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NCT Number: NCT07582198

Hearing Outcomes With the Nucleus® 8 Sound Processor and Nucleus® 7 Sound Processor in Adult Veteran and Non-veteran Cochlear Implant Recipients

The main purpose of this study is to understand how well a noise reduction feature called ForwardFocus works when used with two different sound processors: the Nucleus® 8 Sound Processor and the Nucleus® 7 Sound Processor, in adults with cochlear implants.

The study will include two groups of adult cochlear implant recipients: veterans and non-veterans. Comparing these groups will help researchers understand how these sound processors perform in veteran populations as well as the broader adult cochlear implant community.

Participants will use each sound processor and then take part in speech understanding tests in background noise. They will also complete questionnaires about their listening experiences with each processor.

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Key information

Conditions

Hearing Loss Ear Diseases Hearing Disorders Nervous System Diseases Neurologic Manifestations Otorhinolaryngologic Diseases Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms Sensation Disorders Signs and Symptoms

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Denver Research and Technology Lab

Lone Tree, Colorado, 80124, United States

Location contact

PRS Specialist

CONTACT

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

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

Inclusion criteria

  • Aged 18 years or older, at time of consent.
  • Implanted with the CI600 Series (CI612, CI632, CI622, CI624), CI500 Series (CI512, CI532, CI522) or Freedom Series (CI24R(CA), CI24R(ST) CI24R(CS), CI24M, CI24RE(CA), CI24RE(ST), CI422) in the test ear.
  • At least 18 active electrodes in the test ear.
  • At least 6 months experience with a cochlear implant in the test ear.
  • Able to score 20% or more at +10 dB SNR with CI alone on an S0N0 sentence in-noise test in the test ear.
  • Pure-tone average unaided threshold (500 through 4000 Hz) ≥ 30 dB HL, in the contralateral ear.
  • Candidate is a fluent speaker in the language used to assess speech perception performance.
  • Direct access to a compatible smartphone.
  • Willing and able to provide written informed consent.

Exclusion criteria

  • Recipients with single-sided deafness as determined by the Investigator.
  • Additional disabilities that would prevent participation in evaluations.
  • Unrealistic expectations on the part of the subject, regarding the possible benefits, risks and limitations that are inherent to the procedures.
  • Unable or unwilling to comply with the requirements of the clinical investigation as determined by the Investigator.
  • Investigator site personnel directly affiliated with this study and/or their immediate families; immediate family is defined as a spouse, parent, child, or sibling.
  • Cochlear employees or employees of Contract Research Organizations or contractors engaged by Cochlear for the purposes of this investigation.
  • Current participation, or participation in another interventional clinical study/trial in the past 30 days, involving an investigational drug or device (unless Cochlear sponsored and determined by Investigator or Sponsor to not impact this investigation).

Treatment and study plan

Nucleus 7 Sound Processor

Device

While the user can turn ForwardFocus on from any program in the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor, for the duration of this study, SCAN will be used as the default program and ForwardFocus will be turned on for testing. This setting will be referred to as SCAN ForwardFocus (SCAN FF).

Nucleus 8 Sound Processor

Device

Nucleus 8 Sound Processor will be used with the SCAN 2 ForwardFocus (SCAN 2 FF) program to evaluate speech performance.

Primary outcomes

  1. Paired difference in AzBio percent correct in noise between the Nucleus 8 Sound Processor using the SCAN 2 FF program and the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor using the SCAN FF program at a fixed signal-to-noise ratio in the S0N90 spatial configuration

    Time frame: Week 2 and week 4

    The AzBio sentence test is a validated test used to assess open-set sentence recognition. AzBio sentences are spoken in a conversational style with limited contextual cues that the listener can use to predict unintelligible words.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Paired difference in AzBio percent correct in noise between the Nucleus 8 Sound Processor using the SCAN 2 FF program and the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor using the SCAN FF program at a fixed signal-to-noise ratio in the S90N180 spatial configuration

    Time frame: Week 2 and week 4

    The AzBio sentence test is a validated test used to assess open-set sentence recognition. AzBio sentences are spoken in a conversational style with limited contextual cues that the listener can use to predict unintelligible words.

  2. Paired difference in AzBio percent correct in noise between the Nucleus 8 Sound Processor using the SCAN 2 FF program and the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor using the SCAN FF program at a fixed signal-to-noise ratio in the S0N180 spatial configuration

    Time frame: Week 2 and week 4

    The AzBio sentence test is a validated test used to assess open-set sentence recognition. AzBio sentences are spoken in a conversational style with limited contextual cues that the listener can use to predict unintelligible words.

  3. Paired difference in AzBio improvement (percentage-point change) for the Nucleus 8 Sound Processor (SCAN 2 FF minus SCAN 2) compared to the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor (SCAN FF minus SCAN) in the S0N180 spatial configuration

    Time frame: Week 2 and week 4

    The AzBio sentence test is a validated test used to assess open-set sentence recognition. AzBio sentences are spoken in a conversational style with limited contextual cues that the listener can use to predict unintelligible words.

  4. Paired difference in CNC percent correct in quiet between the Nucleus 8 Sound Processor using the SCAN 2 FF program and the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor using the SCAN FF program in the S0 spatial configuration

    Time frame: Week 2 and week 4

    The consonant-nucleus-consonant (CNC) monosyllabic word test will be used to assess speech perception of words in quiet. The test consists of 10 recorded lists of 50 monosyllabic words, produced by a male talker.

  5. Paired difference in AzBio percent correct in quiet between the Nucleus 8 Sound Processor using the SCAN 2 FF program and the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor using the SCAN FF program in the S0 spatial configuration

    Time frame: Week 2 and week 4

    The AzBio sentence test is a validated test used to assess open-set sentence recognition. AzBio sentences are spoken in a conversational style with limited contextual cues that the listener can use to predict unintelligible words.

  6. Paired difference in AzBio percent correct in noise between the Nucleus 8 Sound Processor using the SCAN 2 FF program and the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor using the SCAN FF program at a fixed signal-to-noise ratio in the S0N0 spatial configuration

    Time frame: Week 2 and week 4

    The AzBio sentence test is a validated test used to assess open-set sentence recognition. AzBio sentences are spoken in a conversational style with limited contextual cues that the listener can use to predict unintelligible words.

  7. Proportion of participants preferring each sound processor in various listening domains

    Time frame: Week 4

    The Device Preference Questionnaire is a custom self-assessment to evaluate participants' preference between the Nucleus 8 and Nucleus 7 Sound Processors, or "no preference".

  8. Mean difference in SSQ-12 total scores between the Nucleus 8 Sound Processor and the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor

    Time frame: Week 2 and Week 4

    The SSQ-12 is a validated 12-item abbreviated form of the Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing scale that measures self-reported hearing ability across speech, spatial, and sound quality domains, with each item rated from 0 (poor) to 10 (excellent). Total scores are calculated by averaging responses across relevant items.

  9. Mean difference in VFS-A-10 total scores between the Nucleus 8 Sound Processor and the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor

    Time frame: Week 2 and Week 4

    The Vanderbilt Fatigue Scale-10-Item Adult (VFS-A-10) is a validated 10-item subjective scale designed to assess listening-related fatigue in adults with hearing loss. The scale provides a total score based on all 10 questions rated on a Likert scale from 0 (no listening-related fatigue) to 4 (severe listening-related fatigue).

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

PRS Specialist

CONTACT

[email protected]

+61294286555

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Cochlear

Industry

Registry information

Official study title

A Post-market Interventional, Prospective, Open-label, Multi-center, Clinical Investigation of Hearing Outcomes With the Nucleus 8 Sound Processor and Nucleus 7 Sound Processor in Adult Veteran and Non-veteran Cochlear Implant Recipients

Acronym: SALUTE

Important dates

Study start
2026
Primary completion
2026
Study completion
2026
First posted
May 12, 2026
Registry last updated
May 12, 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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