Investigation into hidden hearing loss
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigation into hidden hearing loss
IRAS ID
127355
Contact name
Chris Plack
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The University of Manchester
Research summary
The study will look at patients who have normal hearing according to standard clinical tests, but who report difficulty with speech perception in the presence of background noise. The hypothesis is that these patients may have a hidden hearing loss due to damage to the auditory nerve. Audiometry is clinically used to diagnose hearing loss, by measuring the quietest sound a person can reliably detect as a function of frequency. However pure tone audiometry does not measure auditory discrimination for high level sound, which is crucial for hearing in background noise. This study therefore aims to measure the auditory nerve response to high level sounds using an evoked potential test (Auditory Brainstem Response- ABR). Speech testing in noise will be performed and an electrophysiological measure (ABR) will be used to compare against controls, who do not struggle with speech perception in background noise.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/NW/0513
Date of REC Opinion
22 Jul 2013
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion