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Enrolling by invitation

NCT Number: NCT07822802

Understanding Speech in Background Noise

The goal of this clinical trial is to establish how speech understanding is affected by background noise in people with normal hearing. The main questions it aims to answer are:

* Does noise affect speech understanding similarly in all frequency regions? * Does adding noise cause speech understanding to fall away at a similar rate across frequencies?

Participants will listen to speech in different frequency regions, with noise added at various levels, and respond with the words that they hear.

Enrolling by invitation

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Key information

Conditions

Hearing Healthy Speech Perception

Age range

18 year–70 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

The Ohio State University

Columbus, Ohio, 43210, United States

About this study

Participants will be seated comfortably throughout the experiment. Stimuli involving speech mixed with background noise at various levels will be played back from a PC and presented diotically over headphones at a level of approximately 65 dBA in each ear. Subjects will be instructed to repeat back each sentence, guessing if unsure. The experimenter will record component words correctly recalled. Sentences will not be repeated, and only exact-word matches will be accepted. A 10-minute practice stage will precede testing, in which subjects will hear example stimuli and sentences not used for testing. Test duration will not exceed two hours. Multiple groups of listeners will be employed, and the basic experimental protocol for each participant will be identical, differing only with regard to differences in the frequency content of the speech and/or the background noise present. Participants will be randomly assigned to groups.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Age between 18 and 70 years
  • Native English speakers
  • No known history of cognitive impairment
  • No known history of hearing impairment

Exclusion criteria

  • Age under 18 or over 70 years
  • Non-native English speaker
  • Known history of cognitive impairment
  • Known history of hearing impairment

Treatment and study plan

Speech filtering

Behavioral

Speech will be filtered into one of three frequency regions.

Speech with background noise

Behavioral

Background noise will be added to the speech at different levels.

Primary outcomes

  1. Percent words correct

    Time frame: During a single listening session lasting not more than 2 hours

    The percentage of words correctly heard and reported by the listener

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Ohio State University

Other

Collaborators

  • National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

Registry information

Official study title

The Susceptibility of Speech to Noise

Important dates

Study start
2026
Primary completion
2027
Study completion
2027
First posted
Sep 16, 2026
Registry last updated
Sep 16, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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