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NCT Number: NCT06738030

Transcranial Stimulation Combined With Auditory Training

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if non-invasive brain stimulation (called transcranial stimulation) can enhance the benefits from auditory training in people who struggle to understand one talker when many people are talking at the same time. The main questions it aims to answer are:

* Does transcranial stimulation improve speech-on-speech understanding in people who struggle with this task? * Does transcranial stimulation enhance the benefits of a commercially available auditory training program?

Researchers will compare transcranial stimulation to sham stimulation (no stimulation is applied during the listening task).

Participants will:

* Receive login information to an online auditory training program to complete at home over 2 weeks * Visit the laboratory 4 times to receive transcranial stimulation while listening to speech-on-speech: once before at-home training, two times during the at-home training period, and once after at-home training has ended

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Key information

Conditions

Difficulties Understanding Speech in Noise

Age range

50 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Communication Neuroscience Research Lab at Boston University

Boston, Massachusetts, 02215, United States

Location contact

Elin Roverud, AuD, PhD

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Monique Montoute

CONTACT

[email protected]

Tyler Perrachione, PhD

CONTACT

[email protected]

617-358-7410

Tyler Perrachione, PhD

SUB_INVESTIGATOR

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

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

Inclusion criteria

  • 50 years of age or older
  • Audiometric thresholds that do not exceed 90 dB HL at any frequency from 250-6000 Hz
  • Able to provide informed consent and understand experimental instructions
  • Able to read print on a computer screen
  • Difficulty with speech-on-speech understanding
  • Access to computer or mobile phone with access to internet that can play sound (for the at-home training)

Exclusion criteria

  • Non-native speakers of English
  • History of skull fracture, scalp tissue damage, metallic implants around the head, seizures, neurological disorders, or traumatic brain injury, current or suspected pregnancy

Treatment and study plan

transcranial current stimulation

Device

The transcranial alternating current stimulation is delivered during the speech stimulus and the current matches the envelope of the target speech

Auditory Training

Behavioral

An at-home auditory training program that adaptively and interactively trains the listener in degraded speech, cognitive skills, and communication strategies

Primary outcomes

  1. Speech-on-speech intelligibility percent correct

    Time frame: From enrollment to the end of participation at 6 weeks

    Percent correct score on the speech-on-speech task assessed in the lab

  2. Pupillometry measured listening effort

    Time frame: From enrollment to the end of participation at 6 weeks

    The peak pupil dilation subtracted from pre-trial baseline pupil dilation, averaged across trials in a block, assessed in the lab

  3. QuickSIN SNR Loss

    Time frame: Days 1, 6, and 14 of the two-week auditory training

    A speech-in-noise test assessed as part of the at-home auditory training program

  4. Hearing Handicap Inventory

    Time frame: Days 1 and 14 of the two-week auditory training program

    A listening effort questionnaire given as part of the at-home auditory training program

Study contacts

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

Elin Roverud, AuD, PhD

CONTACT

[email protected]

617-358-7440

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Boston University Charles River Campus

Other

Collaborators

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

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2025
Primary completion
2026
Study completion
2026
First posted
Dec 17, 2024
Registry last updated
Dec 17, 2024

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.