Active clinical trials for "Deafness"

In this study, a noise reduction algorithm will be implemented in various listening situations to evaluate its effectiveness in improving speech understanding for cochlear implant users ages 12 and older.

More than 1.5 billion people around the world experience hearing loss, of whom at least 430 million experience disabling hearing loss that will require rehabilitation. The majority of people have mild to moderate hearing loss and can benefit from hearing aids. However, hearing aid adoption around the world has been low, with global hearing aid coverage being less than 11%. This is partly due to limited access to hearing healthcare services and the high cost of hearing devices. However, there have been significant efforts to improve access to hearing healthcare services. This includes rapid advances in hearing aids and new service-delivery models leading to more affordable and accessible options such as Over-the-Counter (OTC) hearing aids. On the 17th of October 2022, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) established a regulatory category for OTC hearing aids. The final rule allows consumers with perceived mild to moderate hearing impairment to purchase hearing aids directly from stores or online retailers without the need for a medical exam, prescription or a fitting by an audiologist. The FDA defined two sub-categories for OTC hearing aids, namely 1) OTC hearing aids with standardized output profiles (i.e., pre-set programs) and 2) self-fitting OTC hearing aids which allow users to program their hearing aids with a self-fitting strategy and also customize their hearing aid settings according to their needs and preferences. Sabin et al. (2020) was the first study to validate a self-fitting method using the Bose prototype hearing aid. This self-fitting method allowed users to select their own signal processing parameters using a mobile application consisting of two wheels that simultaneously control the gain and compression of all frequency bands. Sabin et al. (2020) evaluated the real-world performance of this approach by comparing gain, sound quality and clinical measures of hearing aid benefit and satisfaction between a group using the self-fitting method and a group that was professionally fitted with the same hearing aid. The gain selected by the self-fit group was within 1.8 dB overall and 5.6 dB per band compared to the gain selected by the audiologist. Participants in the self-fit group reported better sound quality, and there were no differences in clinical measures of hearing aid benefit or satisfaction. Although a number of studies have compared self-fitting OTC devices to conventional hearing aids fitted by hearing healthcare professionals, no study has compared different self-fitting strategies in the same OTC device. Therefore, this study aims to compare the existing self-fitting strategy of the Lexie Powered by Bose hearing aids (i.e., direct adjustment) to a recently validated in-situ audiometry fitting strategy. The in-situ audiometry fitting strategy consists of in-situ thresholds measurements conducted at 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz through the hearing aids, which will be used with a proprietary fitting algorithm that is based on National Acoustics Laboratories' Non-Linear Version 2 (NAL-NL2) to self-program the hearing aids.

Multi-channel cochlear implants have been highly successful in restoring speech understanding to individuals with severe-to-profound hearing loss. Optimal programs facilitate access to sound but do not necessarily result in optimal performance. Practiced listening with auditory inputs is required to retrain the brain to hear using a cochlear implant. In some cases exposure to sound in everyday listening is sufficient; however, in others there is a need for the provision of auditory training (AT) by a trained professional. In these cases it is important to have regular visits with a specialist to: 1) facilitate auditory training exercises; 2) work with the family/friends to encourage optimal communication strategies in the home; 3) evaluate and assess achievement of listening goals. This study seeks to evaluate the feasibility of providing auditory training services remotely for patient populations located outside of Toronto. This study also seeks to evaluate interindividual perspectives regarding access and benefits of these services across remote and in person sessions.

Steroids are used widely for the treatment of Sensorineural hearing loss worldwide. The difficulty lies with efficient delivery of the drug into the cochlea, which is already a sealed chamber with limited blood supply that too with an end Artery. We intend to extrapolate its effects by combining it with Platelet rich plasma. intra-tympanic delivery is achieved with injection via tympanic membrane and its absorption via round window is hastened by posture maintenance for about half an hour. PRP is an autologous biologic fluid which has excellent safety profile and is already in use by various specialties.

The purpose of this clinical trial pilot is to obtain feasibility and pilot data necessary to inform the hearing intervention being designed for a larger R01 clinical trial that seeks to determine whether best practice hearing aid intervention impacts hearing-related outcomes in adults with hearing loss aged 55 to 75 years. Secondary purposes include: To determine what effects best practice hearing aid intervention has on physical, social, and quality of life outcomes in adults with hearing loss aged 55 to 75 years.

The aim of the study is to assess the continued efficacy and safety of cochlear implantation in participants aged 5 years and above with Unilateral Hearing Loss (UHL)/Single Sided Deafness (SSD) supporting a change indication for use.

The main objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of an integrated program of fitting and training interventions aimed at reducing unexpected variability and addressing the specific error patterns of each recipient. The participants will undergo 1 visit lasting approximately 2 hours at the Radboud university medical center's ENT department, where they will undergo a series of diagnostic tests. Some of the participants will also be asked to self-administer additional tests using a Windows tablet. Based on the outcomes of speech recognition tests in quiet at the first visit, the participants will be called for follow-up interventions concerning both the fitting of their CI and personalized auditory training based on their personal error patterns. These interventions will take place over the course of approximately 5 months and will be made up of three follow-up visits and a period of self-administered training through a mobile application on a tablet. One final follow-up visit will check whether any changes from the interventions are retained after four weeks.

Interest and demand for sound amplifiers are increasing due to the burden of purchasing hearing aids and technological advances in healthcare products, and the demand is expected to increase rapidly. For sensorineural hearing loss patients, who are subject to wearing hearing aids, it aims to compare the effect of hearing aid application and personal sound amplification product (PSAPs) compared to the hearing aids

The current standard of care approach for programming cochlear implants uses a generalized pitch-map for all patients. This approach fails to account for individualized inner ear anatomy. As a result, many cochlear implant recipients experience place-pitch mismatch. We have recently developed an automated mathematical tool to produce patient-specific, customized cochlear implant pitch-maps (Helpard et al., 2021). In this study, cochlear implant recipients will be randomized to receive either the clinical default pitch-map (the control group) or a place-based pitch-map (the intervention group). Assessments will be conducted at multiple time-intervals to account for patient acclimation and plasticity to both the generalized and individualized pitch-maps. Audiological assessments will be tuned to identify patients' ability to discern pitch scaling and variation in sounds, as well as to understand complexities in speech such as mood and tone. Audiological testing will be conducted in collaboration with the National Centre for Audiology (London, ON) to ensure that the most accurate and relevant metrics are applied.

Single-sided deafness (SSD) refers to severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss on one side (average pure-tone hearing threshold≥70 dB HL at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4kHz) while the opposite side maintains normal hearing or mild hearing loss (30 dB HL). Asymmetrical hearing loss (AHL) refers to severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss in the bad ear (average pure-tone hearing threshold≥70 dB HL at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4kHz) and mild to moderate hearing loss in the contralateral ear. Moderate hearing loss (30≤mean pure-tone hearing threshold≤55dBHL). It is generally acknowledged that SSD is a particular clinical manifestation of AHL. The number of people who have hearing loss accounts for 5.3% of the total population, with children for 9%. According to the Second National Sampling Survey on Disabled Persons, China has 27.8 million people with hearing disabilities. The incidence of SSD adults in the United States is 7.2%, with 60,000 new cases per year, compared with 7,500 new patients with SSD annually in the UK. The incidence of SSD in neonates is 0.04%-0.34%, and it ranges from 0.1% to 0.5% in children and adolescents. The etiology of congenital SSD is primarily unknown, which is related to genes. Among the causes of acquired SSD, sudden deafness is the most common. Other causes include head trauma, Meniere's disease, labyrinthitis, unilateral acoustic neuroma, middle ear surgery, ototoxic drug exposure, Virus infection, noise-induced deafness, senile deafness, etc. SSD and AHL impede intellectual development and speech development in children and adolescents, which is associated with the side of hearing loss. For example, children with right-sided hearing loss have relatively poor language learning, logical thinking, and divergent thinking. In contrast, children with left-sided hearing loss have weaker analytical, comprehensive and visual memory abilities and relatively poor spatial imagination and visual-motor coordination. In addition, the lack of long-term monaural listening and sound source localization makes SSD children require excessive concentration, which is prone to fatigue and behavioral problems, and their academic performance is lower than that of normal children.