Computer-Based Auditory Rehabilitation



Status:Recruiting
Conditions:Other Indications, Other Indications
Therapuetic Areas:Other
Healthy:No
Age Range:50 - 85
Updated:4/21/2016
Start Date:April 2015
End Date:August 2016
Contact:Jonathon P Whitton, Au.D.
Email:jonathon_whitton@meei.harvard.edu

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Neurological Treatment to Improve the Hearing in Noise Abilities of Older Adults With Hearing Impairments.

Hearing in noisy environments is a perceptual problem that is ubiquitous in modern
industrialized societies. This particular listening context offers a particular challenge to
individuals living with hearing impairment (30 million in US alone) even after treatment
with hearing aids or cochlear implants. The ability of the brain to extract regularities
from the environment and suppress distracting information can be improved with intensive
cognitive training. The investigators will test whether the hearing in noise abilities of
adults living with hearing impairment can be improved with a cognitive training paradigm.

Hearing impairment (HI) represents the most common cause of moderate to severe disability in
the world, with an estimated prevalence of 636 million individuals (30 million in the US
alone). Amplification devices (i.e., hearing aids) are commonly used to compensate for HI
stemming from acoustic trauma, ototoxic insult, normal aging or other sources of cochlear
degeneration. The chief complaint of individuals with HI is hearing in the types of noisy
environments that characterize most work, educational, and social situations. Unfortunately,
hearing aids do not completely address the perceptual impairments in these situations. That
is because the difficulties that individuals with HI have hearing in noise result from the
reduced salience of cues that are used to sort out auditory scenes. Making sounds louder
improves audibility, but does not afford adaptation of the brain to the abnormal coding of
sensory information by the damaged cochlea. The investigators will test whether the hearing
in noise abilities of adults living with hearing impairment can be improved with a cognitive
training paradigm.

Inclusion Criteria:

- Binaural sensorineural hearing impairment

- Use of binaural hearing aids

- Native English Speaker

Exclusion Criteria:

- Significant cognitive impairment

- Significant motor impairment

- History of neurological disease/head trauma

- Use of psychotropic and thyroid medications
We found this trial at
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New City, New York 10956
Principal Investigator: Daniel Polley, Ph.D.
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243 Charles St
Boston, Massachusetts 02114
(617) 523-7900
Principal Investigator: Daniel B Polley, Ph.D.
Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary Whether you see our physicians at Mass. Eye and Ear's...
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Brighton, Massachusetts 02135
Principal Investigator: Mark Parker, Ph.D.
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