How sound direction cues help listening in people with cochlear implants or normal hearing

AI summary

From the trial's eligibility criteria. Machine-read from the registry text on this page, so it can be wrong. The registry text below and the trial team decide who can take part.

The trial is looking for adults with normal hearing and adults who use cochlear implants in both ears. They do listening tasks while their brain responses are recorded.

Age

18 Years to 90 Years

Sex

All sexes can join.

Disease stage

Either normal hearing (hearing thresholds within 20 dB HL of normal through 8 kHz), or hearing loss treated with cochlear implants in both ears.

Earlier treatment

People with cochlear implants must have used their implants in both ears for at least one year.

Main reasons for not taking part

• Known neurological (brain or nerve) disorders
• For the MRI brain scan sessions (normal-hearing people only): reasons a person cannot have an MRI scan
• Not a native speaker of American English
• Vision that is not normal, even with glasses or contact lenses

The registry criteria, word for word

Check if you might fit

Answer for yourself. This is not a decision: only the study team can say whether you can take part.

• Are you between 18 and 90 years old?YesNo

What the trial wants to find out

Understanding speech in restaurants and other noisy environments is the most common complaint from the more than 60 million Americans with hearing impairment. Succeeding in such environments requires a listener to first segregate sound sources and then selectively attend to the source of interest. This study examines how individual auditory spatial cues (interaural time differences and interaural level differences) support spatial selective attention, the cortical processes that underlie this ability, and how these processes are modulated by task demands. Participants with normal hearing and participants who use bilateral cochlear implants will perform listening tasks while brain and physiological responses are recorded (electroencephalography, functional near-infrared spectroscopy, pupillometry, and, for normal-hearing participants only, functional magnetic resonance imaging). The findings will provide new insights into the mechanisms of spatial selective attention and help guide clinical solutions for cochlear implant users, individuals with hearing impairment more generally, and older normal-hearing adults who have difficulty understanding speech in noisy environments.

The 2 groups in the trial

• Bilateral Cochlear Implant UsersOther group

  Adults with existing bilateral cochlear implants (implanted and using their devices for at least one year). Participants complete the discrimination and selective-attention auditory paradigms with manipulated spatial cues while combined EEG, fNIRS, and pupillometry are recorded. No fMRI is collected in this arm due to device safety concerns.

  Treatment: Existing bilateral cochlear implants

• Normal Hearing ControlsOther group

  Adults with audiometrically confirmed normal hearing (thresholds within 20 dB HL of normal through 8 kHz). Participants complete three auditory attention paradigms (working memory, discrimination, selective attention) with manipulated spatial cues, under combined EEG, fNIRS, and pupillometry sessions and fMRI sessions.

  Treatment: Normal Hearing Control