Effectiveness Comparison of 3D-Printed and Conventional Ear Tip Comfort in Individuals With Hearing Loss

April 30, 2026 updated by: Bryan Wong, University of Arizona
Access to affordable and timely hearing healthcare remains a major challenge for many individuals, partly due to the high cost and long turnaround time. This study will explore whether 3D-printed ear tips perform as well as or better than standard ear tips in terms of sound quality, comfort, and fit over a prolonged duration in a sample of individuals with bilateral hearing loss. It will also compare how long each method takes to make and how much each costs.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

32

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 Contact

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Arizona
      • Tucson, Arizona, United States, 85721
        • Recruiting
        • The University of Arizona Hearing Clinic
        • Contact:

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Bilateral, symmetric, sensorineural hearing loss, with thresholds between normal and severe degree of hearing loss
  • Normal otoscopy: patent ear canals with normal appearing eardrums and aerated middle ear, bilaterally.
  • English speaking.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Self reported history of extensive or current outer or middle ear pathology.
  • Self reported history of extensive outer or middle ear surgery.
  • Self reported history of neurological or cognitive disorder.
  • Active ear infection

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: Crossover Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: In-house Study group_Resin
participants will initially receive ear tips fabricated using biocompatible resin
Device: BTE hearing aids with compatible ear tips (Resin, Third-party, FlexRes)
Hearing aids will be fit with three different types of customized ear tips. They will wear each ear tip for 1 week. The following order participants will wear each ear tip includes: Resin, Third-party, FlexResin. Hearing aids will be programmed to fit the participants' hearing loss from 250-8000Hz. A short washout period will follow completion of testing with ear tip group
Active Comparator: Third-party Manufactured
participants will initially receive ear tips fabricated by third party manufacturer using biocompatible resin
Device: BTE hearing aids with compatible ear tips (Third-party, FlexResin, Resin)
Hearing aids will be fit with three different types of customized ear tips. They will wear each ear tip for 1 week. The following order participants will wear each ear tip includes: Third-party, FlexResin, Resin. Hearing aids will be programmed to fit the participants' hearing loss from 250-8000Hz. A short washout period will follow completion of testing with ear tip group.
Experimental: In-house Study group_FlexibleResin
Participants will initially receive ear tips fabricated using biocompatible flexible resin
Device: BTE hearing aids with compatible ear tips (FlexResin, Resin, Third-party, FlexResin)
Hearing aids will be fit with three different types of customized ear tips. They will wear each ear tip for 1 week. The following order participants will wear each ear tip includes: Resin, Third-party, FlexResin. Hearing aids will be programmed to fit the participants' hearing loss from 250-8000Hz. A short washout period will follow completion of testing with ear tip group

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Outer EAR comfort questionnaire
Time Frame: through study completion, an average of 1 week
A validated questionnaire, Outer EAR, will be used to elicit patient perception of physical comfort, acoustic comfort, quality of voice, and overall self-perceived satisfaction. Includes 6 items (5 levels) , with 5 representing best possible function/rating.
through study completion, an average of 1 week
Real Ear Measures
Time Frame: through study completion, an average of 1 week
Evaluation of ear canal acoustics with participant wearing a hearing aid and eartip type (3d party, in-house_Resin, in-house_FlexResin). A thin microphone tube is placed in the ear canal to measure the average amount gain (dB SPL) across various frequencies (250-8000Hz) while the participant sits in front of a speaker playing sound samples. Results are recorded in gain (dB SPL) across frequencies.
through study completion, an average of 1 week

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Cost
Time Frame: through study completion, an average of week
The total raw cost ($, dollars US)
through study completion, an average of week
Time
Time Frame: through study completion, an average of week
Time-to-subject for each ear tip type
through study completion, an average of week

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Arizona

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 (Actual)

March 15, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

April 15, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

April 25, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 7, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 13, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

November 14, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 1, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 30, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 5737

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

Yes

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

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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