Mediators and Moderators of Auditory Training

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn how Auditory Training (AT) may help people better understand speech in noisy environments. As people get older, it becomes harder for them to hear speech clearly when there is background noise. This can be frustrating, and it can affect their independence and quality of life. AT is often used to support people with and without hearing loss, especially when a person is not a good candidate for a hearing aid or when amplification from a hearing aid does not improve performance.

The investigators want to gather reliable data to understand how AT works and what affects its success.

The main questions the trial aims to answer are:

* How do different types of sounds influence the effectiveness of auditory training?
* Which auditory training approaches are most successful in improving speech understanding?
* How do personal traits impact the results of auditory training?

The investigators will study a large and diverse group of 1,260 participants, including both young and older adults, to evaluate various auditory training approaches.

You will:

* Take part in auditory training sessions that include different types of auditory tasks.
* Complete tests that measure how well they understand speech in both quiet and noisy settings.
* Complete surveys on personal data like demographics, hearing challenges and other factors to help researchers understand what might influence training results.

The investigators will measure and compare the results of these approaches to find out which ones are most effective. This could help people who are at risk of cognitive decline, like those at risk for Alzheimer's disease.

Conditions

• Hearing Handicap

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

STM Training

This condition consists of an up/down spectral-temporal modulations (STM) presented both in quiet and with competing background noise

BEHAVIORAL

Speech Training

Participants will train on the identification of three sets of speech stimuli of increasing linguistic complexity: individual phonemes (vowels), spondaic words, and matrix sentences.

BEHAVIORAL

Mixed Training

This condition involves both the STM and the speech training, described above, and an additional module training localization.

BEHAVIORAL

Gamified Training

This uses auditory training within a game experience where players control a game avatar (the "wisp") that appears to fly through a landscape. Players were asked to help the wisp avoid obstacles or choose from among options based on a variety of sound cues.

BEHAVIORAL

Foraging Training

This adds a component to the game where participants navigate the wisp to the location on the screen that relates to the target stimulus. The concept here is that searching for targets with manual movements, ecologically stimulates sensori-motor loops where the actions of the participants generates the auditory stimuli that are heard.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Oregon Health and Science University

  collaborator OTHER

• University of California, Riverside

  collaborator OTHER

• Northeastern University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Aaron Seitz, PhD · Northeastern University

• Tess Koerner, PhD · Oregon Health and Science University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

85 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-01-06

Primary Completion

2027-05-31

Completion

2027-05-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations