Auditory Plasticity Training

Purpose

The investigators are working on a project to help people who have had mild brain injuries hear better. Sometimes, these injuries can make it hard for people to hear clearly, especially in noisy places or when trying to tell where sounds are coming from. The project is testing special training exercises that have helped healthy people improve their hearing in these situations. The goal is to see if these exercises can also help people with mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI). If these exercises work, they could help doctors give better treatment to people with hearing problems after a brain injury. This would be especially helpful for soldiers who need to stay ready for duty. It could also make life better for veterans who struggle with hearing issues and help lower the cost of healthcare.

Condition

  • Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Eligibility

Eligible Ages
Between 18 Years and 55 Years
Eligible Genders
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No

Inclusion Criteria

  • Age 18-55 years - English is the primary language - History of mTBI by self report

Exclusion Criteria

  • Pure tone threshold (mean of 0.5-4.0 kHz) > 40dB HL - Major neurological or psychiatric conditions besides mTBI

Study Design

Phase
N/A
Study Type
Interventional
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention Model
Parallel Assignment
Intervention Model Description
A randomized controlled trial which will randomize subjects into one of two aims. Each aim will have a 1:1 randomization of participants into either the investigational or the control group
Primary Purpose
Treatment
Masking
None (Open Label)

Arm Groups

ArmDescriptionAssigned Intervention
Active Comparator
Speech in Noise Training (SPiN) 		Young to middle-age mTBI patients (age 18-55 yrs.) with various degrees of central hearing impairment will be randomly assigned to this training group
  • Other: Speech in Noise Training
    The active controls will receive frequency discrimination training that uses the same visual landscape and basic task of controlling the wisp based on judgments about acoustic cues. The task requires participants to avoid obstacles by swiping upward or downward on the touchscreen to indicate whether a test frequency associated with the obstacle was higher or lower, respectively, than a target sound presented slightly before the test sound.
    Other names:
    • SPiN
No Intervention
SPiN Control Group Treatment as Usual (TAU) 		Young to middle-age mTBI patients (age 18-55 yrs.) with various degrees of central hearing impairment will be randomly assigned to a treatment as usual group
Active Comparator
Spatial Hearing Training 		Young to middle-age mTBI patients (age 18-55 yrs.) with various degrees of central hearing impairment will be randomly assigned to this training group
  • Other: Spatial Hearing Training Group
    Stimulus presentation and response measurement (Aim 2): Acoustic stimuli will be presented with a 360° speaker array that are fixed in place behind an opaque, nearly sound transparent, acoustic fabric curtain to avoid visual influences. Manual responses will be collected using a keyboard. Custom Matlab scripts control all relevant variables with millisecond precision. A webcam monitors the participant (not recorded) for the sole purpose of making sure the participant is always facing straight ahead. Sound localization task and training: Participants will judge the location of a target white noise sound (1000 ms, 70 dB SLP, 10-10,000 Hz) by moving an auditory pointer that appears 2 seconds after the offset of the target sound. The training group are given feedback about how their perceived location related to the actual sound location.
  • Other: Spatial Hearing Control Group
    Stimulus presentation and response measurement (Aim 2): Acoustic stimuli will be presented with a 360° speaker array that are fixed in place behind an opaque, nearly sound transparent, acoustic fabric curtain to avoid visual influences. Manual responses will be collected using a keyboard. Custom Matlab scripts control all relevant variables with millisecond precision. A webcam monitors the participant (not recorded) for the sole purpose of making sure the participant is always facing straight ahead. Sound localization task and training: Participants will judge the location of a target white noise sound (1000 ms, 70 dB SLP, 10-10,000 Hz) by moving an auditory pointer that appears 2 seconds after the offset of the target sound. The training group are NOT given feedback about how their perceived location related to the actual sound location.
    Other names:
    • The training group performs the same spatial hearing task, but on every trial they are given feedback about how their perceived location related to the actual sound location.
Other
Spatial Hearing Training Control Group Treatment as Usual (TAU) 		Young to middle-age mTBI patients (age 18-55 yrs.) with various degrees of central hearing impairment will be randomly assigned to a treatment as usual group
  • Other: Spatial Hearing Control Group
    Stimulus presentation and response measurement (Aim 2): Acoustic stimuli will be presented with a 360° speaker array that are fixed in place behind an opaque, nearly sound transparent, acoustic fabric curtain to avoid visual influences. Manual responses will be collected using a keyboard. Custom Matlab scripts control all relevant variables with millisecond precision. A webcam monitors the participant (not recorded) for the sole purpose of making sure the participant is always facing straight ahead. Sound localization task and training: Participants will judge the location of a target white noise sound (1000 ms, 70 dB SLP, 10-10,000 Hz) by moving an auditory pointer that appears 2 seconds after the offset of the target sound. The training group are NOT given feedback about how their perceived location related to the actual sound location.
    Other names:
    • The training group performs the same spatial hearing task, but on every trial they are given feedback about how their perceived location related to the actual sound location.

Recruiting Locations

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas 78229
Contact:
Rocio Norman, PhD
210-450-8352
normanr@uthscsa.edu

More Details

Status
Recruiting
Sponsor
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Study Contact

Rocio Norman, PhD
(210) 450-8352
normanr@uthscsa.edu

Detailed Description

The study has two aims: 1. Aim 1 - Speech in noise (SPiN) training: The training group will receive the SPiN training, while the active control group will play a variation of the main Listen game (frequency discrimination) that is not expected to improve speech recognition in noise. Participants will receive a tablet and earphones. The instructions will be explained, and they will practice and work with the experimenter to verify they understand how to run the training at home. Participants will do SPiN and Active Control training at home over 8 days, with up to two, 10 min sessions each day, for a total of 15 training sessions. 2. Aim 2 - Spacial hearing training: Two groups will be tested: training and control, and participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups. The training group will receive Spatial Hearing training, which will be compared to no-contract controls. The study team will avoid withholding training from the controls by considering them a waitlist control group, which will then be offered the training after completing the study as a control participant.The training group does the same spatial hearing task on two days, but on every trial they are given feedback about how the location they thought the sound came from differed from the actual sound location.