Clinical trial NCT05260307: Improving Spatial Perception and Speech Understanding in Multitalker Mixtures
Official title: Improving Spatial Perception and Speech Understanding in Multitalker Mixtures
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Hearing Loss
Keywords: Hearing Aids
Speech Intelligibility
Spatial Hearing
Cocktail Party
Audibility
Sound Image Externalization
Speech Envelope
Lead sponsor: Boston University Charles River Campus
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
First posted: 2022-03-02
Enrollment: 220
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 80
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: NA
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Intervention model description: All participants will be tested under a number of experimental conditions that simulate different hearing aid conditions. They will act as their own control.
Primary purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE

Brief summary: The purpose of this study is to investigate several approaches for improving spatial perception and speech intelligibility in multitalker listening situations for hearing-aid users. The hypotheses are that spatial perception and speech intelligibility will be improved by (1) increased high-frequency audibility, (2) speech envelope enhancement, and/or (3) appropriate sound image externalization.

Detailed description: The purpose of this study is to investigate several approaches for improving spatial perception and speech intelligibility in multitalker listening situations for hearing-aid users. Aim 1 will investigate how well different amplification strategies provide access to the spectrotemporally sparse speech information that is available in multitalker mixtures. The hypothesis is that subtle differences in high-frequency audibility across different strategies may have much greater effects on the intelligibility of sparse speech than intact speech. This Aim will involve 40 subjects with hearing loss across 2 experiments. Aim 2 is an exploratory aim that will investigate the potential of a speech enhancement algorithm to improve spatial hearing in multitalker mixtures. The hypothesis is that speech enhancement, in addition to its established monaural benefits, will enhance the salience of interaural time differences and thus provide binaural benefits in multitalker mixtures. This Aim will involve 30 subjects with normal hearing and 60 subjects with hearing loss across 3 experiments. Aim 3 will investigate how different hearing-aid styles affect sound externalization. The hypothesis is that hearing aids can disrupt sound externalization, which in turn impacts speech intelligibility in multitalker mixtures. This Aim will involve 30 subjects with normal hearing and 60 subjects with hearing loss across 3 experiments.

This is a prospective design involving adult human subjects. While the investigators will recruit subjects with normal and impaired hearing, all subjects will be assigned to the same set of experimental conditions. Therefore, for the purposes of intervention (or prospective assignment), the subjects can be treated as a single group completing the same intervention (or set of interventions). The behavioral experiments involve listening to speech sounds (either unaided, with hearing aids, or with simulated hearing aids), and providing responses related to spatial perception or speech intelligibility. The order of experimental conditions will be randomized for each subject in order to control for order effects. All of the experimental tasks and outcome measures have been previously established, have good reliability and validity, and will be appropriate for informing future studies.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria: Normal-Hearing Subjects

* 18 to 35 years of age
* Audiometric thresholds that do not exceed 20 dB HL at any frequency from 250 to 8000 Hz
* Able to provide informed consent and understand experimental instructions
* Normal or corrected-to-normal vision

Inclusion Criteria: Hearing-Impaired Subjects

* 18 to 80 years of age
* Documented sensorineural hearing loss
* Able to provide informed consent and understand experimental instructions
* Normal or corrected-to-normal vision

Exclusion Criteria (some experiments)

* Non-native speakers of English

Primary outcomes:
measure: Speech intelligibility at baseline
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Speech intelligibility post-intervention
timeFrame: Up to 4 hours
measure: Speech reception threshold at baseline
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Speech reception threshold post-intervention
timeFrame: Up to 4 hours
measure: Interaural time difference discrimination at baseline
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Interaural time difference discrimination post-intervention
timeFrame: Up to 4 hours
measure: Externalization rating at baseline
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Externalization rating post-intervention
timeFrame: Up to 4 hours
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Boston
country: United States
facility: Boston University
state: Massachusetts
Study officials:
affiliation: Boston University
name: Virginia A Best, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: