Home › Speech Intelligibility › NCT04997577
Speech Perception and High Cognitive Demand
Auditory-cognitive Training Paradigm (NIH P01 Project - Speech Perception With High Cognitive Demand)
Who can join
Ages 65 to 85 · All sexes · Healthy volunteers welcome
Full eligibility criteria
Inclusion Criteria: * Aged between 65 - 85 years * Normal hearing (pure tone thresholds ≤ 25 dB HL from 250 - 8000 Hz) * Self-reported normal or corrected-to-normal vision * Dominant language: American English * Education: a high school diploma or higher education level Exclusion Criteria: * Middle-ear or inner-ear pathology * Non-native speaker of English * Inability to complete all training sessions within a pre-specified time window (e.g., due to unexpected schedule restrictions) * Learning disorders * Metal in body that induces a data artifact for MEG recording (e.g., excessive metal dental work) or that poses a safety issue in the MRI portion (e.g., pacemakers, neural implants, metal plates or joints, shrapnel, and surgical staples) * Claustrophobia or any condition that would be exacerbated by the scanning environment's lighting, sounds, etc. (e.g., migraines) * A non-removable hairstyle or hair accessory that would prevent the participant from fitting comfortably in the MEG or MRI head coil * Currently under a medical provider's care for a closed head injury * Currently taking psychoactive stimulant (e.g., amphetamines), depressant (e.g., benzodiazepines), mood stabilizing (e.g., lithium), anti-psychotic, or anti-seizure medications or drugs of abuse * Currently pregnant (only for MRI)
About the study
With advancing age, adults experience increasing speech understanding difficulties in challenging situations. Currently, speech-in-noise difficulties are rehabilitated by providing hearing aids. For older normal-hearing adults, however, hearing devices do not provide much benefit since these adults do not have decreased hearing sensitivity. The goal of the "Speech Perception and High Cognitive Demand" project is to evaluate the benefit of a new auditory-cognitive training paradigm. In the present study neural (as measured by pupillometry and magnetoencephalography) and behavioral changes of speech-in-noise perception from pretest to posttest will be examined in older adults (age 65 - 85 years) assigned to one of three training groups: 1) Active Control Group: sessions of watching informational videos, 2) Auditory Training Group: sessions of auditory training listening to one of two speakers in everyday scenarios (e.g., driving directions) and needing to recall what one speaker said in the previous sentence, and 3) Auditory-cognitive training group: identical to the auditory training group, except participants will be asked to remember information from two previous sentences. Changes in speech-in-noise perception will be examined for the three groups of older adults and gains will be compared to a control group of young, normal hearing adults (18-30 years) that is not part of the clinical trial and will not undergo any training.
What is being tested
- Auditory-cognitive training paradigm (behavioral)
- Auditory training paradigm (behavioral)
Sponsor: University of Maryland, College Park · Participants: 100 · Started: Sep 27, 2021
Contact the study team
- Jonathan Z Simon, PhD · Phone: 301-405-3645
- Michael A Johns, PhD · Phone: 301-405-9604
Official record on ClinicalTrials.gov — NCT04997577
Locations in the U.S.
| Maryland | Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, College Park Maryland Neuroimaging Center, College Park |
Conditions
From ClinicalTrials.gov, data retrieved Sep 30, 2026. Each study sets its own eligibility; the study team decides who can join.