HearingNCT06465979
Perception of Speech in Context by Listeners With Healthy and Impaired Hearing
A study testing Speech Manipulation in people with Hearing and Hearing Loss, run by Marquette University at 2 sites in United States.
Trial summary
Recognition of speech sounds is accomplished through the use of adjacent sounds in time, in what is termed acoustic context. The frequency and temporal properties of these contextual sounds play a large role in recognition of human speech. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 to 65 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Hearing, Hearing Loss
- What is being tested?
- Speech Manipulation
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 680 participants
- Where
- 2 sitesUnited States
- Study dates
- 19 Sep 2023to 31 Jul 2028
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 to 65 years
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Be able to recognize spoken words in English
- Be a competent speaker of north American English
- Be an adult between the age of 18 to 65 years
- Have normal audiometric thresholds below 25 decibels hearing loss (dB HL) at frequencies between 250 and 8000 Hz OR have audiometric thresholds not exceeding 40 dB HL at frequencies between 250 and 8000 Hz OR have audiometric thresholds not exceeding 55 dB HL at frequencies between 250 and 8000 Hz OR use a cochlear implant
- Lack language-learning or other cognitive disabilities
Who cannot join
- Inability to recognize spoken words in English
- Not a competent speaker of north American English
- Be younger than 18 years of age
- Be older than 65 years of age
- Have normal audiometric thresholds exceeding 25 dB HL at frequencies between 250 and 8000 Hz OR have audiometric thresholds exceeding 40 dB HL at frequencies between 250 and 8000 Hz OR have audiometric thresholds exceeding 55 dB HL at frequencies between 250 and 8000 Hz
- Language-learning or other cognitive disabilities
Trial locations and contacts
2 sites in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
United States2 sites, 2 recruiting
- Recruiting
Marquette University
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53233
Christian Stilp, PhD, 4142881455, christian.stilp@marquette.edu
- Recruiting
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55455
Matthew Winn, PhD, AuD
About this study
Recognition of speech sounds is accomplished through the use of adjacent sounds in time, in what is termed acoustic context. The frequency and temporal properties of these contextual sounds play a large role in recognition of human speech. Historically, most research on both speech perception and sound perception in general examine sounds out-of-context, or presented individually. Further, these studies have been conducted independently of each other with little connection across labs, across sounds, etc. These approaches slow the progress in understanding how listeners with hearing difficulties use context to recognize speech and how their hearing aids and/or cochlear implants might be modified to improve their perception. This research has three main goals. First, the investigators predict that performance in speech sound recognition experiments will be related when testing the same speech frequencies or the same moments in time, but that performance will not be related in further comparisons across speech frequencies or at different moments in time. Second, the investigators predict that adding background noise will make this contextual speech perception more difficult, and that these difficulties will be more severe for listeners with hearing loss. Third, the investigators predict that cochlear implant users will also use surrounding sounds in their speech recognition, but with key differences than healthy-hearing listeners owing to the sound processing done by their implants. In tandem with these goals, the investigators will use computer models to simulate how neurons respond to speech sounds individually and when surrounded by other sounds.
Read the detailed description
Participants in this study listen to speech played at a comfortable volume and respond by indicating what they heard, either in open-ended form or by choosing among a set of options displayed on a computer. They are seated inside a sound booth and complete the task at their own pace, with little intervention needed from the experimenter. Upon arrival at the lab, participants are given a brief description of the topic of the research (how earlier sounds influence our perception of later speech sounds) and are presented with a detailed informed consent form. Their demographic information is collected and then the experiment is demonstrated. Breaks are offered between testing blocks, which last about 10-15 minutes each.
The main differences in the protocol consist of the various stimulus manipulations, which are designed to specifically control aspect of the voice that the participant hears. For example, the sound can be manipulated to emphasize higher or lower frequencies, or be spoken relatively slowly or quickly, or manipulated to sound degraded, as if the participant has a hearing loss. In all occasions, the manipulations are signaled to the participant. The outcome measure typically consists of the pattern of word identification, and specifically how that pattern changes depending on acoustic properties of the sounds heard before the target word.
Additional comparison measurements are taken of the participant's ability to hear and repeat words or sentences in background noise.
Once an experiment is ready to launch, participants are randomly assigned to different testing conditions ("interventions"). But in most of the planned experiments, participants complete identical protocols, except that the specific ordering of many speech stimuli is randomized within the testing session. After the participant completes all of the testing blocks, they are debriefed about the full nature of the study, the hypotheses and the larger scope of the project in the context of speech communication.
- Conditions
- Hearing, Hearing Loss
- Being tested
- Speech Manipulation
- Keywords
- speech perception, hearing
- Medical subject headings
- Hearing Loss
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Speech ManipulationBehavioural
The acoustic properties of speech sounds will be modified in two main ways. The first way is to introduce gradual changes to the perceived articulation of the target speech sound, such as changing from "sh" to "s" by various types of signal processing and filtering. The second type of change is to modify acoustic properties of the sounds that immediately precede the target speech sound, such as changing the speaking rate or its frequencies composition.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Speech perception experiments | Experimental | This arm involves experiments wherein participants listen to speech played at comfortable volumes and respond by indicating what they heard either in open-ended form or by choosing among a set of options displayed on a computer. Receives: Behavioral: Speech Manipulation |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Speech categorization
The participant sits inside a double-walled sound booth. They are seated at a table that contains a computer monitor and a mouse. A single utterance is played over headphones or through a loudspeaker directly in front, and the participant indicates what they thought the utterance was by selecting among various options on the screen using the mouse. During a single block of trials there are between 60 and 160 sounds, depending on the exact experiment. Ordering of stimuli within the block is randomized. That testing block may be repeated multiple times so that the proportion of responses for each sound-response pair can be estimated reliably and precisely. Completion and advancement of trials is at the participant's own pace. Each testing block takes between 4 and 15 minutes.
Measured: "Post-treatment" where "treatment" is the systematic manipulation of speech sounds. Speech categorization will be evaluated during the main part of the testing. Outcomes will be assessed and data reported through study completion, an average of 1 year
Secondary outcomes (2)
Speech recognition
The participant sits inside a double-walled sound booth. They are seated at a table that contains a computer monitor and a mouse. Recorded sentences are played over headphones or through a loudspeaker directly in front, and the participant indicates what they thought the utterance was by typing their response or repeating the sentence aloud. During a single block of trials there are 50 words. Ordering of words within the block is randomized. Completion and advancement of trials is at the participant's own pace. Each testing block takes between 6 and 15 minutes.
Measured: "Post-treatment" where "treatment" is the systematic manipulation of speech sounds. Word recognition will be evaluated during the main part of the testing. Outcomes will be assessed and data reported through study completion, an average of 1 year
Audiometric threshold testing
The participant sits inside a double-walled sound booth. Under headphones, they listen for soft tones played by an audiometer. The experimenter controls the timing, frequency and intensity of those tones to find the lowest sound intensity where the participant can detect the tone. Thresholds for sound detection are recorded for octave frequencies between 250 Hz and 8000 Hz.
Measured: Baseline
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted20 Jun 2024
- Study start19 Sep 2023
- Primary completion30 Jun 2028 (estimated)
- Study completion31 Jul 2028 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for HearingStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Basic science
- Allocation
- Not applicable
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 680 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Marquette University
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Christian Stilp, Marquette University
- Investigators
- Christian Stilp, PhD, Principal investigator, Marquette University
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06465979
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 4824
- Other IDs
- R01DC020303
- Status last verified
- Jun 2026
- First submitted
- 13 Jun 2024
- Last updated
- 3 Jun 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Yes: De-identified data will be made public for purposes of resource sharing and demonstration of research method / analysis. These data, materials used to generate stimuli, and materials used to perform statistical analysis will be made freely available on the Open Science Framework website.
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 3 Jun 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Perception of Speech in Context by Listeners With Healthy and Impaired Hearing
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06465979
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 4824
- Conditions
- Hearing, Hearing Loss
- Keywords
- speech perception, hearing
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Recruiting
- Enrolment
- 680 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- Marquette UniversityUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
- Study start
- 19 Sep 2023 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 30 Jun 2028 (estimated)
- Study completion
- 31 Jul 2028 (estimated)
- First posted
- 20 Jun 2024 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
Recognition of speech sounds is accomplished through the use of adjacent sounds in time, in what is termed acoustic context. The frequency and temporal properties of these contextual sounds play a large role in recognition of human speech. Historically, most research on both speech perception and sound perception in general examine sounds out-of-context, or presented individually. Further, these studies have been conducted independently of each other with little connection across labs, across sounds, etc. These approaches slow the progress in understanding how listeners with hearing difficulties use context to recognize speech and how their hearing aids and/or cochlear implants might be modified to improve their perception. This research has three main goals. First, the investigators predict that performance in speech sound recognition experiments will be related when testing the same speech frequencies or the same moments in time, but that performance will not be related in further comparisons across speech frequencies or at different moments in time. Second, the investigators predict that adding background noise will make this contextual speech perception more difficult, and that these difficulties will be more severe for listeners with hearing loss. Third, the investigators predict that cochlear implant users will also use surrounding sounds in their speech recognition, but with key differences than healthy-hearing listeners owing to the sound processing done by their implants. In tandem with these goals, the investigators will use computer models to simulate how neurons respond to speech sounds individually and when surrounded by other sounds.
Detailed description
Participants in this study listen to speech played at a comfortable volume and respond by indicating what they heard, either in open-ended form or by choosing among a set of options displayed on a computer. They are seated inside a sound booth and complete the task at their own pace, with little intervention needed from the experimenter. Upon arrival at the lab, participants are given a brief description of the topic of the research (how earlier sounds influence our perception of later speech sounds) and are presented with a detailed informed consent form. Their demographic information is collected and then the experiment is demonstrated. Breaks are offered between testing blocks, which last about 10-15 minutes each.
The main differences in the protocol consist of the various stimulus manipulations, which are designed to specifically control aspect of the voice that the participant hears. For example, the sound can be manipulated to emphasize higher or lower frequencies, or be spoken relatively slowly or quickly, or manipulated to sound degraded, as if the participant has a hearing loss. In all occasions, the manipulations are signaled to the participant. The outcome measure typically consists of the pattern of word identification, and specifically how that pattern changes depending on acoustic properties of the sounds heard before the target word.
Additional comparison measurements are taken of the participant's ability to hear and repeat words or sentences in background noise.
Once an experiment is ready to launch, participants are randomly assigned to different testing conditions ("interventions"). But in most of the planned experiments, participants complete identical protocols, except that the specific ordering of many speech stimuli is randomized within the testing session. After the participant completes all of the testing blocks, they are debriefed about the full nature of the study, the hypotheses and the larger scope of the project in the context of speech communication.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Basic science
- Allocation
- Not applicable
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 1
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Speech perception experiments | Experimental | Behavioral: Speech ManipulationThis arm involves experiments wherein participants listen to speech played at comfortable volumes and respond by indicating what they heard either in open-ended form or by choosing among a set of options displayed on a computer. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 to 65 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (5 listed)
- Be able to recognize spoken words in English
- Be a competent speaker of north American English
- Be an adult between the age of 18 to 65 years
- Have normal audiometric thresholds below 25 decibels hearing loss (dB HL) at frequencies between 250 and 8000 Hz OR have audiometric thresholds not exceeding 40 dB HL at frequencies between 250 and 8000 Hz OR have audiometric thresholds not exceeding 55 dB HL at frequencies between 250 and 8000 Hz OR use a cochlear implant
- Lack language-learning or other cognitive disabilities
Key exclusion criteria (6 listed)
- Inability to recognize spoken words in English
- Not a competent speaker of north American English
- Be younger than 18 years of age
- Be older than 65 years of age
- Have normal audiometric thresholds exceeding 25 dB HL at frequencies between 250 and 8000 Hz OR have audiometric thresholds exceeding 40 dB HL at frequencies between 250 and 8000 Hz OR have audiometric thresholds exceeding 55 dB HL at frequencies between 250 and 8000 Hz
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Speech ManipulationThe acoustic properties of speech sounds will be modified in two main ways. The first way is to introduce gradual changes to the perceived articulation of the target speech sound, such as changing from "sh" to "s" by various types of signal processing and filtering. The second type of change is to modify acoustic properties of the sounds that immediately precede the target speech sound, such as changing the speaking rate or its frequencies composition. | Behavioural | Speech perception experiments |
Primary outcome
Speech categorization
Time frame: "Post-treatment" where "treatment" is the systematic manipulation of speech sounds. Speech categorization will be evaluated during the main part of the testing. Outcomes will be assessed and data reported through study completion, an average of 1 year
The participant sits inside a double-walled sound booth. They are seated at a table that contains a computer monitor and a mouse. A single utterance is played over headphones or through a loudspeaker directly in front, and the participant indicates what they thought the utterance was by selecting among various options on the screen using the mouse. During a single block of trials there are between 60 and 160 sounds, depending on the exact experiment. Ordering of stimuli within the block is randomized. That testing block may be repeated multiple times so that the proportion of responses for each sound-response pair can be estimated reliably and precisely. Completion and advancement of trials is at the participant's own pace. Each testing block takes between 4 and 15 minutes.
2 secondary outcomes
Speech recognition
Time frame: "Post-treatment" where "treatment" is the systematic manipulation of speech sounds. Word recognition will be evaluated during the main part of the testing. Outcomes will be assessed and data reported through study completion, an average of 1 year
Audiometric threshold testing
Time frame: Baseline
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 3 Jun 2026.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: Yes. De-identified data will be made public for purposes of resource sharing and demonstration of research method / analysis. These data, materials used to generate stimuli, and materials used to perform statistical analysis will be made freely available on the Open Science Framework website.
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part.
Christian Stilp, PhD principal investigator
Marquette University
2 sites in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Speech Manipulation in people with Hearing and Hearing Loss, run by Marquette University at 2 sites in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 5 inclusion and 6 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: looking for participants now, as of the sponsor's last update on 3 Jun 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 2 sites in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
Contact Christian Stilp, PhD (4142881455, christian.stilp@marquette.edu), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Speech categorization (time frame: "Post-treatment" where "treatment" is the systematic manipulation of speech sounds. Speech categorization will be evaluated during the main part of the testing. Outcomes will be assessed and data reported through study completion, an average of 1 year). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 3 Jun 2026.