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Evaluation of the Impact of Cochlear Implants on Cognition in Older Adults

Evaluation of the Impact of Cochlear Implants on Cognition in Older Adults

Status
Completed
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT02729402
Enrollment
37
Registered
2016-04-06
Start date
2015-06-15
Completion date
2025-10-10
Last updated
2026-04-28

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Dementia, Hearing Loss, Presbycusis

Keywords

Adults

Brief summary

The subjects will be age 65 years and older, with no upper limit of age range with hearing loss that are candidates for standard-of-care cochlear implant. Cognitive tests will be administered preoperative, and postoperative at 6 and 12 month, and 5 year intervals.

Detailed description

Patients \>65 year old who are cochlear implant candidates will be recruited for study participation. Candidacy criteria will be based on current FDA guidelines for cochlear implantation. After pre-operative cognitive testing, subjects will undergo cochlear implantation using standard operative techniques. Patient will have routine post-operative care and will follow up with audiology per standard post-activation routine - 1 week after activation, then monthly until a stable program is achieved. Hearing will be measured with standard audiometry to check for residual acoustic hearing, hearing in noise tests (HINT), aided thresholds, and consonant-nucleus-consonant (CNC) words at activation, 6 and 12 months, and 5 year post-operatively, and as often as needed in the interim to determine function. Pre-operative and 6 and 12 month, and 5 year post-operative cognitive testing will be performed using a battery of tests that will differentiate verbal/auditory and non-verbal cognitive abilities. Written informed consent will be sought from all individuals who will participate in the proposed project. Consent will be obtained by the principal investigator or key study personnel such as the research coordinator. When a potential participant has been identified, she/he will be visited in person. The participant will be given an overview of the study as well as written material that further explains the study and the responsibilities of the participant. Since some of our participants may have cognitive impairment, we will also make a determination about capacity to provide informed consent. Following presentation of the informed consent document, participants will be asked questions about the study (i.e. purpose, procedures, risks, and benefits). If these questions are adequately answered, then the participant will be judged to have capacity to provide informed consent. However, if these questions are not adequately answered, the participants will not be judged to have this capacity. In these latter cases, assent will be obtained from the participant and informed consent will be obtained from the participant's legally authorized representative (spouse, adult child

Interventions

OTHERCognitive Testing

We will use a battery of neurocognitive tests to assess cognitive function before and after surgery

Sponsors

University of Utah
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
DIAGNOSTIC
Masking
NONE

Intervention model description

Participants underwent diagnostic assessments of cognition and mood before cochlear implant (CI) implantation and 6 and 12 months after implantation. All participants were subsequently invited to complete an additional follow-up assessment five years post-implantation. A subgroup of participants (n=16) completed assessments five years post-implantation.

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
65 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

* The subjects will be age 65 years and older, with no upper limit of age range with hearing loss that are candidates for a cochlear implant.

Exclusion criteria

* Those patients who are not able to undergo cochlear implantation surgery due to medical co-morbidities would not be eligible for the study.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Mini-mental State Exam (MMSE)Pre-operatively, at 6 months, 12 months, and five year post-operatively.Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) measures global cognitive function. Score ranges from 0-30; a score of 0 indicates severe cognitive impairment and a score of 30 indicates no cognitive impairment. Higher scores indicate better outcome.
Digit Span test (verbal)Pre-operatively, at 6 months, 12 months, and five year post-operatively.Measures simple attention. In the first part, subjects are required to recall and recite digits in forward sequence (0-16 points), the second part requires subjects to recall and recite digits in backward sequence (0-14 points). Higher scores indicate better outcome.
Stroop Color-Word Test (Golden version)Pre-operatively, at 6 months, 12 months, and five year post-operatively.Stroop Color-Word Test measures sustained attention. Raw score is the number of answers correct out of 100. Higher scores = better outcome.
Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised (HVLT-R)Pre-operatively, at 6 months, 12 months, and five year post-operativelyMeasures verbal learning and memory. Score ranges from 0-36; a score of 0 indicates no words recalled and a score of 36 indicates perfect recall. Higher scores indicate better outcome
Hayling Sentence Completion TestPre-operatively, at 6 months, 12 months, and five year post-operativelyMeasures executive functioning. Overall scaled score ranges from 1-10; a score of 1 indicates impaired function and 10 indicates very superior function. Higher score indicates better outcome
Spatial Span Test (visuospatial)Pre-operatively, at 6 months, 12 months, and five year post-operativelyAssesses attention, short-term and working memory. Two parts, the first part requires subjects to physically point at the digits shown to them in forward sequence (0-16 points), the second part requires subjects to point the digits in backward sequence (0-16 points). Higher scores indicate better outcome.
d2 Test of AttentionPre-operatively, at 6 months, 12 months, and five year post-operativelyAssesses sustained and selective attention. The score is calculated as: Total Number of Items minus Errors. Higher scores indicate better outcome.
Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R)Pre-operatively, at 6 months, 12 months, and five year post-operatively.Measures visuospatial learning and memory First Section assess immediate recall where raw scores range from 0-36; a score of 0 indicates no figures recalled and a score of 36 indicates perfect recall. Second Section assess delayed recall ( 25-minute delay) with a score range from 0-12. A higher score indicates better recall outcome.
Trail Making Test Part BPre-operatively, at 6 months, 12 months, and five year post-operatively.Executive functioning is scored by the total time in seconds required to complete the task. The time to complete each task is recorded as a score. A higher score indicates poor performance and less time indicates better performance.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Mood and Psychosocial impact of cochlear implants on older adultsPre-operatively, at 6 months, 12 months, and five year post-operatively.Psychosocial well being was measured using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), a 30-item questionnaire designed for rating depression for older adults. Scores considered "normal" range between 0-9. Scores 10-19 are considered "mild depression," and 20-30 suggest "severe depression."

Contacts

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORRichard Gurgel, MD

University of Utah

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Apr 29, 2026