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Hearing Aid Benefit in Real-World Noisy Environments

Evaluating the Impact of Hearing Aid Signal Enhancement Algorithms in Real-World Contexts

Status
Recruiting
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT07226167
Enrollment
45
Registered
2025-11-10
Start date
2026-02-19
Completion date
2027-01-01
Last updated
2026-02-24

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

Conditions

Hearing Aid, Hearing Loss, Adult-Onset, Hearing Loss, Bilateral Sensorineural

Brief summary

Researchers are doing this study to understand why hearing aids often work well in controlled laboratory settings but don't provide the same level of benefit in everyday noisy environments. The questions they hope to answer are: * What factors contribute to hearing aid benefit in noisy environments * What factors limit hearing aid benefit * How do real-world factors interact with common hearing aid settings Participants will complete: * Hearing and listening tests * Memory and attention assessment * Surveys on their Smartphone

Detailed description

This is study investigates how hearing aid signal processing algorithms and environmental factors in listening situations interact to affect listening outcomes. A crossover design is used to assess speech perception, listening effort, and user satisfaction across diverse acoustic contexts.

Interventions

DEVICEHearing aid

Participants will use study-provided hearing aids for 15 minutes, 7-10 times for a week.

Sponsors

University of Wisconsin, Madison
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Over 18 years old * Symmetrical, bilateral, adult onset, sensorineural hearing loss * Experienced hearing aid users (\> 3 months)

Exclusion criteria

* Under 18 years old * Conductive or mixed hearing loss * Asymmetrical or unilateral hearing loss * Pre-lingual or childhood hearing loss onset * No hearing aid experience

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Compare effectiveness of hearing aid signal enhancement on speech perception1 weekParticipants will hear 3 different, 5 minute listening scenarios and answer the same survey questions for each. They will rate perception from 0% (understood nothing) to 100% (understood everything). Percentages will be compared across the 3 scenarios.
Compare effectiveness of hearing aid signal enhancement on listening effort1 weekParticipants will hear 3 different, 5 minute listening scenarios and answer the same survey questions for each. They will rate how hard they had to work to understand what was said from 0% (no effort) to 100% (extremely hard). Percentages will be compared across the 3 scenarios.
Compare effectiveness of hearing aid signal enhancement on listening comfort1 weekParticipants will hear 3 different, 5 minute listening scenarios and answer the same survey questions for each. They will rate how comfortable it was to listen from 0% (very comfortable) to 100% (very uncomfortable). Percentages will be compared across the 3 scenarios.
Compare effectiveness of hearing aid signal enhancement on sound quality1 weekParticipants will hear 3 different, 5 minute listening scenarios and answer the same survey questions for each. They will rate the sound quality from 0% (very poor) to 100% (excellent). Percentages will be compared across the 3 scenarios.
Compare effectiveness of hearing aid signal enhancement on sound location1 weekParticipants will hear 3 different, 5 minute listening scenarios and answer the same survey questions for each. They will rate how easy it was to tell where the sound was coming from, from 0% (could not tell) to 100% (very easy). Percentages will be compared across the 3 scenarios.
Compare effectiveness of hearing aid algorithms based on location1 weekParticipants will complete the same survey questions for all three algorithms. Participants will select which option best describes the environment they are in when completing the hearing survey.

Countries

United States

Contacts

CONTACTLucas Modahl
lmodahl@wisc.edu
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORErik Jorgensen, AuD, PhD

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 25, 2026