Hearing Aid Benefit in Real-World Noisy Environments

University of Wisconsin (UW)

Status: Begins enrollment this month

Conditions: Hearing Loss, Adult-Onset; Hearing Aid; Hearing Loss, Bilateral Sensorineural

Treatments: Device: Hearing aid

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07226167

FA (Other Identifier)

UWMSN | L&S | Communication Sc (Other Identifier)

Protocol Version 11/25/25 (Other Identifier)

2025-1586

Details and patient eligibility

About

Researchers are doing this study to understand why hearing aids often work well in controlled laboratory settings but don't provide the same level of benefit in everyday noisy environments. The questions they hope to answer are:

• What factors contribute to hearing aid benefit in noisy environments
• What factors limit hearing aid benefit
• How do real-world factors interact with common hearing aid settings

Participants will complete:

• Hearing and listening tests
• Memory and attention assessment
• Surveys on their Smartphone

Full description

This is study investigates how hearing aid signal processing algorithms and environmental factors in listening situations interact to affect listening outcomes. A crossover design is used to assess speech perception, listening effort, and user satisfaction across diverse acoustic contexts.

Enrollment: 45 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Over 18 years old
• Symmetrical, bilateral, adult onset, sensorineural hearing loss
• Experienced hearing aid users (> 3 months)

Exclusion criteria

• Under 18 years old
• Conductive or mixed hearing loss
• Asymmetrical or unilateral hearing loss
• Pre-lingual or childhood hearing loss onset
• No hearing aid experience

Trial design

Primary purpose: Basic Science

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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45 participants in 1 patient group

Hearing aid + smartphone surveys

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will use study-provided hearing aids

Treatment:

Device: Hearing aid