CClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT03512951EXTENDUpdated Dec 20, 2018

Subjective Evaluation of a Sound Processing Method for Hearing Aids on Auditory Distance Perception

An interventional study of Digital signal processing algorithms in Hearing Disorders and Hearing Loss, Sensorineural, sponsored by Sonova AG. Completed at 2 sites in Switzerland. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 60 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2018-12-20.

Sponsored by Sonova AG · Not applicable, Interventional, and Supportive care

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
30
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
18 Years to 60 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Within the course of this study, a signal processing feature has been developed at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), in collaboration with Sonova AG, in order to enhance the listening experience with remote microphone systems. In particular, the developed feature is supposed to improve the so-called audio-visual fusion, i.e. the fact to perceive the sound as coming from the physical location of the source. One of the main goals of the present study is to evaluate the extent to which this feature reaches that objective.

02

Conditions studied

  • Hearing Disorders
  • Hearing Loss, Sensorineural

Keywords

  • Hearing aids
  • Remote microphone systems
  • Roger technology
  • Sound externalization
  • Auditory distance estimation
03

In context

Hearing Loss

1,092 studies on the registry are indexed under Hearing Loss; 235 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 30 is below the median of 40 across 764 interventional studies indexed under Hearing Loss.

Browse Hearing Loss studies →

Lead sponsor

Sonova AG is the lead sponsor of 82 studies on the registry; 6 are open to participants now.

Of its 25 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 17 (68%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 60 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Eligibility criteria

Subjects fulfilling all of the following inclusion criteria are eligible for the study:

  • Willing and able to give written informed consent as documented by signature,
  • French-native adult speakers,
  • (Preferably) younger than 60 y.o.

For all normal-hearing participants:

  • Hearing thresholds lower or equal to 20 dB on both ears, as ensured by a pure-tone audiometry (125 Hz to 8 kHz) conducted at the beginning of the session.

For all hearing-impaired patients:

  • Patients of Mr. Philippe Estoppey, private audiologist settled in Lausanne,
  • User of bilateral BTE Phonak hearing aids, commercialized after July 2012, with fittings that did not change over the last three months,
  • Presenting a severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss,
  • Presenting a symmetrical hearing loss (no bilateral hearing threshold that differ by more than 20 dB at any audiometric frequency (125 Hz - 4 kHz)).

For HI patients experienced with remote microphone systems:

  • Past or present users of FM and/or Roger devices for more than six months.

For other HI patients:

  • No past or present experience with FM and/or Roger devices for more than one month.

The presence of any one of the following exclusion criteria will lead to exclusion of the participant:

  • Collaborator of the laboratory (LTS2) or student attending the courses of audio and acoustics given by the laboratory staff (EE-348 Electroacoustics, EE-548 Audio Engineering),
  • History of chronic or terminal illness, psychiatric disturbance, senile dementia, or cognitive impairment,
  • History of strong tinnitus and/or hyperacusis,
  • Strong visual impairment after correction with glasses or not,
  • History of epilepsy or other reactions associated with the proximity to a screen,
  • Motor disability that would disturb their presence at EPFL.
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Supportive care
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
30 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Normal hearing

    A control group including ten normal-hearing participants. These participants are recruited because they can be considered as a reference when compared to hearing-impaired patients. They usually provide homogeneous results that are expected to be significantly different than those obtained with hearing-impaired patients. In this study, normal-hearing participants are expected to provide better and more consistent performance of auditory distance estimation.

    Other: Digital signal processing algorithms

  • Experimental
    10 experienced hearing impaired

    A group of ten (expected sample size) severe-to-profound hearing-impaired patients who have a past and/or present experience of more than 6 months with remote microphone systems. These patients are expected to be aware of the drawbacks of the current remote microphone technology with respect to sound localization, auditory distance estimation, and audio-visual fusion.

    Other: Digital signal processing algorithms

  • Experimental
    10 naive hearing impaired

    A group of ten severe-to-profound hearing-impaired patients with no past or current experience with remote microphone systems. They are referred to as naïve patients. These patients must have similar profiles to the patients in the experienced group as regards the degree of hearing loss, origin of hearing loss (congenital, pre- or post-lingual disability), age, gender, and hearing aid technology. They will be selected and recruited on the basis of the patients included in experienced group

    Other: Digital signal processing algorithms

Interventions

  • OtherDigital signal processing algorithms

    The intervention consists in applying five processing on some recorded speech signals. In particular, the processing performed by one specific algorithm is compared against the four other. The applied processing is supposed to restore sound externalization (expected audio-visual fusion).

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Auditory distance estimation

    This objective is assessed by using a single outcome, which is the perceived auditory distance, as reported by the patient on a graphical user interface. The auditory distance is measured using an arbitrary scale (between 1 and 5) as available with sliders on a graphical user interface (GUI).

    Time frame: 6 months (study completion)

07

Study locations

2 sites
  • Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
    Lausanne, Vaud 1015, Switzerland
  • Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
    Lausanne, 1015, Switzerland
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Courtois G, Grimaldi V, Lissek H, Estoppey P, Georganti E. Perception of Auditory Distance in Normal-Hearing and Moderate-to-Profound Hearing-Impaired Listeners. Trends Hear. 2019 Jan-Dec;23:2331216519887615. doi: 10.1177/2331216519887615. PubMed 31774032 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Dec 20, 2018, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03512951
Lead sponsor
Sonova AG
Collaborators
Gilles Courtois, Vincent Grimaldi, Eleftheria Georganti, Peter Derleth, David Sooprayen
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
May 1, 2018
Start date
Oct 9, 2018
Primary completion
Nov 27, 2018
Completion
Nov 27, 2018
Last update
Dec 20, 2018

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Dec 2018. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Start the discussion