HEARD: a study examining hearing and diabetes
Research type
Research Study
Full title
How does the presence of diabetes affect functional hearing abilities and are diabetics with existing neuropathies more likely to experience hearing difficulty?
IRAS ID
155284
Contact name
Kai Uus
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The University of Manchester
Research summary
Diabetic patients are not screened regularly for hearing loss although there is a body of evidence to suggest that there may be diabetes related damage to the auditory system. Previous studies have shown differences in auditory brainstem response in diabetic subjects when compared with healthy subjects. This study aims to find out whether these diabetes related changes to the auditory system have an effect on functional hearing abilities prior to changes that would be picked up by standard clinical hearing tests such as pure tone audiometry. Diabetic participants will be divided into two groups, 1 group with existing peripheral neuropathies and 1 group without. This will provide information on whether presence of existing neuropathies is a useful predictor for auditory dysfunction in diabetics. These 2 groups along with a control group of non-diabetic participants will undergo pure tone audiometry to assess hearing thresholds, auditory brainstem response test to assess speed of conduction of auditory signals to the brainstem, speech in noise test to find out how well they are able to correctly identify speech in the presence of varying noise levels. They will also be asked some questions regarding general health and complete the Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing questionnaire (SSQ). The speech in noise test and the SSQ will explore the extent of subclinical auditory dysfunction and may indicate the requirement for screening using these types of test in the diabetic population rather than the standard clinical tests of hearing. The participants would be required to attend one session in the audiology department at the Royal Devon and Exeter hospital lasting approximately 2 and a half hours.
REC name
East of England - Cambridge South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/EE/1054
Date of REC Opinion
6 Aug 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion