Subjective Evaluation of a Sound Processing Method for Hearing Aids on Auditory Distance Perception

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Hearing Disorders; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural
• Interventions: Other: Digital signal processing algorithms

• Registration Number: NCT03512951
• Lead Sponsor: Sonova AG

Brief Summary

Within the course of this study, a signal processing feature has been developed at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), in collaboration with Sonova AG, in order to enhance the listening experience with remote microphone systems. In particular, the developed feature is supposed to improve the so-called audio-visual fusion, i.e. the fact to perceive the sound as coming from the physical location of the source. One of the main goals of the present study is to evaluate the extent to which this feature reaches that objective.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2018-04-17
• Study First Submitted QC: 2018-04-30
• Study First Posted: 2018-05-01
• Study Start: 2018-10-09
• Primary Completion: 2018-11-27
• Study Completion: 2018-11-27
• Status Verified: 2018-12
• Last Update Submitted: 2018-12-19
• Last Update Posted: 2018-12-20

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 30

Inclusion Criteria

Not provided

Exclusion Criteria

Not provided

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
10 experienced hearing impaired	Digital signal processing algorithms	A group of ten (expected sample size) severe-to-profound hearing-impaired patients who have a past and/or present experience of more than 6 months with remote microphone systems. These patients are expected to be aware of the drawbacks of the current remote microphone technology with respect to sound localization, auditory distance estimation, and audio-visual fusion.
10 naive hearing impaired	Digital signal processing algorithms	A group of ten severe-to-profound hearing-impaired patients with no past or current experience with remote microphone systems. They are referred to as naïve patients. These patients must have similar profiles to the patients in the experienced group as regards the degree of hearing loss, origin of hearing loss (congenital, pre- or post-lingual disability), age, gender, and hearing aid technology. They will be selected and recruited on the basis of the patients included in experienced group
Normal hearing	Digital signal processing algorithms	A control group including ten normal-hearing participants. These participants are recruited because they can be considered as a reference when compared to hearing-impaired patients. They usually provide homogeneous results that are expected to be significantly different than those obtained with hearing-impaired patients. In this study, normal-hearing participants are expected to provide better and more consistent performance of auditory distance estimation.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Auditory distance estimation	6 months (study completion)	This objective is assessed by using a single outcome, which is the perceived auditory distance, as reported by the patient on a graphical user interface. The auditory distance is measured using an arbitrary scale (between 1 and 5) as available with sliders on a graphical user interface (GUI).

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne; 🇨🇭 Lausanne, Switzerland