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71 active trials for Hearing Loss

Examining the Impact of Physician Influence on Hearing Aid User Satisfaction and Retention

Most of us will experience some degree of hearing loss as we get older. It can affect one or both ears and without treatment causes difficulty with following conversations in the home or workplace. Audiologists are trained to diagnose and treat hearing loss and tinnitus problems. They also dispense, and fit hearing aids. Physicians do not provide or fit hearing aids directly, however they diagnose hearing loss and can recommend hearing aids amongst other treatments for hearing loss. It is undecided whether consulting with a physician in addition to an audiologist will improve user's satisfaction with hearing aids, compared to consulting with an audiologist alone. The purpose of this study is to determine whether physician involvement (in addition to an audiologist) in the hearing aid fitting process improves users' satisfaction with hearing aids. The study utilizes questionnaires to assess satisfaction with hearing aids. Furthermore, participants decision to keep the purchased hearing aids will be recorded. The study will take place in the clinics of family doctors, Otolaryngology (Ear) surgeons and audiologists. A hearing aid suitable for the needs of the participant will be fitted by an audiologist. In the first 21days after the fitting, participants will attend follow-up visits with the audiologists for adjustments to the hearing aids to best meet their specific listening needs. After 21 days, eligible participants will be allocated to either the Control or Test groups. Participants in both groups will be asked to describe the change in their hearing performance related to the use of hearing aids to their audiologist(Control) or Physician (Test) at a follow-up visit. At the study's final visit, participants will be asked to complete a satisfaction-based questionnaire. The time taken to fit a hearing aid varies depending on the individual needs of the patient. It is estimated that at most 10 visits will be required over 90 days to complete the hearing aid fitting and study processes. These visits will be of 30 minutes duration on average, except for the initial and final visits which lasts for 45 minutes. A patient will spend a maximum of 330 minutes to complete the hearing aid fitting process, but only 25 minutes of this time will be specifically related to the study. The study is intended to determine the satisfaction with hearing aids and consultations with health professionals.

Start: July 2016
Mechanisms of Health Literacy and Information Accessibility in the Deaf

The purpose of this proposal is to examine the attitudes, knowledge, and skills related to health information that influence health literacy among Deaf individuals.The study team will also examine frequently overlooked potential predictors of health literacy, including cognitive abilities, resilience, and self-efficacy. To achieve the study objectives, researchers will conduct an explanatory sequential mixed methods design using extensive quantitative data collection procedures, namely, cross-sectional surveys and measures that will identify predictors and moderators of health literacy with Deaf and hearing subjects. These results will inform the subsequent qualitative assessment using elicitation interviews that will help explain the quantitative results, and elucidate how and why Deaf individuals access and understand health information. A community advisory board consisting of Deaf community members will provide oversight to the proposal that will be led by multiple Deaf investigators, including the PI. The Deaf community, due to communication barriers, relative social marginalization, and their reliance on visual learning, provides a unique insight into how health information is distributed and disseminated visually. Findings may be applicable to other individuals with hearing loss who navigate and cope with life more visually than the typical hearing person. This will be critical to determine more accurately the effect of visual learning and existing online health information on health literacy.

Start: December 2016
Benefits of Tablet-based Serious Games to Promote Speech Production in Young Children With Hearing Disabilities

Learning to speak is a major challenge for children with hearing impairments. Nowadays, special devices such as conventional hearing aids, bone-anchored hearing aids (BAHA) or cochlear implants (CI) allow successful rehabilitation of patients with hearing disabilities. To obtain maximum benefit from these technical aids, instrumented hearing impaired children require specific and intensive speech therapy to compensate for speech development delays. In addition, it is also of primary importance that during daily life (e.g., at home, at school) children are provided with sufficient and good quality auditory stimulation. The main goal of this project is to encourage speech production with an edutainment tool that can be used at home and that is adapted to the specific needs of young hearing impaired children. For this purpose, the investigators have recently designed an innovative educational solution: FunSpeech, a tablet-based set of video games that respond exclusively to sound and speech. The aim of this serious game is to encourage hearing impaired children to produce controlled sounds in terms of rhythm, intensity, and pitch. These are the main abilities required for controlled speech production. Finally, this serious game aims to support the parents' key role in the speech learning process by offering an effective solution that is easy to use at home with young children.

Start: March 2020