Transcranial Stimulation Combined With Auditory Training
Trial statusRecruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age50+
SponsorBoston University Charles River Campus
About this trial
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if non-invasive brain stimulation (called transcranial stimulation) can enhance the benefits from auditory training in people who struggle to understand one talker when many people are talking at the same time. The main questions it aims to answer are:
* Does transcranial stimulation improve speech-on-speech understanding in people who struggle with this task? * Does transcranial stimulation enhance the benefits of a commercially available auditory training program?
Researchers will compare transcranial stimulation to sham stimulation (no stimulation is applied during the listening task).
Participants will:
* Receive login information to an online auditory training program to complete at home over 2 weeks * Visit the laboratory 4 times to receive transcranial stimulation while listening to speech-on-speech: once before at-home training, two times during the at-home training period, and once after at-home training has ended
Eligibility criteria
This trial does not accept healthy volunteersQualifiers
50 years of age or older
Audiometric thresholds that do not exceed 90 dB HL at any frequency from 250-6000 Hz
Able to provide informed consent and understand experimental instructions
Able to read print on a computer screen
Disqualifiers
Non-native speakers of English
History of skull fracture, scalp tissue damage, metallic implants around the head, seizures, neurological disorders, or traumatic brain injury, current or suspected pregnancy
Trial design
Design model
Parallel
Treatments tested in this trial
Transcranial current stimulation
DeviceThe transcranial alternating current stimulation is delivered during the speech stimulus and the current matches the envelope of the target speech
Auditory training
BehavioralAn at-home auditory training program that adaptively and interactively trains the listener in degraded speech, cognitive skills, and communication strategies
Treatment groups
94 Participants
are divided into 2 treatment groupsGroup A: Active transcranial stimulationExperimental treatment 2 interventions
Group B: Sham stimulationSham comparator 1 intervention
Trial outcomes
Primary outcomes
1
Speech-on-speech intelligibility percent correct
Percent correct score on the speech-on-speech task assessed in the lab
Time frame
From enrollment to the end of participation at 6 weeks2
Pupillometry measured listening effort
The peak pupil dilation subtracted from pre-trial baseline pupil dilation, averaged across trials in a block, assessed in the lab
Time frame
From enrollment to the end of participation at 6 weeks3
QuickSIN SNR Loss
A speech-in-noise test assessed as part of the at-home auditory training program
Time frame
Days 1, 6, and 14 of the two-week auditory training4
Hearing Handicap Inventory
A listening effort questionnaire given as part of the at-home auditory training program
Time frame
Days 1 and 14 of the two-week auditory training programSponsors and contacts
Click on the lead sponsor to view all of their trials.
Boston University Charles River Campus
Lead sponsor
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Collaborator
Source ClinicalTrials.gov