Early Diagnosis of Steroid-Responsive & No-Responsive Hearing Loss

January 20, 2009 updated by: US Department of Veterans Affairs

Tinnitus is a prevalent issue for veterans who are proportionally more hearing-impaired than the civilian population.

This study will be conducted as three concurrent projects designed to develop an efficient clinical technique to quantify tinnitus perception:

(1)Laboratory development of the automated technique for comprehensive tinnitus quantification;(2)Development of a technique to test for tinnitus "malingering"; and (3)Evaluation of the automated technique in the clinical environment.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Because of its close association with sensorineural hearing loss, tinnitus is a prevalent issue for veterans who are proportionally more hearing-impaired than the civilian population. The VA system disburses $110 million per year to over 115,000 veterans for their service-connected tinnitus disability, thus it is clearly a problem for veterans and for the VA. Unfortunately, most VAMCs do not have systematic clinical care available for their veterans suffering from tinnitus. The most obvious needs are to develop effective treatment methodologies for veterans, and to standardize a procedure for quantifying the disorder. Each of these concerns is a focus of this laboratory, and the present proposal addresses the latter need as a continuation study to develop reliable techniques to measure tinnitus.

The goal of this proposed study is a fully functional system, documented for response reliability and ready for clinical implementation at VA audiology clinics outside of Portland. To achieve that end goal, the study will be conducted as three concurrent projects: (1) Further laboratory development of the automated technique for comprehensive tinnitus quantification; (2) Development of a technique to test for tinnitus "malingering"; and (3) Evaluation of the automated technique in the clinical environment.

For Project 1, a series of experiments is proposed to reduce the time of testing, and to add new measurement capabilities. Each experiment will involve specification, design, and implementation of program modifications, human subject testing, analysis of results, and further modifications as indicated. Another series of experiments (Project 2) will be conducted to develop a tinnitus malingering exam. With such a test, veterans with true tinnitus would provide reliable responses, while those feigning tinnitus would have difficulty responding reliably. For Project 3, a duplicate measurement system will be installed at the Portland VA Regional Tinnitus Clinic. The automated technique will be used to quantify tinnitus in veteran patients during their tinnitus evaluation. Patients will be invited to return for repeat testing, which will provide reliability data for clinical responses. This project will promote clinical feedback that will be important for final development of the system as a clinical tool.

The three projects outlined above are designed to develop an efficient clinical technique to quantify tinnitus perception. Because the technique is computer automated, its implementation at VA clinics will involve a minimum of training and expenditure. The technique is further expected to impact the medical care of non-VA clinics, and could

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Anticipated)

50

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Oregon
      • Portland, Oregon, United States
        • VAMC, Portland

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Hearing impaired

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

US Department of Veterans Affairs

Investigators

  • Nancy Rocheleau, Program Analyst, Department of Veterans Affairs, Program Analysis and Review Section (PARS), Rehabilitation Research & Development Service
  • John Fryer, Ph.D., Asst. Director, Department of Veterans Affairs, Program Analysis and Review Section (PARS), Rehabilitation Research & Development Service

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

August 1, 2000

Study Completion (Actual)

August 1, 2003

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 14, 2001

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 15, 2001

First Posted (Estimate)

March 16, 2001

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

January 21, 2009

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 20, 2009

Last Verified

January 1, 2001

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • C2299R

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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