Active clinical trials for "Hearing Disorders"

The study is a prospective, single-center, comparative, cross-over study with within-subject control design. In the investigation an updated sound processor will be tested at compared to the CE marked Ponto 3 SuperPower sound processor (available on the market since December 2016) in order to establish marketing claim(s) on the updated sound processor. The performance of the two sound processors will be evaluated via speech and hearing tests, and patient reported outcomes.

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.

The present study aims to examine the efficacy of transcranial direct current stimulation on the severity of auditory hallucinations.

Background: People with epilepsy often have auditory processing disorders that affect their ability to hear clearly and may cause problems with understanding speech and other kinds of verbal communication. Researchers are interested in developing better ways of studying what parts of the brain are affected by hearing disorders and epilepsy, and they need better clinical tests to measure how individuals process sound. These tests will allow researchers to examine and evaluate the effects of epilepsy and related disorders on speech and communication. A procedure called a magnetoencephalography (MEG) can be used to measure the electrical currents involved in brain activity. Researchers are interested in learning whether MEG can be used to detect differences in the processing of simple sounds in patients with epilepsy, both with and without hearing impairments. Objectives: - To measure brain activity in hearing impaired persons with epilepsy and compare the results with those from people with normal hearing and epilepsy as well as people with normal hearing and no epilepsy. This research is performed in collaboration with Johns Hopkins Hospital and epilepsy patients must be candidates for surgery at Johns Hopkins. Eligibility: Individuals between 18 to 55 years of age who (1) have epilepsy and have hearing impairments, (2) have epilepsy but do not have hearing impairments, or (3) are healthy volunteers who have neither epilepsy nor hearing impairments. Participants with epilepsy must have developed seizures after 10 years of age, and must be candidates for grid implantation surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital.. Design: This study will require one visit of approximately 4 to 6 hours. Participants will be screened with a full physical examination and medical history, along with a basic hearing test. Participants will have a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of the brain, followed by a MEG scan to record magnetic field changes produced by brain activity. During MEG recording, participants will be asked to listen to various sounds and make simple responses (pressing a button, moving your hand or speaking) in response to sounds heard through earphones. The MEG procedure should take between 1 and 2 hours. Treatment at NIH is not provided as part of this protocol.

The proposed research is a non-interventional study made to evaluate different measurements on 1 group of participants, before and after taking a nap, aiming to potentially guide future investigations on nap-modulated tinnitus to better understand this phenomenon. The main hypothesis is that sleep apneas could be correlated with an increase of tinnitus intensity.

Within the course of this study, a signal processing feature has been developed at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), in collaboration with Sonova AG, in order to enhance the listening experience with remote microphone systems. In particular, the developed feature is supposed to improve the so-called audio-visual fusion, i.e. the fact to perceive the sound as coming from the physical location of the source. One of the main goals of the present study is to evaluate the extent to which this feature reaches that objective.

This study will use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to compare brain function in three groups of people: hearing-impaired people with tinnitus; hearing-impaired people without tinnitus; and people with normal hearing and without tinnitus. Also known as "ringing in the ears," tinnitus is the false sensation of sounds. Adults between 30 and 65 years of age who meet the following criteria may be eligible for this study: Mild to moderate hearing loss who have experienced tinnitus daily for at least 1 year Mild to moderate hearing loss who have never or rarely experienced tinnitus Normal hearing who have never or rarely experienced tinnitus Candidates are screened with a medical history and questionnaires. Participants have a detailed hearing test to measure hearing and the nature of tinnitus. In a second visit, subjects have a brief physical examination, followed by MRI scanning. MRI uses a magnetic field and radio waves to produce images of body tissues and organs. For this procedure, the subject lies on a table that can slide in and out of the scanner (a narrow cylinder), wearing earplugs to muffle loud knocking and thumping sounds that occur during the scanning process. The subject may be asked to lie still for up to 8 minutes at a time. During the MRI, the subject performs computer-based tasks that involve listening to sounds. Another hearing test is done after the MRI.

The project will be done at the ear, nose and throat outpatient department at Lovisenberg Diakonale Hospital (LDS) in 2015-2016. About 12% of patients with appointments at the surgical outpatient clinic at LDS do not attend their appointment even after receiving both letters and shot message service (SMS) reminders. Persuasion theory suggests that the SMS reminders may be more effective if the text appeals more to the patient's feelings. The project is designed as a randomized controlled trial in which the control group receives the standard text that has neutral content and the intervention group receives a more emotion-based SMS reminder. The aim is to determine whether the more emotional text reduces the proportion of patients who do not show up for their scheduled appointment at the surgical outpatient clinic.

The rationale is to determine (in individuals with limited perceived bimodal benefit) whether the CROS device may be a better solution for obtaining two-sided input. If yes, this study would be practice-changing.

This is Prospective Basic Science Study whose aims are as follows: To determine the effect of Filtering Facepiece (FFP3M) respirators on eustachian tube function and hearing To evaluate the extent to which FFP3M respirators attenuate speech in decibels The outcome measures are as follows: Changes in baseline pure tone audiometry and tympanometry post intervention. SNOT-22 Questionnaires before and after use of respirator ETDQ7 questionnaire Measurement of speech attenuation in decibels.