Auditory Perceptual Disorders, Stress Disorder
Conditions
Keywords
autonomic nervous system, auditory processing disorder, social behavior
Brief summary
A research project funded by the Australian Childhood Foundation (ACF) will be conducted in Australian facilities of the ACF to evaluate the effectiveness of the Listening Project Protocol (LPP) in children with a trauma history. The LPP is designed as a neural exercise to reduce auditory hypersensitivities, to improve auditory processing of speech, and to improve behavioral state regulation. The LPP uses acoustic stimulation to exercise the neural regulation of the middle ear structures to rehabilitate and to normalize the acoustic transfer function of the middle ear structures. The current study is being conducted to evaluate efficacy and feasibility of the LPP and will use objective measures to evaluate changes in acoustic transfer function of the middle ears structures, auditory processing skills, physiological state regulation, and sensory symptoms.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALListening Project Protocol
The intervention will consist of listening to computer-altered acoustic stimulation, designed to modulate the frequency band of vocal music passed to the participant. The frequency characteristics of the acoustic stimulation are selected to emphasize the relative importance of specific frequencies in conveying the information embedded in human speech. Modulation of the acoustic energy within the frequencies of human voice, similar to an exaggerated vocal prosody, are hypothesized to recruit and modulate the neural regulation of the middle ear muscles and to functionally reduce sound hypersensitivities and improve auditory processing.
Sponsors
Australian Childhood Foundation
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Study design
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
7 Years to 14 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Children must be between ages 7-14 years * Children and parent providing permission must be able to read/speak in English * Children must be receiving services from the Child Trauma Service unit of the Australian Childhood Foundation
Exclusion criteria
* Children who wear a hearing-device * Children with a history of heart disease * Children who are currently being treated for seizure disorder
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Auditory hypersensitivity | pre-intervention (within 1 week before intervention), post-intervention (within 1 week after intervention), 1 month post-intervention | Brain-Body Center Sensory Scales (BBC Sensory Scales) (parental questionnaire) |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Autonomic state regulation | pre-intervention (within 1 week before intervention), immediate post-intervention (within 1 week after intervention), 1 month post-intervention | heart rate, heart period, high-frequency heart rate variability/respiratory sinus arrhythmia |
| Auditory processing | pre-intervention (within 1 week before intervention), immediate post-intervention (within 1 week after intervention), 1 month post-intervention | filtered words, competing words subscales of SCAN |
| social behavior | post-intervention (within 1 week after the intervention), 1 month post-intervention | Listening Project Parent Questionnaire |
| Middle ear muscle transfer function | pre-intervention (within 1 week before intervention), immediate post-intervention (within 1 week after intervention), 1 month post-intervention | MESAS (Middle Ear Sound Absorption System) |
Countries
Australia
Outcome results
None listed