Active clinical trials for "Deafness"

Purpose: to investigate the relationship between time for treatment seeking and audiometric data and self-assessment of handicap for patients in a public hearing healthcare service. Methods: Retrospective study. Records of 152 elderly and 48 adults with hearing impairment were analyzed. The ISO audiometric thresholds average (500 to 4000Hz) and high frequencies average (2000 to 6000Hz), the speech recognition thresholds and the total, social and emotional scores from the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Adults (HHIA) and Elderly (HHIE) were compared with the time between the onset of hearing complaints and the first treatment seeking. Results: The average time for treatment seeking was 7,6 years. No statistical difference was found between ISO and high frequency audiometric average, HHIA/E scores and time for treatment seeking between adults and the elderly. Weak but significant negative correlations were observed between the audiometric data and time for treatment seeking. There was no relationship between the time for treatment seeking and educational, socioeconomic levels and perception of handicap. Conclusions: The search for treatment seems to be multifactorial. Despite technological advances and changes in access to information and treatment time for treatment seeking was similar to that reported 30 years ago.

Our main objective is to study how the extent of reorganization of the central auditory system is related to the binaural integration in cochlear implanted subjects with asymmetric hearing loss. Subjects with asymmetric hearing loss treated with a cochlear implant and a control group of normal hearing subjects will perform two tests for binaural integration (speech recognition in noise and spatial localization) and two tasks of non-linguistic sounds perception.

Communication on telephone is challenging for people with hearing loss. For hearing aid users, for instance, the inventions for improving speech intelligibility on the phone range from an integrated tele coil and individual hearing programs to specially designed phone devices. No formal studies involving these devices have been carried out with CI users. Thus, this comparative study includes hearing aid as well as CI and bimodal users to evaluate different hearing solutions for communication on telephone in terms of intelligibility and ease of use.

A single center study evaluating the performance of an externally worn sound processor for a transcutaneous bone anchored hearing system using audiological outcomes measures such as aided thresholds and speech intelligibility and self evaluation questionnaires.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the long-term safety and efficacy of the Esteem® Hearing Implant in subjects suffering from moderate to severe hearing loss.

Wind-noise is highly disturbing to hearing impaired individuals wearing hearing aids who wish to participate in outdoor conversations where wind is present or during activities such as walking or running. In these situations, wind noise significantly reduces signal-to-noise ratio and, consequently, the intelligibility of speech and sounds may be significantly impaired. This negative effect is exacerbated with the use of directional microphone schemes in the hearing iads. The objective of this project is to determine the efficacy of the MH Acoustics' multi-microphone wind-noise reduction invention for the digital hearing aids market. MH Acoustics' wind noise reduction technology is unique since it provides instantaneous convergence while maintaining directionality of the microphone array. Current commercial technologies do not provide this feature. We are hypothesizing that, due to the design of the algorithm, speech perception ability and sound quality perception will be better than that available with traditional directional and/or omnidirectional microphone schemes in windy environments.

Disequilibrium between acid and base in the inner ear was suggested to be an important factor leading to hearing impairment associated with SLC26A4 mutations. For acid-base homeostasis in the inner ear, gastric-type proton pumps might demonstrate antagonistic effects to pendrin, the protein encoded by SLC26A4. To investigate whether proton pump inhibitors might prevent or treat acute fluctuating hearing loss related to SLC26A4 mutations, we launch the current double-blind randomized clinical trial.

Cisplatin and carboplatin induce ototoxicity manifested as sensorineural hearing loss, tinnitus, and/or vestibular disturbances. Ototoxicity is induced via damage to inner ear structures by reactive oxygen species. Previous animal studies demonstrated that transtympanic injection of Ringer's Lactate (RL) provided near complete otoprotective effect against cisplatin. The purpose of this study is to determine if transtympanic administration of Ringer's Lactate via a pressure equalising (PE) tube in patients undergoing platinum based chemotherapy treatment will prevent tinnitus, vestibular dysfunction and hearing loss especially at high frequencies. Pre- and post- chemotherapy treatment audiometry will be measured and statistically analysed for significance.

The aim of the research is to investigate phonological processing in deafness and to examine its influence on the neuroanatomy of reading.The basic hypothesis is that insofar as the ability to read is closely related to the ability to segment and represent speech units, the neuroanatomy of reading in deaf would be different from the one of hearing readers.

The purpose of this 3-year prospective investigation is to examine the short-term and long-term (1 year)efficacy of the bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) in adults with single sided deafness