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Spatial Cues, Task Demands, and Auditory Selective Attention
How Spatial Cues Support Communication: Interactions Between Auditory Spatial Features and Task Demands Across Cortical Networks
Who can join
Ages 18 to 90 · All sexes · Healthy volunteers welcome
Full eligibility criteria
Inclusion Criteria: * Adults with normal hearing, confirmed by audiometric assessment (thresholds within 20 dB HL of normal through 8 kHz), OR adults with bilateral cochlear implants who have used their implants for at least one year * Native speakers of American English * Normal or corrected-to-normal vision Exclusion Criteria: * Known neurological disorders * For fMRI sessions (normal-hearing participants only): contraindications to MRI scanning; cochlear implant users do not complete MRI sessions
About the study
Understanding speech in restaurants and other noisy environments is the most common complaint from the more than 60 million Americans with hearing impairment. Succeeding in such environments requires a listener to first segregate sound sources and then selectively attend to the source of interest. This study examines how individual auditory spatial cues (interaural time differences and interaural level differences) support spatial selective attention, the cortical processes that underlie this ability, and how these processes are modulated by task demands. Participants with normal hearing and participants who use bilateral cochlear implants will perform listening tasks while brain and physiological responses are recorded (electroencephalography, functional near-infrared spectroscopy, pupillometry, and, for normal-hearing participants only, functional magnetic resonance imaging). The findings will provide new insights into the mechanisms of spatial selective attention and help guide clinical solutions for cochlear implant users, individuals with hearing impairment more generally, and older normal-hearing adults who have difficulty understanding speech in noisy environments.
What is being tested
- Existing bilateral cochlear implants (device)
- Normal Hearing Control (other)
Sponsor: University of South Florida · Participants: 80 · Started: Oct 22, 2025
Contact the study team
- Christopher A Brown, PhD · Phone: 412-670-2772
Official record on ClinicalTrials.gov — NCT07765186
Locations in the U.S.
| Florida | University of South Florida, PCD Building, Room 3008A, Tampa |
Conditions
From ClinicalTrials.gov, data retrieved Sep 30, 2026. Each study sets its own eligibility; the study team decides who can join.