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An 'Off-the-shelf' Assistive Listening Device: Normal-hearing Children.

NCT03695575 · Status: UNKNOWN · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 24

Last updated 2019-01-31

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

The cochlea, the sensory organ of hearing, is a structure of the temporal bone on the skull. In everyday life sounds are heard via air conduction. This means that vibrations in the air are conducted through our ear canals, via the eardrum and the middle-ear bones, to the cochlea. However, vibrations can be conducted to the cochlea via the bones of the head. Bone-conduction headsets have become popular for recreational use (for example cyclists and runners wear them to listen to music while exercising). When in a noisy environment, if a speech signal is delivered to a microphone connected via Bluetooth to the bone conduction headset, the person wearing the headset receives the speech signal as if the talker were closer to them. The ratio between the speech level and the noise level (SNR, signal-to-noise ratio) is increased, so that it is easier to understand the spoken message. A previous study carried out by the investigators has shown that this may help children with hearing loss due to otitis media with effusion ('glue ear'). The aim of the current study is to explore the potential of the headset to help children with auditory processing disorder (APD). Typically, children with APD have normal audiograms, but, in spite of this, they struggle to understand speech in a background noise. The headset can deliver the speech message to them. Currently, FM systems are used for children with APD in the classroom. These systems are effective, but their cost is high and provision may be limited. The feasibility of the use of the headset in a group of children with normal audiometric thresholds will be assessed. The study hypothesis is that using a bone-conduction headband improves speech recognition in noise and decreases listening effort even when air-conduction hearing thresholds are normal. Measures of speech recognition and listening effort will be done in quiet and in noise with and without the bone-conduction headset in order to measure the effect of using the headset on speech recognition when hearing thresholds are normal.

Conditions

  • Auditory Processing Disorder

Interventions

DEVICE

Bone-conduction headset

A bone-conduction headset paired with a microphone will be used.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Children's Hearing Evaluation and Amplification Resource, Ltd.

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Tamsin M Brown, MBBS, RCPCH · NHS (National Health Service): Cambridgeshire Community Services (CCS)

Study Design

Allocation
NA
Purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
6 Years
Max Age
11 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2019-03-31
Primary Completion
2019-09-30
Completion
2019-12-31

Countries

  • United Kingdom

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT03695575 on ClinicalTrials.gov