Effects of Cognitive Training on Speech Perception

January 26, 2021 updated by: Aaron Newman

Effects of Cognitive Training on Age-Related Hearing Loss and Speech Perception

In this study, the investigators are testing whether cognitive training can lead to improvements in speech perception for individuals with hearing loss. Individuals will complete 20 hours of cognitive training that is designed to improve cognitive abilities such as short term memory and attention. The investigators predict that cognitive training that improves the cognitive abilities affected by hearing loss will improve speech perception.

Study Overview

Status

Terminated

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

42

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

  • Canada
    • Nova Scotia
      • Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3H 4R2
        • NeuroCognitive Imaging Lab, Dalhousie University

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

50 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Able to come to Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada for study visits
  • Adults (50 years or older) with mild to moderate hearing loss
  • Access to an internet-connected device that is able to use Flash media, basic computer skills
  • Medically stable participants
  • Not currently taking medication that may affect brain function (e.g., anti-anxiety medication)
  • Normal or corrected-to-normal vision

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Participants with neurological conditions such as epilepsy or concussions will be excluded for safety reasons
  • Participants who are not native English speakers (materials used in the study are only in English)
  • Participants who are unable to provide consent
  • Participants with impaired cognition (assessed with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment)
  • Participants with high accuracy on the Speech Perception in Noise task at the second study visit (to eliminate participants who may be performing at ceiling level)

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: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Control, cognitive training
Participants in the control arm will receive cognitive training for cognitive abilities not affected by age-related hearing loss.
Behavioral: Cognitive training

Participants will engage in eight weeks of training that focuses on improving various cognitive abilities. For example, short term memory.

Cognitive training will take place 30 minutes per day, five days per week, for eight weeks. Training will be done in the participant's own home using web-based software. Participants will be randomly assigned to either the active control group, the control cognitive training group, or the experimental cognitive training group following the second study visit.

After eight weeks, participants will no longer partake in training.
Experimental: Experimental, cognitive training
Participants in the experimental arm will receive cognitive training for cognitive abilities affected by age-related hearing loss.
Behavioral: Cognitive training

Participants will engage in eight weeks of training that focuses on improving various cognitive abilities. For example, short term memory.

Cognitive training will take place 30 minutes per day, five days per week, for eight weeks. Training will be done in the participant's own home using web-based software. Participants will be randomly assigned to either the active control group, the control cognitive training group, or the experimental cognitive training group following the second study visit.

After eight weeks, participants will no longer partake in training.
Active Comparator: Active Control, crossword training
Participants in this group will undergo crossword puzzle training. The purpose of this group is control for any effects that may be due to engaging in cognitive training.
Behavioral: Cognitive training

Participants will engage in eight weeks of training that focuses on improving various cognitive abilities. For example, short term memory.

Cognitive training will take place 30 minutes per day, five days per week, for eight weeks. Training will be done in the participant's own home using web-based software. Participants will be randomly assigned to either the active control group, the control cognitive training group, or the experimental cognitive training group following the second study visit.

After eight weeks, participants will no longer partake in training.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Speech Perception in Noise Test - Improvement in speech perception accuracy from baseline to post-training for high and low predictability sentences
Time Frame: Baseline, Weeks 2, 10, and 18
Sentences of high predictability and low predictability are played with multi-user talker babble. Participants must repeat the last word of each sentence as they heard it. The primary outcome measure will be the accuracy for repeating the sentence.
Baseline, Weeks 2, 10, and 18

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Working Memory Cognitive Training - Improvements in working memory abilities from baseline
Time Frame: Weeks 2, 10, and 18

Individuals are asked to participate in 20 hours of cognitive training that will focus on either improving abilities affected by hearing loss (i.e., verbal working memory), or abilities not affected by hearing loss (i.e., spatial working memory).

Performance on the working memory task, Operation Span Task (OSPAN), will be assessed using the total score which is calculated as a sum based on the number of correct answers (letters accurately sequentially recalled) within a block for the duration of the task. Higher scores indicate better working memory capacity. Performance on the working memory cognitive training games will be assessed using the participant's accuracy, reaction time, and final score on the game.

Improvements in working memory will be assessed by comparing participant performance on working memory tasks (OSPAN; cognitive training memory games) before receiving cognitive training, immediately after receiving cognitive training, and eight weeks post-training.
Weeks 2, 10, and 18
Brain Performance Test
Time Frame: Weeks 2 and 10
The Brain Performance Test (BPT) is an assessment tool available online through the training program website. Participants will be assessed at home on their initial performance for a variety of cognitive abilities including stop-signal tasks, grammatical reasoning, and memory spans. After completing the eight weeks of cognitive training, participants will again be assessed at home with the BPT to determine whether there are any improvements in cognitive abilities.
Weeks 2 and 10
Attention Cognitive Training - Improvements in attention abilities from baseline
Time Frame: Weeks 2, 10, and 18

Individuals are asked to participate in 20 hours of cognitive training. Cognitive training will focus on either improving abilities affected by hearing loss (i.e., attention), or abilities not affected by hearing loss (i.e., spatial working memory).

Performance on the attention task, Flanker-Simon, will be assessed based on participant's accuracy and reaction time for the Flanker task, and the Simon task.

Performance on the attention cognitive training games will be assessed using the participant's accuracy, reaction time, and final score on the game.

Improvements in attention will be assessed by comparing the performance of participants on attention tasks (Flanker-Simon; cognitive training attention games) before receiving cognitive training, immediately after receiving cognitive training, and eight weeks post-training.
Weeks 2, 10, and 18

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Aaron Newman

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Aaron J Newman, PhD, Dalhousie University, Canada

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Helpful Links

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

September 1, 2016

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2020

Study Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 3, 2014

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 17, 2014

First Posted (Estimate)

November 19, 2014

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 27, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 26, 2021

Last Verified

January 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • NCIL-HL-CT

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

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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