MedPath

Training Listening Skills With the Inclusion of Cognitive Control

Not Applicable
Active, not recruiting
Conditions
Hearing Disability
Interventions
Behavioral: Listen training
Registration Number
NCT05766020
Lead Sponsor
Universitaire Ziekenhuizen KU Leuven
Brief Summary

Participating in spoken conversation constitutes a multitasking situation with concurrent demands on sensorimotor (auditory, postural) and cognitive functioning (memory, updating, task switching and inhibition). As aging affects multisensory integration and cognitive control, these higher-order processes are likely to put accumulating constraints on listening as adults grow older. By training listening skills (not solely auditory skills), the investigators aim at improving overall communication and quality of life. Moreover, the investigators aim at freeing up cognitive resources in the listen task: the better one gets at a certain domain specific task, the less one needs to draw from other resources and, the more resources are free for another concurrent task. The interdisciplinary approach will inform us about ideal audiological rehabilitation or intervention approaches. Pre-posttests comprise behavioral measures to evaluate listening skills and transfer towards non-trained measures. The training is tablet-based and can be performed at home.

Detailed Description

Goals of the study:

* Investigate transfer of listening skills to non-trained listening.

* To develop evidence-based guidelines for clinical audiological rehabilitation.

* Investigate if the inclusion of cognitive control frees up cognitive resources to use for another concurrent task.

* Inform about retention following listening training

All participants will be assessed 4 times, with a 4-week interval in between. Participants in the first arm will perform the training during the first two weeks. 4 weeks after training ended and 8 weeks after training ended, retention of training gains will be assessed. Participants in the second arm will perform the delayed training. This is to control for procedural learning effects. After 4 weeks they will start training for 4 weeks. After training retention of training gains will be assessed after 4 weeks. The third arm will start with active control training (listening to stories) for 4 weeks, followed by training for 4 weeks. After these 8 weeks, retention was measured 4 weeks later. Participants are randomly allocated to a group. The efficacy of training will be determined with a within-subject design (i.e. baseline session outcomes will be compared to the final session outcomes of the randomized control trial.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
60
Inclusion Criteria

Not provided

Exclusion Criteria

Not provided

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Delayed Training GroupListen trainingParticipants in this group will receive delayed training after 4 weeks of no training.
Active control groupListen trainingParticipants in this group will perform an active control for 4 weeks, followed by 4 weeks of training.
Immediate training groupListen trainingParticipants in this group will train immediately for 4 weeks. Afterwards, they will not train for the 8 remaining weeks.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
phoneme identification in noise12 weeks

The consonant identification task in noise consisted of 12 Dutch/Flemish vowels presented in an /a/ context. Stimuli were produced by a female speaker. In order not to obtain 100% at the start, stimuli were presented in speech-weighted noise.

Speech in noise intelligibility12 weeks

LIST (Leuven intelligibility sentences test) sentences presented in speech-weighted noise. Participants are required to repeat sentences in noise. The Leuven Intelligibility Sentences Test (LIST) was specifically designed for speech perception in noise assessment in CI users. The test has high test-retest reliability and a steep slope making it very sensitive to small improvements in performance. An improvement of 2dB results in a clinically relevant improvement in speech discrimination in noise. Therefore, the primary endpoint to validate the active training will be an improvement of 2dB on speech perception in noise.

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Stroop task12 weeks

The Stroop task assesses inhibitory control by requiring participants to identify the color in which a symbol or word is presented while ignoring the word's meaning. Participants were asked to respond to the color of the word while ignoring the written word, which is a color itself.

EAS (Effort Assessment Scale)4 weeks

EAS is a validated scale to measure listening effort. The EAS consists of 6 items that are scored by the client on a 10-point scale, no effort to lots of effort. The EAS questions were translated to Dutch for this study.

Dual-task listening postural control12 weeks

This task aims at identifying the ability to perform two tasks simultaneously. Participants will perform a listening-posture dual-task, where they have to maintain their balance while listening and repeating heard sentences.

The temporal modulation Transfer function12 weeks

With this task, we measure the modulation threshold that listeners need to distinguish between unmodulated and modulated noise, which is related to speech understanding.

SSQ12 (Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale)4 weeks

The SSQ12 is a short version of the validated Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale. This short form was developed for use in clinical research and rehabilitation settings. Participants score each questions on a ruler (visual analogue scale) from 0 to 10. Questions were translated to Dutch.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

KU Leuven, Experimental ORL, Dept Neurosciences

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Leuven, Vlaams Brabant, Belgium

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