Skip to main content
OpenTrials
Enrolling by Invitation

NCT Number: NCT06962540

Understanding Individual Listening Strategies

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if hearing aid settings that are customized to individual listening strategies result in better speech understanding than non-customized hearing aid settings. The main question it aims to answer is:

Do customized hearing aid settings result in better speech understanding?

Researchers will compare hearing aid settings that match individual listening strategy to a general setting.

Participants will:

Wear hearing aids for a 2-hour visit to our laboratory. Listen to some sentences in noise and repeat the sentences they hear, with two different hearing aid settings Listen to some sentences in noise and rate how understandable they think those sentences are, with two different hearing aid settings

Enrolling by Invitation

Interested in participating?

Request Info

Key information

Conditions

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

Age range

18 year–90 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois, 60208, United States

About this study

Participants will complete standard clinical hearing evaluations and a listening profile test to evaluate their individual listening strategy. Hearing aids will then be programmed either based on their clinical hearing evaluations alone using typical hearing aid settings or based on their hearing test with settings further adjusted to account for their individual listening strategies.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

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

Inclusion criteria

  • Sensorineural hearing loss

Exclusion criteria

  • Montreal Cognitive Assessment < 23 points

Treatment and study plan

Hearing aid with settings customized to match their individual listening strategy

Device

Behind-the-ear hearing aids that have been programmed based on the participant's individual listening strategy and hearing loss.

Other names: Customized Hearing Aid Settings

Hearing Aid with settings based on audiogram alone

Device

Behind-the-ear hearing aids that have been programmed based on their hearing loss and typical clinical settings.

Other names: General Hearing Aid Settings

Primary outcomes

  1. Speech recognition

    Time frame: Outcome measure is collected during the intervention, a two hour visit to the lab where they are wearing the hearing aids

    Participants listen to and repeat sentences, they are scored based on the % correct of keywords they accurately repeat.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Speech Spatial Quality

    Time frame: Outcome measure is collected during the intervention, a two hour visit to the lab where they are wearing the hearing aids

    Rate perceived intelligibility and quality on a scale of 0 to 10 with 10 generally being better

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Northwestern University

Other

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2025
Primary completion
2027
Study completion
2027
First posted
May 8, 2025
Registry last updated
May 4, 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.

Related clinical trials

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.