Cochlear Implanted Listening Effort and Hearing Attention

Launched by ASSISTANCE PUBLIQUE - HÔPITAUX DE PARIS · Jan 29, 2021

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial, titled "Cochlear Implanted Listening Effort and Hearing Attention," is studying how cochlear implant users manage to focus on certain sounds, especially in noisy environments where many people are talking at once. The researchers want to understand the role of attention in helping these individuals distinguish important sounds from background noise. By comparing cochlear implant users with healthy volunteers who have normal hearing, the study aims to learn more about the listening challenges experienced by those with hearing loss and how these challenges can affect their effort in understanding speech.

To participate, you need to be between 18 and 80 years old and either have a cochlear implant (specifically an Oticon Medical implant used for at least 6 months) or have normal hearing. Participants will undergo tests that measure their ability to focus on specific sounds while ignoring distractions, and the researchers will also look at how much effort it takes for them to understand speech in noisy situations. This study could help improve how cochlear implants are assessed and fitted, ultimately aiming to enhance the listening experience for individuals with hearing loss.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • Arm 1: patient with Cochlear Implant
• • Having a unilateral Oticon Medical cochlear implant
• • Duration of use of the implant of 6 months or more
• • Disyllabic word recognition score of at least 40% on average in silence, to limit "floor" effects in hearing tests.
• • Disyllabic word recognition score not exceeding 30% on the contra-lateral ear alone, aided or not, in silence.
• • Arm 2: volunteers with normal hearing
• • - Normal tonal audiometry for the age
• • For both
• • Age between 18 and 80 years old
• • Mother tongue : French
• • Normal vision with or without correction
• • Absence of eye pathologies (cataracts, nystagmus, amblyopia, macular degeneration).
• • Not taking psychotropic drugs or drugs affecting the parasympathetic nervous system
• • Absence of pathology or neurological history (especially head trauma, stroke).
• • Information and signing of a consent prior to any act related to research
• Exclusion Criteria:
• For both groups, ensuring the reliability of the pupillometric measurement (Winn et al., 2018):
• • Pathologies of the eye: cataracts, nystagmus, amblyopia, macular degeneration.
• • Taking psychotropic drugs and / or drugs affecting the parasympathetic nervous system
• • Neurological pathology (in particular head trauma or stroke) associated with an alteration of cognitive functions or history thereof that may affect the stability of the gaze, the congruence of eye movements, pupillary dilation or with an alteration of cognitive functions
• Others criteria:
• • No affiliation (or being entitled) to a social security scheme
• • Person under State Medical Assistance
• • Person under legal protection (tutorship, curatorship, other...) or under family authorization