Testing a Possible Cause of Reduced Ability of Children to Process Speech in Noise
Completed
Conditions studied: Central Auditory Disease, Healthy
In brief
This study aims to increase our understanding of the difficulty people have recognizing the spoken word, especially in noisy situations. Subjects must be between 12 and 18 years old with no history of voice disorder, autism, stuttering, aphasia, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, severe language disorders, and psychiatric disorders. Group A subjects must show reduced speech-in-noise scores and Group B subjects must demonstrate speech-in-noise scores within normal limits. The child will perform a series of hearing tasks that will take from 1.5 to 2 hours, with a break halfway through. A routine hearing test will be given. The child will sit in a sound-treated room wearing earphones and will depress a button in response to sound or to repeat words. The words may be in quiet or mixed with noise. In a test called "immitance," air pressure change and tones will be sent through a miniature probe in the ear for about 1 minute. TEOAE (transient-evoked otoacoustic emission) testing will test the inner ear with clicking sounds. At times, noise will be presented through a probe in the opposite ear. The child will listen to a series of recordings of speech in quiet and in noise and will be asked to repeat what is heard. These recordings will include monosyllabic words with some part of the sounds cut out; words presented with several voices speaking together; two words presented at the same time, one to each ear (child must repeat both words); and two sentences presented at the same time, one to each ear (child must repeat sentence presented to chosen ear). The only risk in this study is tiredness from listening.
Key facts
- Study ID
- NCT00001957
- Run by
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
- People needed
- 100
- Starts
- 1999-11-01
- Expected to finish
- 2003-11-01
- Last updated by the study team
- 2008-03-04
Who can join
Age: any. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.
You may qualify if…
- Subjects selected will be between the ages of 12 and 18 years.
- All subjects must score within normal limits on measures of threshold sensitivity, speech recognition in quiet, middle ear function and TEOAEs to be included in the study.
- Group A subjects must be identified as having learning or attention problems in school and show show reduced scores on speech-in-noise tasks.
- Group B subjects must demonstrate speech-in-noise scores within normal limits.
- Groups will be matched for sex, age and handedness.
You may not qualify if…
- Subjects will be excluded for history of voice disorders, autism, stuttering, aphasia, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, severe language disorders and psychiatric disorders.
- Children who are being treated for hyperactivity disorder will be excluded.
- Children who are taking medication prescribed for hyperactivity, anxiety or depression may be excluded.
- Children younger than 12 will be excluded.
Where it is running
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) — Bethesda, Maryland, United States
Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov
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