The Contributions of Age Related Changes in the Sound Localization Pathway to Central Hearing Loss

Launched by UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, DENVER · Aug 12, 2020

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is studying how age-related changes in the brain affect our ability to hear, especially in noisy environments. Many older adults experience a type of hearing loss called presbycusis, which can make it hard to pick out specific sounds, like conversations, when there are other noises around. The goal of the study is to better understand this issue by comparing how younger and older adults process sounds and focus on speech in noisy settings. Participants will undergo non-invasive tests that measure how their brains respond to sounds and assess their ability to understand speech amidst background noise.

To be eligible for the study, participants should be between 21 and 89 years old and have mild hearing loss at most. They also need to have a good level of cognitive function, which will be checked through a simple screening test. This means that those who are interested in joining the study can expect to take part in comfortable tests that will help researchers learn more about hearing loss as people age, ultimately aiming to find better treatments in the future.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • 1. Subjects age ranges
• • a. 21 years (inclusive) and 89years (inclusive)
• • 2. Subjects exhibiting no poorer than a mild hearing loss, defined as hearing thresholds no worse than 40dBHL at any test frequency 250-4000 Hz based on pure tone audiometry
• • 3. Subjects scoring 26 or higher on a screening measure of cognitive status (Montreal Cognitive Screening Assessment; MoCA)
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • 1. Patients outside the age range of 21-89
• • 2. Patients with an air-bone gap greater than 10dBHL at any frequency
• • 3. Patients who are decisionally challenged and/or unable to complete speech perception testing. These patients are excluded based on the study requiring behavioral responses to some tests
• • 4. Patients with little command of the English language who are unable to understand and repeat back simple everyday English sentences.
• • 5. Illiterate patients
• • 6. Patients with neurodegenerative diseases.