View clinical trials related to Hearing Disability.
Filter by:Technological advances in hearing aids and telecommunications, including the widespread availability of telehealth (referred to in this proposal as "e-Audiology") applications, have the potential to expand both access and affordability of hearing aids for those with age-related hearing loss (ARHL). E-Audiology is used by clinicians in a variety of settings, including private practice, university clinics, and the Veterans Administration. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association recently updated the Scope of Practice guidelines for audiology to include telehealth as "an alternative method of service delivery that en-compasses both diagnostics and intervention services.", including all aspects of hearing aid selection, fitting, and follow-up counseling and rehabilitation. However, given the paucity of evidence of comparative efficacy between office-based service delivery and e-Audiology in real-world settings, patients and relevant stakeholders are faced with a major decisional dilemma when determining which mode of service delivery would be optimal for addressing the needs, preferences, and lifestyles of those with ARHL. Thus, the purpose of this study is to determine the benefits, drawbacks, and patient satisfaction associated with e-Audiology delivery of hearing aid fitting, services, and supports for older adults with mild to moderate ARHL. We plan to use data collected in this pilot study for a future R01 submission to the NIH.
The purpose of this project is to validate a quick, easy-to-use and administer smartphone hearing-in-noise test. The Hearing-in-Noise Test (HINT) measures an individual's ability to hear speech in quiet and in noise. HINTs are traditionally done testing both ears together as binaural hearing ability is key in noisy settings and everyday, functional hearing. The app (called HearMe) can potentially be used to easily and quickly collect hearing-in-noise and speech-in-noise measurements. The smartphone app developed is a hearing-in-noise test that presents the subject with a series of stimuli consisting of a spoken three-digit sequence presented at a varying hearing-to-noise ratio. For each stimulus presentation, the user tap the three-digit sequence. The duration of the app is less than 3 minutes. For this project the investigators will test at least 50 subjects with hearing loss and 50 control subjects between the ages of 18-80. The subjects will be invited to take the app. The approach for this pilot study is to characterize hearing-in-noise thresholds (also referred to as a speech-reception threshold) as measured by the app in both subject groups, and relate it to the phenotype of each group as a preliminary evaluation of the app as well as a preliminary validation against their routinely collected measurements of hearing function (pure-tone audiometry thresholds). The study will assess the validity of the test construct in measuring hearing-in-noise thresholds, and serve as a foundation for further iterative designs of the app and future validation and characterization studies. This study seeks to validate a developed smartphone HINT on an initial cohort of patients and controls. It is anticipated that patients with hearing loss will display higher signal-to-noise ratio thresholds (as measured by the iPhone app) compared to controls.