Spatial Cues, Task Demands, and Auditory Selective Attention

Part of paid clinical trials in Tampa, Florida.

Sponsor
University of South Florida
Study ID
NCT07765186
Status
Recruiting
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Conditions

  • Bilateral Cochlear Implants
  • Healthy
  • Hearing Loss, Bilateral

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
18 Years - 90 Years
Healthy Volunteers
Accepted

Interventions

  • Existing bilateral cochlear implants — DEVICE
    Participants in this arm are recruited from a population who have existing bilateral cochlear implants. The implants are the participants' own clinical devices, used as clinically programmed; no investigational device or modification is provided by the study. Auditory attention tasks are presented with manipulated spatial cues (interaural time differences, interaural level differences, or HRTFs).
  • Normal Hearing Control — OTHER
    Control group recruited from the normal hearing population. Participants perform the same auditory attention tasks with manipulated spatial cues (interaural time differences, interaural level differences, or HRTFs) under EEG/fNIRS/pupillometry and fMRI.

Study Details

Understanding speech in restaurants and other noisy environments is the most common complaint from the more than 60 million Americans with hearing impairment. Succeeding in such environments requires a listener to first segregate sound sources and then selectively attend to the source of interest. This study examines how individual auditory spatial cues (interaural time differences and interaural level differences) support spatial selective attention, the cortical processes that underlie this ability, and how these processes are modulated by task demands. Participants with normal hearing and participants who use bilateral cochlear implants will perform listening tasks while brain and physiological responses are recorded (electroencephalography, functional near-infrared spectroscopy, pupillometry, and, for normal-hearing participants only, functional magnetic resonance imaging). The findings will provide new insights into the mechanisms of spatial selective attention and help guide clinical solutions for cochlear implant users, individuals with hearing impairment more generally, and older normal-hearing adults who have difficulty understanding speech in noisy environments.

Key Dates

First listed
Aug 14, 2026
Start date
Oct 22, 2025
Status verified
Aug 2026
Primary completion
Apr 30, 2030
Completion
Jul 31, 2030

Study Design

Enrollment
80 participants (estimated)
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE

Arms

  • Other: Bilateral Cochlear Implant Users
    Adults with existing bilateral cochlear implants (implanted and using their devices for at least one year). Participants complete the discrimination and selective-attention auditory paradigms with manipulated spatial cues while combined EEG, fNIRS, and pupillometry are recorded. No fMRI is collected in this arm due to device safety concerns.
  • Other: Normal Hearing Controls
    Adults with audiometrically confirmed normal hearing (thresholds within 20 dB HL of normal through 8 kHz). Participants complete three auditory attention paradigms (working memory, discrimination, selective attention) with manipulated spatial cues, under combined EEG, fNIRS, and pupillometry sessions and fMRI sessions.

Primary Outcome Measure

EEG [ Time Frame: 2 hours ]

Central Contacts

Locations (1)

FacilityCityStateZIPSite coordinators
University of South Florida, PCD Building, Room 3008ATampaFlorida33620
Christopher A Brown, PhD
[email protected]
412-670-2772

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University of South Florida, PCD Building, Room 3008A· Tampa, FL

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