NCT02045511

The Baltimore HEARS Pilot Study

The Baltimore HEARS Pilot Study: Hearing Health Care Equality Through Accessible Research & Solutions

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 15 (actual)
• Sponsor: Johns Hopkins University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 60 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The primary purpose of the study is to develop and test the preliminary efficacy of a first-in-kind community-based intervention to provide affordable, accessible and effective hearing health care to low-income, minority older adults.

Detailed description

Age-related hearing impairment is strongly associated with poorer communicative functioning and social isolation, but hearing impairment often goes undiagnosed and untreated, particularly among minority and low-income older adults. Novel interventions that translate research on social engagement, minority health, and hearing technology are needed to expand delivery of hearing health care to underserved older adults. The Baltimore Hearing Equality through Accessible Research and Solutions (HEARS) project will develop and pilot a first-in-kind community-based intervention to provide affordable, accessible, and effective hearing health care to minority and low-income older adults and their communication partners. The study will follow a mixed-methods approach that will incorporate quantitative and qualitative components throughout the formative and evaluative processes. Participants and their communication partners will be randomized to an immediate treatment group or a 3-month delayed treatment group. The investigators hypothesize that the intervention is associated with increased social engagement and communication, improved quality of life, and decreased loneliness and third-party disability in the immediate treatment compared to the delayed treatment group.

Conditions

• Age-related Hearing Impairment 1
• Personal Communication

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Baltimore HEARS	Tailored aural rehabilitation for participant and communication partner
DEVICE	Baltimore HEARS	Tailored fitting and programming of a personal sound amplifier. This will be accompanied by a component of aural rehabilitation.

Timeline

• Start date: 2014-02-01
• Primary completion: 2015-09-01
• Completion: 2015-09-01
• First posted: 2014-01-27
• Last updated: 2018-08-22
• Results posted: 2017-09-06

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States