Efficacy of Digital Noise Reduction Strategies: A Hearing Aid Trial

March 19, 2010 updated by: US Department of Veterans Affairs
The purpose of this study is to see if noise reduction programs in digital hearing aids help patients hear better than hearing aids without these programs. We also want to know if we can predict how successful patients will be with hearing aids.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The first goal of this project is to examine the efficacy of digital hearing aids incorporating three noise reduction strategies (i.e., directional microphones alone vs. directional microphones with DSP noise reduction algorithm 1 vs. directional microphones with DSP noise reduction algorithm 2) in terms of both speech understanding outcomes and functional outcomes. The second goal is to identify individual characteristics that are predictive of successful functional outcomes with hearing aids.

This study employs a multi-site, randomized, blinded, 2x2 factorial parallel group design. Three hundred subjects will be studied at three VA Medical Centers (Mountain Home, TN; Bay Pines, FL; and Los Angeles, CA) over a period of three years.

Objective (word recognition ability and performance with degraded speech stimuli) subjective (self-assessment questionnaires, personality and depression assessments) and cost-effectiveness assessments will be measured for 4 randomized treatment groups receiving different digital hearing aid technology. Subjects will be randomly assigned to wear hearing aids with directional microphones alone or directional microphones with noise reduction algorithm 1 or directional microphones with noise reduction algorithm 2 for a period of 8 weeks. Subjects will complete post-testing after 8 weeks of hearing aid use.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

288

Phase

  • Not Applicable

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
    • Florida
      • Bay Pines, Florida, United States, 33708
        • VA Medical Center, Bay Pines
    • Tennessee
      • Mountain Home, Tennessee, United States, 37684
        • James H. Quillen VA Medical Center

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 to 85 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. adult onset sensorineural hearing loss
  2. English as the first language
  3. bilateral symmetrical sensorineural hearing loss
  4. Patient is a candidate for directional microphone technology.
  5. average audiometric thresholds for 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, and 4000 Hz no better than 25-dB HL in either ear.
  6. no history of hearing aid use in the past 10 years
  7. appropriate cognitive skills to participate in the study as determined by a passing score on the Mini Mental Scale.
  8. Patient has a local telephone and address.

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. evidence of outer ear, middle ear, or retrocochlear pathology
  2. any threshold from 500 to 2000 Hz exceeds 70-dB HL
  3. known neurological or psychiatric disorders as determined by chart review
  4. known comorbid diseases that would prevent completion of the study as determined by chart review
  5. visual impairment that would interfere with reading the questionnaires

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

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: 1
Noise reduction on
Behavioral: Digital noise reduction

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Words in Noise Test
Time Frame: 2 months
2 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

US Department of Veterans Affairs

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Richard Wilson, PhD, James H. Quillen VA Medical Center

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

June 1, 2004

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2006

Study Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2006

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 1, 2005

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 1, 2005

First Posted (Estimate)

December 5, 2005

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

March 23, 2010

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 19, 2010

Last Verified

March 1, 2010

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • C3011R

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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