons whose gene product targets a cellular transcription factor Elongin SIII. Binding of the VHL proteins to two subunits of this elongation factor inhibits transcription and may play a crucial role in the clinical development of the von Hippel Lindau phenotype.
This studied is designed to discover the genes that cause hearing impairment. More precisely, this study aims to map and clone genes that are important for the development and maintenance of the anatomy and physiology related to hearing (auditory system). The study will begin by finding large families who have members with hearing impairment. Once families are found, members with and without hearing impairment will be evaluated by an audiologist and a clinician (doctor). An audiologist, is a person trained in evaluating, habilitating, and rehabilitating people with disorders of hearing function. The clinician's responsibility is to examine the patients and check for other signs and symptoms related to hearing. Finding the gene for hearing impairment requires: 1. <TAB>DNA samples of hearing impaired family members, taken from standard blood samples. 2. <TAB>DNA samples of members of the family without hearing impairment, taken from standard blood samples. 3. <TAB>Results of hearing tests conducted by the audiologist for all participants. Once all members of the family are evaluated researchers can create a pedigree. A pedigree is like a family tree that charts members of a family with a genetic disorder, like hearing impairment. Pedigrees are used to determine the mode of inheritance of the gene responsible for a particular condition. Finally, researcher intend on using all the information gathered as well as methods for genetic analysis to map out the location of the gene. Patients participating in this study will not directly benefit from its research, but scientific understanding achieved may help researchers better understand the auditory system and someday prevent deafness.<TAB>...