The main purpose of this study is to understand how well a noise reduction feature called ForwardFocus works when used with two different sound processors: the Nucleus® 8 Sound Processor and the Nucleus® 7 Sound Processor, in adults with cochlear implants. The study will include two groups of adult cochlear implant recipients: veterans and non-veterans. Comparing these groups will help researchers understand how these sound processors perform in veteran populations as well as the broader adult cochlear implant community. Participants will use each sound processor and then take part in speech understanding tests in background noise. They will also complete questionnaires about their listening experiences with each processor.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
26
While the user can turn ForwardFocus on from any program in the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor, for the duration of this study, SCAN will be used as the default program and ForwardFocus will be turned on for testing. This setting will be referred to as SCAN ForwardFocus (SCAN FF).
Nucleus 8 Sound Processor will be used with the SCAN 2 ForwardFocus (SCAN 2 FF) program to evaluate speech performance.
Denver Research and Technology Lab
Lone Tree, Colorado, United States
Paired difference in AzBio percent correct in noise between the Nucleus 8 Sound Processor using the SCAN 2 FF program and the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor using the SCAN FF program at a fixed signal-to-noise ratio in the S0N90 spatial configuration
The AzBio sentence test is a validated test used to assess open-set sentence recognition. AzBio sentences are spoken in a conversational style with limited contextual cues that the listener can use to predict unintelligible words.
Time frame: Week 2 and week 4
Paired difference in AzBio percent correct in noise between the Nucleus 8 Sound Processor using the SCAN 2 FF program and the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor using the SCAN FF program at a fixed signal-to-noise ratio in the S90N180 spatial configuration
The AzBio sentence test is a validated test used to assess open-set sentence recognition. AzBio sentences are spoken in a conversational style with limited contextual cues that the listener can use to predict unintelligible words.
Time frame: Week 2 and week 4
Paired difference in AzBio percent correct in noise between the Nucleus 8 Sound Processor using the SCAN 2 FF program and the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor using the SCAN FF program at a fixed signal-to-noise ratio in the S0N180 spatial configuration
The AzBio sentence test is a validated test used to assess open-set sentence recognition. AzBio sentences are spoken in a conversational style with limited contextual cues that the listener can use to predict unintelligible words.
Time frame: Week 2 and week 4
Paired difference in AzBio improvement (percentage-point change) for the Nucleus 8 Sound Processor (SCAN 2 FF minus SCAN 2) compared to the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor (SCAN FF minus SCAN) in the S0N180 spatial configuration
The AzBio sentence test is a validated test used to assess open-set sentence recognition. AzBio sentences are spoken in a conversational style with limited contextual cues that the listener can use to predict unintelligible words.
Time frame: Week 2 and week 4
Paired difference in CNC percent correct in quiet between the Nucleus 8 Sound Processor using the SCAN 2 FF program and the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor using the SCAN FF program in the S0 spatial configuration
The consonant-nucleus-consonant (CNC) monosyllabic word test will be used to assess speech perception of words in quiet. The test consists of 10 recorded lists of 50 monosyllabic words, produced by a male talker.
Time frame: Week 2 and week 4
Paired difference in AzBio percent correct in quiet between the Nucleus 8 Sound Processor using the SCAN 2 FF program and the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor using the SCAN FF program in the S0 spatial configuration
The AzBio sentence test is a validated test used to assess open-set sentence recognition. AzBio sentences are spoken in a conversational style with limited contextual cues that the listener can use to predict unintelligible words.
Time frame: Week 2 and week 4
Paired difference in AzBio percent correct in noise between the Nucleus 8 Sound Processor using the SCAN 2 FF program and the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor using the SCAN FF program at a fixed signal-to-noise ratio in the S0N0 spatial configuration
The AzBio sentence test is a validated test used to assess open-set sentence recognition. AzBio sentences are spoken in a conversational style with limited contextual cues that the listener can use to predict unintelligible words.
Time frame: Week 2 and week 4
Proportion of participants preferring each sound processor in various listening domains
The Device Preference Questionnaire is a custom self-assessment to evaluate participants' preference between the Nucleus 8 and Nucleus 7 Sound Processors, or "no preference".
Time frame: Week 4
Mean difference in SSQ-12 total scores between the Nucleus 8 Sound Processor and the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor
The SSQ-12 is a validated 12-item abbreviated form of the Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing scale that measures self-reported hearing ability across speech, spatial, and sound quality domains, with each item rated from 0 (poor) to 10 (excellent). Total scores are calculated by averaging responses across relevant items.
Time frame: Week 2 and Week 4
Mean difference in VFS-A-10 total scores between the Nucleus 8 Sound Processor and the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor
The Vanderbilt Fatigue Scale-10-Item Adult (VFS-A-10) is a validated 10-item subjective scale designed to assess listening-related fatigue in adults with hearing loss. The scale provides a total score based on all 10 questions rated on a Likert scale from 0 (no listening-related fatigue) to 4 (severe listening-related fatigue).
Time frame: Week 2 and Week 4
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