Artificial Grammar Learning in Children Who Are Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing: Stimulus Length Effect
August 28, 2026 updated by: Heidi Mettler, University of Illinois at Chicago
The goal of this basic experimental study involving humans (BESH) clinical trial is to examine how stimulus length affects grammar learning in children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing and who primarily use spoken language.
The main question it aims to answer is: do short or long stimuli better support grammar learning in this population?
Participants will complete an artificial grammar learning task to see which condition (short vs. long stimuli) results in better grammar learning.
Study Overview
Status
Not yet recruiting
Conditions
Intervention / Treatment
Study Type
Interventional
Enrollment (Estimated)
30
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
- Name: Tina M Grieco-Calub, PhD
- Phone Number: 312-996-0123
- Email: tgcalub@uic.edu
Study Contact Backup
- Name: Heidi M Mettler, PhD
- Phone Number: 312-996-8481
- Email: mettler@uic.edu
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
- Child
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No
Description
Inclusion Criteria:
- Aged 5- to 7-years-old
- Diagnosed with bilateral hearing loss
- Uses bilateral hearing devices (cochlear implants, bilateral hearing aids, or a cochlear implant and a hearing aid)
- Has used first hearing device for at least one year
- No history of developmental delay that is unrelated to hearing loss
- Normal non-verbal IQ
- Normal or corrected-to-normal vision
- Normal color vision
- Primarily spoken English user
- Access to remote video call technology
Exclusion Criteria:
- Younger than 5 years old
- 8 years, 0 months or older
- Normal hearing in one or both ears
- Uses one or no hearing device (e.g., cochlear implant, hearing aid)
- Has not used at least one hearing device for one year
- History of developmental delay that is unrelated to hearing loss
- Nonverbal IQ below normal limits
- Visual impairment not corrected by glasses or contacts
- Color vision impairment
- Primarily uses a signed language or non-English language to communicate
- Does not have access to remote video call technology
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: Basic Science
- Allocation: N/A
- Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
- Masking: None (Open Label)
Arms and Interventions
Participant Group / Arm |
Intervention / Treatment |
|---|---|
|
Experimental: Stimulus Length
Children will complete an artificial grammar learning task.
They will passively listen to two grammar-like auditory sequences in one of two experimental conditions that differ in syllable length.
In the short condition, the sequences will contain 1-syllable stimuli.
In the long condition, the sequences will contain 4-syllable stimuli.
|
Grammar-like auditory stimuli will comprise short linguistic content.
Grammar-like auditory stimuli will comprise long linguistic content.
|
What is the study measuring?
Primary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
|
Accuracy on third grammaticality judgment test
Time Frame: End of day 2 of the artificial grammar learning task
|
Participants will be presented with novel, grammar-like auditory stimuli.
They will decide whether each stimulus matches or does not match the artificial language that they were previously presented with.
|
End of day 2 of the artificial grammar learning task
|
Secondary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
|
Accuracy on first grammaticality judgment test
Time Frame: Middle of day 1 of the artificial grammar learning task
|
Participants will be presented with novel, grammar-like auditory stimuli.
They will decide whether each stimulus matches or does not match the artificial language that they were previously presented with.
|
Middle of day 1 of the artificial grammar learning task
|
|
Accuracy on the second grammaticality judgment task
Time Frame: Start of day 2 of the artificial grammar learning task
|
Participants will be presented with novel, grammar-like auditory stimuli.
They will decide whether each stimulus matches or does not match the artificial language they were presented with previously.
|
Start of day 2 of the artificial grammar learning task
|
Collaborators and Investigators
This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.
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 (Estimated)
September 1, 2026
Primary Completion (Estimated)
June 1, 2027
Study Completion (Estimated)
August 1, 2027
Study Registration Dates
First Submitted
August 14, 2026
First Submitted That Met QC Criteria
August 21, 2026
First Posted (Actual)
August 24, 2026
Study Record Updates
Last Update Posted (Actual)
September 1, 2026
Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria
August 28, 2026
Last Verified
August 1, 2026
More Information
Terms related to this study
Keywords
Additional Relevant MeSH Terms
Other Study ID Numbers
- STUDY2026-0274a
- 1K99DC024195-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)
Drug and device information, study documents
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product
No
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product
No
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