# Iowa Cochlear Implant Clinical Research Center VII

> **NIH NIH P50** · UNIVERSITY OF IOWA · 2020 · $305,182

## Abstract

Program Director/Principal Investigator (Last, First, Middle): Gantz, Bruce J.
PROJECT SUMMARY – PROJECT 1
The past 35 years of cochlear implant (CI) research have focused on outcomes primarily related to speech
perception. Candidacy recently has extended into the less severely impaired population due to newer, shorter
implants, including hybrid (acoustic-plus-electric) designs. The potential for improvement/change in domains
other than speech perception can inform both policy and rehabilitative decision-making.
Human ecology describes the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built environments.
This concept considers that human behaviors must be studied from both the social and natural science
vantage points. In hearing health care, success with intervention is as much related to the anatomy/physiology
of the individual as it is to the environmental and personal (i.e., ecological) factors that make each individual
unique from the next. The overall goal of this project is to determine the impact of intervention on user's
hearing-related functions and disability in their natural environments (i.e., real-world outcomes) and to clarify
what ecological factors, as well as perceptual factors, affect these real-world outcomes.
To date most cochlear implant (CI) research has focused on determining the effect of anatomical and
physiological factors on laboratory outcomes, such as speech perception. We recognize, however, that the
real-world outcomes exhibit great heterogeneity, which is likely due, in part, to the broader range of
environmental and personal contextual (i.e., ecological) underpinnings in the hearing impaired population. As
has been the case with hearing aids (HA), much variance can be accounted for by examining individual
ecological factors. Very little is understood about (1) the characteristics of ecological factors of the CI
population, (2) the influence that ecological factors have on the heterogeneity of real-world outcomes of this
population, and (3) how this influences changes over time. With the expanded indications for CI quantifying the
ecological factors that parlay into real-world outcomes in CI is critical because real-world outcomes ultimately
determine societal burden and policy. Furthermore, because traditional retrospective self-reported outcome
measures are often subject to recall bias, we will, in addition to standardized questionnaires and a data-logging
feature on the processors, use a smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA) system to
capture users' real-time experiences in situ (i.e., in natural environment). This will allow for measurement of the
characteristics of listening environments in addition to subjective assessment of listening difficulty/ease. Two
Aims have been designed to study the influence of ecological factors have on outcomes of listeners with a CI.
Aim 1. To characterize environmental factors that are relevant to listening and communication for participants
in ea...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9844472
- **Project number:** 5P50DC000242-33
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
- **Principal Investigator:** RUTH A BENTLER
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $305,182
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** — → —

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9844472

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9844472, Iowa Cochlear Implant Clinical Research Center VII (5P50DC000242-33). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9844472. Licensed CC0.

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