Use of Frequency Compression in Severe-profound Hearing Loss Adults (FC)

November 9, 2020 updated by: University College, London

Do Severe-profound Hearing Impaired Adults Perform Better in Speech Perception With Frequency Compression Switched on or Off or Fitted to Hearing Loss

The purpose of this study is to investigate the functional benefits of frequency compression vs no frequency compression or fitted to hearing loss in severe-profound hearing impaired adults with high frequency hearing losses. Thus, assessing whether hearing aids for this patient population can be adapted to improve speech perception.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Frequency compression is a feature available on some digital hearing aids, which is aimed at increasing the audibility of high frequency sounds. It works by taking sounds above a fixed start frequency and compresses it into lower frequencies where residual hearing is better.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

27

Phase

  • Not Applicable

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

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Participants must be over 18 years of age- This study is looking at the use of frequency compression & its effects of speech perception in adults.
  2. No ear surgery that would make it impossible to fit a hearing aid- To ensure limited confounding variables.
  3. No history of ear surgery within the last 12 months- To ensure limited confounding variables.
  4. No history of ear infection(s) within the last 6 months- To ensure no contraindications and limited confounding variables to testing.
  5. No otoscopic abnormality making it impossible to fit a hearing aid- To ensure no contraindications to testing.
  6. Bilateral severe-profound hearing impairment with air conduction thresholds >71dBHL within the frequency range of 250Hz to 4 kHz- To analyse the effects of frequency compression on speech perception within this patient population.
  7. Post lingual deafness, with good spoken English- To ensure reliability of speech testing.
  8. Previous bilateral digital hearing aid experience (6+ months)- To ensure limited confounding variables.
  9. Written consent required.

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Participants under the age of 18 years.
  2. History of ear surgery making it impossible to fit a hearing aid.
  3. History of ear surgery within the last 12 months.

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
Other: FC Deactivated
Frequency Compression feature on hearing aids is deactivated for 4 weeks
Device: Hearing aid feature: Frequency Compression
FC Deactivated/Activated & set to default/Activated & set to hearing loss
Other Names:
  • Non-linear Frequency Compression
Experimental: FC activated & set to default
Frequency compression feature activated on hearing aids and set to default software settings for 4 weeks.
Device: Hearing aid feature: Frequency Compression
FC Deactivated/Activated & set to default/Activated & set to hearing loss
Other Names:
  • Non-linear Frequency Compression
Experimental: FC activated and set to hearing loss
Frequency Compression feature activated on hearing aids and set to hearing loss cut-off for 4 weeks
Device: Hearing aid feature: Frequency Compression
FC Deactivated/Activated & set to default/Activated & set to hearing loss
Other Names:
  • Non-linear Frequency Compression

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
CHEAR Auditory Perception Test
Time Frame: 4 weeks post hearing aid fitting with adapted hearing aid feature
Aided Monosyllabic Speech Test
4 weeks post hearing aid fitting with adapted hearing aid feature
Adaptive Bamford-Kowal-Bench Test
Time Frame: 4 weeks post hearing aid fitting with adapted hearing aid feature
Aided Sentence Test
4 weeks post hearing aid fitting with adapted hearing aid feature

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University College, London

Investigators

  • Study Chair: Deborah Vickers, Phd, UCL Ear Institute

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

April 1, 2015

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2015

Study Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 4, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 9, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

November 10, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

November 10, 2020

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 9, 2020

Last Verified

November 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 15/0217

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

Undecided

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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