Aging, Hearing Asymmetry, Hearing Loss
Conditions
Brief summary
Binaural hearing involves combining auditory information across the ears. With binaural hearing, listeners benefit from perceiving sounds from different spatial locations. This is critical in solving the cocktail party problem (i.e., understanding speech in the presence of competing background sounds and noise). As humans get older, hearing loss increases, binaural abilities decrease, and the cocktail party problem becomes increasingly difficult. This research studies the mechanisms underlying the impact of age and hearing loss on speech-perception in noise and cocktail-party listening situations. More specifically, the role of hearing asymmetries between the ears is investigated. The specific aims are to generate an audiological and binaural-hearing-focused dataset for a large cohort of participants that vary in hearing asymmetry, age, and hearing loss and to use machine learning to uncover complex associations and generate novel hypotheses relating audiometric variables and basic binaural-hearing abilities to the cocktail-party problem. Participants in this research will complete perceptual measures of hearing acuity and spatial hearing. Participants will also report on speech understanding under noisy and challenging listening conditions. This research may lead to improvements in audiological care and hearing interventions.
Interventions
DIAGNOSTIC_TESTTest of hearing function
These are measurements of hearing acuity and spatial hearing.
Sponsors
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
University of Maryland, College Park
Study design
Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 80 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Adults (18-80 years) * No hearing asymmetry between ears (≤10 dB at any frequency) or, hearing asymmetry between ears \>10 dB * Native English speakers * Primarily use oral language * Sufficient corrected or uncorrected visual acuity (20/50 or better) to read large-font text
Exclusion criteria
* Acoustic tone-detection threshold \>50 dB HL at any octave frequency (250-4000 Hz) in either ear (i.e., more than a moderate hearing loss) * History of neurological disorders (e.g., stroke, Parkinson's disease) determined by self-report * History of post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury determined by self-report * Possibility of acoustic neuroma, hearing asymmetry (\>10 dB at three consecutive audiometric threshold frequencies) * Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score \<22/30 * No oral language use * Cochlear implant user * Conductive hearing loss
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Sound localization | After enrollment, in one visit lasting 1-2 hours | A measure of sound localization ability (summarizing the ability using broadband and narrowband noise stimuli). Localization is the ability to accurately report the location from which a sound source originated. The difference between actual and reported locations is used for the measure. (Units, angle measure in degrees) |
| Spatial release from masking | After enrollment, in one visit lasting 1-2 hours | A measure of speech understanding. Spatial release from masking is calculated by finding the difference in thresholds between listening with co-located vs. separated masking signals. (Units, dB) |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Audiological assessment of hearing thresholds | After enrollment, in one visit lasting ~1 hour | Measurement of hearing thresholds by presenting sounds of specific frequencies via audiometer and recording the lowest level that can be detected for each frequency. These thresholds are then averaged. (Units, dB) |
| Basic binaural sensitivity | After enrollment, in one visit lasting 1-2 hours | A summary measure of basic binaural sensitivity (discrimination thresholds) that uses both frequency-specific and more broadband stimuli that differ in interaural time and level cues. (Units dB) |
| Distortion-Product Otoacoustic Emissions | After enrollment, in one visit lasting ~1 hour | A measurement of the inner ear's acoustic response to a brief stimulus played in the ear canal. This can provide information about the integrity of the cochlea's outer hair cells. (Units, dB SNR (signal to noise ratio)) |
| Auditory Brainstem Response | After enrollment, in one visit lasting ~1 hour | A non-invasive measure of auditory processing integrity past the point of the cochlea. Earphones are used to present brief acoustic click stimuli and waveform recordings of neural activity at the level of the brainstem are collected via surface sensors on the listener's head. (Unit, latency in milliseconds) |
| Cognitive assessment | After enrollment, in one visit lasting 1-2 hours | A control measurement for factors that may contribute to hearing deficit. The standardized Montreal Cognitive Assessment cognitive screener and NIH Toolbox subscores for Working Memory, Processing Speed, and Attention will be combined to summarize a potential cognitive contribution to hearing deficits. (Units, points.) |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed