Comparison of PSAPs in Different Maskers

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Status: Completed

Conditions: Auditory Perception

Treatments: Device: Tweak Focus; Device: Sound World Solutions CS50+; Device: Bose Hearphones; Device: IQ Earbuds

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03704142

UMassAmherst

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study will measure the performance of three personal amplification devices when used by middle-aged adults. Speech understanding will be assessed with two different types of background noises at three different input levels.

Full description

Speech understanding will be measured both unaided and aided with three different models of Personal Amplification devices (PSAPs). Sentences will be played to the participant from a loudspeaker located in front. Different types of background sounds (noise and other sentences) will be played from loudspeakers located to the right and left of the participant. Participants will be instructed to repeat back the sentence coming from the front. They also will rate subjective effort at the end of each block of trials.

Enrollment: 48 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 45 to 64 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• mild high-frequency hearing loss (pure-tone thresholds of 25 decibels hearing loss - 45 decibels hearing loss between 2000 Hz and 6000 Hz)

Exclusion criteria

• history of prior hearing aid use
• history of neurologic or otologic disorders
• score of < 26 on Montreal Cognitive Assessment (cognitive screening tool)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Non-Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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48 participants in 4 patient groups

Tweak Focus

Experimental group

Description:

Speech understanding and listening effort will be assessed using the Tweak Focus personal sound amplifiers.

Treatment:

Device: Tweak Focus

IQ Earbuds

Experimental group

Description:

Speech understanding and listening effort will be assessed using the IQEarbuds personal sound amplifiers.

Treatment:

Device: IQ Earbuds

Sound World Solutions CS50+

Experimental group

Description:

Speech understanding and listening effort will be assessed using the Sound World Solutions CS50+ personal sound amplifiers.

Treatment:

Device: Sound World Solutions CS50+

Bose Hearphones

Experimental group

Description:

Speech understanding and listening effort will be assessed using the Sound World Solutions CS50+ personal sound amplifiers.

Treatment:

Device: Bose Hearphones