Use of Frequency Compression in Severe-profound Hearing Loss Adults

Frequency Compression Clinical Trial

— FC  

Official title:

Do Severe-profound Hearing Impaired Adults Perform Better in Speech Perception With Frequency Compression Switched on or Off or Fitted to Hearing Loss

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT04623112
• Other study ID #: 15/0217
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: April 2015
• Est. completion date: June 2015

Study information

• Verified date: November 2020
• Source: University College, London
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this study is to investigate the functional benefits of frequency compression vs no frequency compression or fitted to hearing loss in severe-profound hearing impaired adults with high frequency hearing losses. Thus, assessing whether hearing aids for this patient population can be adapted to improve speech perception.

Description:

Frequency compression is a feature available on some digital hearing aids, which is aimed at increasing the audibility of high frequency sounds. It works by taking sounds above a fixed start frequency and compresses it into lower frequencies where residual hearing is better.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 27
• Est. completion date: June 2015
• Est. primary completion date: June 2015
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Participants must be over 18 years of age- This study is looking at the use of frequency compression & its effects of speech perception in adults.

2. No ear surgery that would make it impossible to fit a hearing aid- To ensure limited confounding variables.

3. No history of ear surgery within the last 12 months- To ensure limited confounding variables.

4. No history of ear infection(s) within the last 6 months- To ensure no contraindications and limited confounding variables to testing.

5. No otoscopic abnormality making it impossible to fit a hearing aid- To ensure no contraindications to testing.

6. Bilateral severe-profound hearing impairment with air conduction thresholds >71dBHL within the frequency range of 250Hz to 4 kHz- To analyse the effects of frequency compression on speech perception within this patient population.

7. Post lingual deafness, with good spoken English- To ensure reliability of speech testing.

8. Previous bilateral digital hearing aid experience (6+ months)- To ensure limited confounding variables.

9. Written consent required.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Participants under the age of 18 years.

2. History of ear surgery making it impossible to fit a hearing aid.

3. History of ear surgery within the last 12 months.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Deafness
• Frequency Compression
• Hearing Loss
• Severe-profound Hearing Impairment

Intervention

Device:
• Hearing aid feature: Frequency Compression
FC Deactivated/Activated & set to default/Activated & set to hearing loss

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
n/a

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University College, London

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	CHEAR Auditory Perception Test	Aided Monosyllabic Speech Test	4 weeks post hearing aid fitting with adapted hearing aid feature
Primary	Adaptive Bamford-Kowal-Bench Test	Aided Sentence Test	4 weeks post hearing aid fitting with adapted hearing aid feature