Active clinical trials for "Hearing Loss"

The purpose of this program of research is to understand the perception of the dynamic spectral properties of speech by hearing-impaired listeners, with the long-term goal of improving speech understanding by these individuals in adverse listening conditions. The proposed research compares the performance of normally-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners on measures of speech understanding in the presence of different types of signal distortion and speech understanding of signals with enhanced spectral dynamics. A computational model based on the amount of potential information available in speech will be used to quantify differences in speech intelligibility due to hearing status and stimulus characteristics.

The current study is a dubble-blinde placebo-controlled cross-over study verifying the preventive effect of antioxidants on noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) and noise-induced tinnitus (NIT). The antioxidants comprise of a mixture of magnesium and n-acetylcystein which should be taken 1h before leisure noise above 100dB for at least 30 minutes.

There is a strong connection between hearing loss and cognitive impairment, particularly dementia, in old age. Worldwide, dementia affects approximately 5% of persons over the age of 65 years. Hearing loss is even more prevalent in old age, affecting an estimated one third of persons over the age of 65 years. Thus, there is likely a large degree of overlap between the impairments. Indeed, this overlap may influence older adults' everyday functioning, communication, social engagement and quality of life, as well as influencing the well-being of their family caregivers. This project will examine whether patients with hearing loss and Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, derive benefit the from hearing aids prescribed and fit to them following current best practice procedures in a geriatric audiology clinic. For the first time, a formal evaluation of the potential benefits of hearing aids for the patients' family caregivers will also be conducted.

This study investigates the possible benefits of using binaural spatialization techniques in digital wireless microphone systems for hearing aids. Speech intelligibility tests, speaker localization tests and preference tests are performed. The results of a diotic (current rendering) and a binaural (suggested rendering) rendering are compared.

The sensitivity and specificity of the Hum Test is being investigated in it's ability to detect conductive hearing loss. The hum test is simply elicited by asking the subject to hum to him or herself for a few seconds at both a high and low pitch that is comfortable for the subject. The subject is then asked if the hum was heard on one side more than the other (left or right), or if the sound was equal on both sides. To simulate conductive hearing loss, ear plugs will be placed in one of the subject's ears. We will elicit the hum test as well as the standard Weber test and audiogram across two conditions, with an ear plug and without an ear plug. From this, it is hoped to assess how the Hum Test compares to the audiogram (gold standard) in detecting conductive hearing loss as well as how it compares to the standard Weber test. If the Hum Test demonstrates strong sensitivity and specificity in detecting conductive hearing loss, it could have application as being utilized as an alternative to the standard Weber test, or in a setting where a formal physical examination may not yet be possible but where the etiology of a patient's hearing change could be quickly assessed remotely and thus the urgency of intervention/ consultation could then be determined.

The purpose of this study is to assess the benefit of new super-power bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) processors in BAHA users. BAHAs are able to help people with mixed/conductive and single-sided hearing loss when they are unable to use or receive limited benefit from traditional hearing. Until recently, BAHAs were only recommended to people with up to a moderate hearing loss. New super-power BAHA processors may be able to help people who previously were not candidates for BAHAs or received limited benefit from them. The information collected in this study may lead to improved evaluation of and expanded treatment options for people considering BAHA. Different types of hearing tests will be used to compare the devices.

The purpose of this study is to collect patient related benefit data following treatment for permanent hearing loss with a hearing implant from the company Cochlear over a period of 2 years post treatment. Assessment of benefits is based on standard questionnaires of hearing ability and quality of life in general.

The study will allow to identify the prevalence of the SLC17A8 gene mutations in patients suffering from deafness. This phenotype also corresponds to DFNA15 deafness caused by POU4F3 : mutations of this gene will be screened as well.

This studied is designed to discover the genes that cause hearing impairment. More precisely, this study aims to map and clone genes that are important for the development and maintenance of the anatomy and physiology related to hearing (auditory system). The study will begin by finding large families who have members with hearing impairment. Once families are found, members with and without hearing impairment will be evaluated by an audiologist and a clinician (doctor). An audiologist, is a person trained in evaluating, habilitating, and rehabilitating people with disorders of hearing function. The clinician's responsibility is to examine the patients and check for other signs and symptoms related to hearing. Finding the gene for hearing impairment requires: <TAB>DNA samples of hearing impaired family members, taken from standard blood samples. <TAB>DNA samples of members of the family without hearing impairment, taken from standard blood samples. <TAB>Results of hearing tests conducted by the audiologist for all participants. Once all members of the family are evaluated researchers can create a pedigree. A pedigree is like a family tree that charts members of a family with a genetic disorder, like hearing impairment. Pedigrees are used to determine the mode of inheritance of the gene responsible for a particular condition. Finally, researcher intend on using all the information gathered as well as methods for genetic analysis to map out the location of the gene. Patients participating in this study will not directly benefit from its research, but scientific understanding achieved may help researchers better understand the auditory system and someday prevent deafness.<TAB>...

Neck pain is a common complaint in the general population affecting 10-15% of the general population. females more than men. Known risk factors are: Trauma, Repetitive lifting of heavy objects at work, driving vibrating vehicles, frequents diving from boards and smoking. No study dealt with the possible role of unilateral loss of vision or hearing as a risk factor for the development of neck pain. Intuitively, one might suspect that unilateral blindness or deafness will lead to a tilted position of the head, in order to cover a better visual/audio field. This position, in time, might lead to the development of neck pain. Our hypothesis is that patients with unilateral blindness/deafness will suffer from neck pain more frequently than the general population.