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Perceptual Consequences of Cochlear Implant Electrode-neuron Interfaces

Not Applicable
Recruiting
Conditions
Deafness
Interventions
Other: Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)
Other: Detection Threshold Testing
Other: Psychophysical Testing
Other: Speech Perception Testing
Other: Telemetry Recordings
Registration Number
NCT05867173
Lead Sponsor
Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
Brief Summary

Despite the success of cochlear implants, devices surgically placed in the inner ears of patients with severe hearing loss, there remains substantial variability in the overall speech perception outcomes for the children and adults who receive them. The main goals of this project are: i) to improve our understanding of how cochlear implants affect the developing auditory system, ii) apply that knowledge to test new methods for programming children and adults, and iii) to study how long it takes listeners to adapt to new cochlear implant programs over the short- and long-term. The results will improve our understanding of how the deafened auditory system develops with cochlear implant stimulation and advance clinical practice to improve hearing outcomes in cochlear implant listeners.

Detailed Description

Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
RECRUITING
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
200
Inclusion Criteria

Research Subjects with a Cochlear Implant ADULTS Inclusion Criteria

  • Adult at least 18 years old
  • Native speakers of American English
  • Wears a cochlear implant manufactured by Advanced Bionics (Clarion Hi-Focus I or newer), Cochlear, or MED-EL

CHILDREN Inclusion Criteria

  • Children at least 6 months old

  • Native speakers of American English

  • Wears a cochlear implant manufactured by Advanced Bionics (Clarion Hi-Focus I or newer), Cochlear, or MED-EL

    • For both children and adults with a cochlear implant, some study criteria might pertain to a subset of subjects, such as a specific age at which the subjects developed a hearing loss, or was implanted.
Exclusion Criteria

Exclusion for all Cochlear Implant Subjects:

  • Inability to provide informed consent
  • Does not meet the inclusion criteria for a specific study protocol, such as age of onset of hearing loss, age of cochlear implantation, duration of deafness, number of active electrodes in the cochlear implant device
  • Unable to carry out the study protocol or tasks required in the study

Exclusion for all Normal Hearing Subjects:

  • Inability to provide informed consent
  • Hearing loss, or significant history of hearing related issues
  • Unable to carry out the study protocol or tasks required in the study

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
SINGLE_GROUP
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Intervention to assess CIMontreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)To develop new programming strategies for individuals that will improve performance for a wider range of cochlear implant people
Intervention to assess CIDetection Threshold TestingTo develop new programming strategies for individuals that will improve performance for a wider range of cochlear implant people
Intervention to assess CIPsychophysical TestingTo develop new programming strategies for individuals that will improve performance for a wider range of cochlear implant people
Intervention to assess CISpeech Perception TestingTo develop new programming strategies for individuals that will improve performance for a wider range of cochlear implant people
Intervention to assess CITelemetry RecordingsTo develop new programming strategies for individuals that will improve performance for a wider range of cochlear implant people
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Changes in phoneme discrimination scoresBaseline and weekly for 10 weeks after the intervention

Speech perception testing includes phoneme discrimination. Participants will complete age-appropriate testing.

Changes in time (weeks) with programming strategyBaseline and weekly for 10 weeks after the intervention

Outcome measures will be obtained at weekly intervals during the intervention, and the weekly collection of those measures will be analyzed.

Slopes of the spread of excitation of the electrically evoked compound action potential responsesBaseline

Responses of the auditory nerve can be measured directly from the cochlear implant using software developed by the implant manufacturer. By changing the distance between two electrodes, we can quantify the spread of activation in the cochlea.

Changes in speech-gap detection thresholdsBaseline and weekly for 10 weeks after the intervention

Speech perception testing includes speech-gap detection. Participants will complete age-appropriate testing.

Changes in vowel identification scoresBaseline and weekly for 10 weeks after the intervention

Medial vowel identification performance in background noise. Participants will complete age-appropriate testing.

Changes in sentence recognition scoresBaseline and weekly for 10 weeks after the intervention

Speech perception testing includes sentence recognition in noise. Participants will complete age-appropriate testing.

Slopes of a behavioral measure of spectral resolution called psychophysical tuning curves.Baseline

A behavioral test designed to measure how spectral information is processed in the auditory system. By changing the relationship between a masker and target signal, we can assess resolution.

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
AgeAge at baseline

A secondary age analysis on all outcome measures will be applied.

Macarthur-Bates vocabulary inventory scoresBaseline, and weekly for 10 weeks after the intervention

This test allows the study team and parents to monitor speech and language development, specifically new word learning.

Sound quality questionnaireBaseline and weekly for 10 weeks after the intervention

Participants will be asked to rate sound quality with different interventions in comparison to their everyday listening on a 7-point scale (from minus 3 - much worse, up to plus 3 - much better, 0 is the same)

Infant-Toddler Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (ITMAIS) scoresBaseline, and weekly for 10 weeks after the intervention

The IT-MAIS is a study-team-guided parental report about how infants and toddlers are responding to sound.

Hearing quality of life (HEARQL) scoresBaseline, 5 weeks, and 10 weeks after the intervention

The HEAR-QL is a self-assessment test normed for children to assess how they hear in everyday life with different interventions

Trial Locations

Locations (2)

Mass Eye and Ear

🇺🇸

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Boston Children's Hospital

🇺🇸

Waltham, Massachusetts, United States

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