# Bioethical Issues Associated with Objective Behavioral Measurement of Children with Hearing Loss in Naturalistic Environments

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI CORAL GABLES · 2023 · $297,012

## Abstract

Abstract/Summary
This is a R01 Administrative Supplement to conduct bioethics research on the collection, use,
and storage of objective behavioral measurements of children with hearing loss and the adults
with whom they communicate. Increasing use of multimodal objective measures in real world
settings is producing digital data on unprecedented scales. Parent R01 objective measures
include individual audio recordings and physical location tracking of children and their teachers
in preschool inclusion classrooms from child- and adult-worn multimodal sensors, as well as
datalogging of cochlear implant and hearing aid wear-time at home, at school, and in the
community. R01 computational methods include machine learning to detect instances of social
contact and child and teacher/interventionist vocalizations in the classroom. Parent R01 results
from ongoing research in inclusive classroom indicate that children's vocalizations when in
social contact with peers and teachers are positively associated with the language development
of both children with and without hearing loss. While objective methods have great potential to
improve children's long-term communication, they raise ethical issues related to engagement
with (longitudinal) research, incidental findings, and the return of results. Researchers have
begun to discuss the ethics of multi-hour audio and location tracking—and stressors associated
with datalogging. However, little is known about the ethical dimensions of big behavioral data
collection in real-world settings. Supplementing the Parent R01's computational approach to
understanding interaction with a qualitative investigation of ethical issues raised by these
methods is innovative. The Supplement—which focuses on bioethics research--will dramatically
increase the likelihood of the Parent R01 influencing bioethics policy by pursuing 2 Specific
Aims. 1) Ascertain the perceptions and concerns of R01 participants and other stakeholders
with respect to research employing multimodal objective measures of child and adult behavior in
naturalistic settings. This will be accomplished by conducting, transcribing, coding, and theming
semi-structured interviews with current and prior R01 participants and other stakeholders on
engagement in longitudinal research and the return of study research results to participants.
Aim 2. Develop policy recommendations addressing ethical issues related to participation,
engagement, and return of results in research using objective measures of behavior. Themes
emerging from the qualitative analysis of the semi-structured interviews will inform a
Stakeholder Workshop including parents, educators, researchers, and advocates that will
develop proposed ethical guidelines for research using objective methods in real world settings.
2

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10790269
- **Project number:** 3R01DC018542-03S2
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI CORAL GABLES
- **Principal Investigator:** DANIEL S MESSINGER
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $297,012
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2023-07-01 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10790269

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10790269, Bioethical Issues Associated with Objective Behavioral Measurement of Children with Hearing Loss in Naturalistic Environments (3R01DC018542-03S2). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10790269. Licensed CC0.

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