Hearing Loss, Sensorineural

This current translational project, funded by NIH, aims to better understand the impact of various signal modification strategies for older adults with Alzheimer's dementia and its potential precursor, known as amnestic mild cognitive impairment. The investigators hypothesize that adults with Alzheimer's dementia represent an extreme case of restricted cognitive ability, such that very low working memory capacity and overall reduced cognitive capacity will limit benefit from advanced signal processing. Thus, the investigators hypothesize that adults with Alzheimer's dementia will receive greater benefit from acoustically simple, high-fidelity hearing aid processing that minimally alters the acoustic signal.

The goal of the BEARS clinical trial is to determine whether using the directional listening training delivered via the BEARS training package for 3-months alongside usual care compared to only receiving usual care improves speech-in-noise perception, hearing experiences, vocabulary and quality of life and reduces listening effort in young people between 8-16 years old (inclusive) with two cochlear implants. The participants will complete hearing assessments and questionnaires before completing the 3-month intervention. They will be followed up for the next 9-months through online and in-person appointments.

Children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing (D/HH) are at risk of speech and language delays, which can be mitigated through early identification and intervention. Identifying hearing loss (HL) during preschool is crucial, but the most effective hearing screening method for preschoolers remains uncertain. The purpose of this study is to learn whether, compared to the gold-standard two-stage Pure-tone audiometry (PTA) + otoacoustic emissions (OAE) screening (TS-PO), single-stage OAE (SS-O) screening alone is not inferior at identifying hearing loss when performed in a community-based preschool setting. This study holds the potential to improve early hearing loss detection and intervention among D/HH children, reducing the likelihood of speech and language delays. A diverse group of 13,764 preschool-age children across community-based preschool centers will be recruited. The intervention involves all subjects undergoing both PTA and OAE screening, with the order determined through randomization. Children who show potential hearing issues based on screening results or teacher concerns will receive further testing to determine the final hearing outcome. Group allocation will be post-hoc, based on their screening results. In addition to the primary objective, the study will compare other hearing screening measures and outcomes between the two methods (TS-PO and SS-O). This approach aims to reflect the real-life effectiveness of hearing screening in a diverse population. Ultimately, the study seeks to provide insights into an optimal hearing screening method that could prevent speech and language delays among D/HH children.

This study aims to assess hearing and speech perception, as well as quality of life, in deaf patients of all ages before and after cochlear implantation, and to explore differences across age groups and treatment subtypes, thereby providing evidence for personalized hearing and speech rehabilitation.

The goal of the study is to determine the benefit of using an ECochG-based corrective action guide during cochlear implant surgery compared to the traditional surgical approach without ECochG surveillance and guidance.

This goal of this study is to learn if a new audiology treatment process called the self-efficacy-based auditory rehabilitation (SEBAR) can improve confidence and success with over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Can the SEBAR improve participants' confidence related to managing their over-the-counter hearing aids? * Can the SEBAR improve participants' willingness to adopt over-the-counter hearing aids, their satisfaction, quality of life, and their emotional state? Researchers will compare these outcomes of the SEBAR with and without wearing OTC hearing aids. Participants will: * Visit for one appointment to complete a few questionnaires without OTC hearing aids * Wear a pair of ITC hearing aids for a week and use an app to answer questions about their experiences * Visit for a second appointment to complete the same questionnaires with OTC hearing aids.

Vestibular loss can co-occur with hearing loss causing dual sensory deficits. This project examines vestibular loss as a contributing factor to reading difficulties for children with hearing loss, where previously only the effects of hearing loss and subsequent language difficulties have been considered. These results are expected to influence the identification and habilitation of vestibular loss in children with hearing loss.

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the long-term safety and effectiveness of cochlear implantation of the approved population in adults and children with single-sided deafness and asymmetric hearing loss.

The current study is a randomized multi-center clinical trial that investigates the role an intraoperative hearing monitoring system (electrocochleography) has on helping to save residual hearing in patients undergoing cochlear implantation (CI).

This study compares the hearing improvement effects of domestic hearing aids and imported hearing aids in 80 patients with moderate to severe and severe age-related hearing loss. Patients will be randomly assigned to either the experimental group (domestic hearing aids) or the control group (imported hearing aids) and will undergo a 30-minute trial. Pure Tone Average (PTA) and Speech Recognition Threshold (SRT) will be measured both before and after the trial. The improvements in PTA and SRT will be calculated.The market prices of the hearing aids and the degree of hearing improvement in decibels will be recorded. These data will be used to conduct a comprehensive cost-effectiveness analysis. After the trial, the International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids (IOI-HA) and the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB) will be used to assess the benefits of the hearing aids.

People with hearing loss experience extra effort when listening, which can lead to severe psychological barriers to communication and social participation. Listening effort can lead to fatigue, mental strain, burnout, medical sick leave, and the need for increased time to recover from regular daily activities. This proposal aims to understand effort changes on a moment-to-moment basis during listening, how long the effort lasts, and how the planning and execution of effort is impacted by the experience of using a cochlear implant.

The study is designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and preliminary efficacy of EH002 for the treatment of congenital deafness caused by mutations in the OTOF gene. Participants may receive one or two injections of the EH002 gene therapy in one or both ears.

The study will be conducted as a prospective, single center, repeat measure, single-arm, open label clinical study

Hearing aids can improve hearing, communication, and overall quality of life for people with hearing loss. However, not many people use hearing aids. A common reason is that hearing aids are expensive and hard to get. The traditional way to get hearing aids involves multiple visits to licensed audiologists for identifying hearing loss, customizing the aids, and ongoing maintenance. This traditional method is called the AUD pathway. Over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids offer a different approach. They aim to make hearing aids more affordable and accessible, encouraging earlier use. In the OTC pathway, users diagnose their own hearing loss and fit and program the hearing aids themselves. Little is known about long-term effects of OTC hearing aids on users. This study aims to compare the experiences of people who choose the OTC pathway with those who choose the AUD pathway. It takes place in two locations: Iowa City, IA, and Nashville, TN. Participants, who have mild-to-moderate hearing loss, choose their preferred pathway and are followed for 12 months. In the OTC pathway, participants buy their hearing aids directly from OTC companies or retailers. In the AUD pathway, prescription hearing aids and fitting services are provided by audiology clinics at the University of Iowa and Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Participants are contacted 1, 6, and 12 months after starting to use their hearing aids. Researchers measure their satisfaction about hearing aids and other outcomes. If participants stop using their hearing aids, researchers assess their engagement with post-amplification hearing care. The results from both pathways are then compared.

Evaluation of the Automated Integration of a Robotics and ECochG System for Use with Cochlear Implant Surgery

The current standard of care approach for programming cochlear implants uses a generalized pitch-map for all patients. This approach fails to account for individualized inner ear anatomy. As a result, many cochlear implant recipients experience place-pitch mismatch. We have recently developed an automated mathematical tool to produce patient-specific, customized cochlear implant pitch-maps (Helpard et al., 2021). In this study, cochlear implant recipients will be randomized to receive either the clinical default pitch-map (the control group) or a place-based pitch-map (the intervention group). Assessments will be conducted at multiple time-intervals to account for patient acclimation and plasticity to both the generalized and individualized pitch-maps. Audiological assessments will be tuned to identify patients' ability to discern pitch scaling and variation in sounds, as well as to understand complexities in speech such as mood and tone. Audiological testing will be conducted in collaboration with the National Centre for Audiology (London, ON) to ensure that the most accurate and relevant metrics are applied.

This is a prospective multicenter multinational randomized control trial. The duration of the study for the individual patient will be approximately 1 year (pre-operative assessments, 1 week, 3 months and 12 months follow-up assessments). Participants will be randomized to one of two surgical approaches: eRW or CO, with a 1:1 allocation in a parallel design.

The goal of this clinical trial will be to evaluate the efficacy of artificial intelligence-integrated hearing aids in individuals with hearing loss. The main questions to answer are: 1. How effective is an artificial intelligence integrated hearing aid in improving speech perception in noise. 2. How does an artificial intelligence integrated hearing aid compare to currently available commercial hearing aids.

Fibrosis due to surgical trauma is a common problem with cochlear implants. Fibrosis limits the effectiveness of implant and increases the power consumption. Our aim in this study is to benefit from the anti-inflammatory effects of autologous platelet-rich fibrin to reducing the fibrotic cascade.

The purpose of the proposed study is to evaluate the continued safety of the iotaSOFT Insertion System when used by a surgeon to assist with inserting a CI electrode array in one ear per subject

This study intends to assess safety, tolerability, and efficacy of SENS-501 in children between the ages of 6-31 months with pre-lingual hearing loss due to a mutation in the Otoferlin gene.

Gene therapy is a promising strategy to treat hearing loss and vestibular disorders, and Associated adenovirus (AAV) is shown as a good viral vector for inner ear therapy in animal models. This study aims to study in vitro viral transduction of AAV in human inner ear cells, collected during non-conservative surgeries for vestibular schwannoma.

The goal of this observational study is to describe the multi-omics characteristics and to learn about the prognostic factors in patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL). The main problems it aims to deal with are: * if there is a difference in data of exome and targeted sequencing among patients with SSNHL affecting bilateral and unilateral sides, and healthy controls * if there is a difference in the parameter of MRI among patients with SSNHL affecting bilateral and unilateral sides, and healthy controls * to find out which factor from multi-omics data relates to outcomes of SSNHL * to develop the best prognostics model based on the multi-omics data. Participants will be received audiological tests, blood specimen collection and radiological examination. Researchers will explore the relationship between the multi-omics data and the prognosis and develop the predictive model.

Background: Deafness is one of the nine potentially modifiable risk factors for dementia simulated by the Lancet dementia Prevention, intervention and Care Committee in 2017. Some studies have found that the risk factors of dementia in deafness system, with the increase of the degree of deafness, the risk of cognitive decline increases, while after long-term wear of hearing aids, the deterioration of immediate and delayed memory is less, and the possibility of cognitive decline slows down. Therefore, it is necessary for us to improve the auditory ability of patients with deafness through auditory intervention, so as to slow down its effect on dementia and reduce the incidence of dementia. At present, auditory intervention methods include hearing aid wearing and cochlear implant. However, there are few studies on cognitive function of presbycusis patients in China, and there is no research on how many years of auditory intervention can effectively slow down the incidence of dementia in presbycusis patients with MCI. Therefore, we intend to conduct a prospective cohort study on the changes of cognitive function of presbycusis under hearing aid intervention.

In 2014 radiologic lesions were detected at one or more semicircular canals using CT and MR imaging of temporal bone in subjects carrying the p.P51S mutation in COCH. These lesions are believed to present at more advanced stages of the hearing and vestibular deterioration. Since then, other authors have described similar lesions in advanced non-genetic hearing and vestibular impairment as well. The purpose of this study is therefore to assess the radiologic investigation using CT and MR imaging of temporal bone to all subjects presenting with bilateral vestibulopathy, using the Barany criteria, compared to the p.P51S population.