# Auditory Brain Training to Enhance Satisfaction and Usage of New Hearing Aids by Older Adults

> **NIH NIH R43** · CUSTOMIZED LEARNING EXERCISE FOR AURAL REHABILITATION, LLC · 2020 · $155,028

## Abstract

Abstract
Hearing loss is the third most common health condition for older adults in the US, and if untreated, may
lead to social isolation, depression, cognitive decline, and fear of being home alone. Sadly, over 48% of
seniors who purchase hearing aids cannot adjust to them well enough to use them daily and 31% report
never using them. This is a tragic state of affairs, especailly since a National Council of Aging survey
found that for particpants who did use hearing aids, over half of them reported improved relationships at
home and better overall quality of life. The take-home message is that if seniors with hearing loss would
only use amplification, their quality of life and ability to engage in daily activities would likely improve.
The purpose of this SBIR Phase 1 is to evaluate the effectiveness of providing clEAR auditory brain
training to older adults who are using hearing aids for the first time with the goals being to improve
device satisfaction and increase everyday use time. Auditory brain training has been shown to enhance
speech discrimination, reduce perceptual effort, and increase listening confidence in older adults. clEAR
offers lesson plans for various training needs, including one for the adult who is adjusting to new hearing
aids. The plan is specifically designed to enhance patient satisfaction with new hearing aids and to
encourage device usage. The plan extends over 4 weeks and patients complete a total of 8 hours of
gamified, web-based training. This lesson plan gradually acclimates the new hearing aid user to
background noise and develops speech discrimination and speech recognition skills. Importantly, it
presents exercises in which patients listen to speech in noise with their aid turned on and then off and in
which they listen to female and child voices similarly. Thus, patients accelerate their adjustment to
amplification, learn to maximally utilize their aided hearing, and experientially gauge benefit. Thirty
adults who are 64 years or older, who have sensorineural hearing loss, and who have never used hearing
aids will be enrolled. Half will be assigned to an “Early group” and receive clEAR auditory brain training
after an adjustment period. The other half will be assigned to a “Late group” and receive training 4 weeks
later. Both groups will also have a control condition, which will entail listening to audio books following
a similar schedule as when using clEAR. On three occasions, participants will complete questionaires
about satisfaction. Throughout, their devices will record use time. Statistical analyses will determine the
effectiveness of clEAR for enhancing satisfaction and use time by comparing the performance of the
Early and Late groups and by comparing results of the Late group that are collected before and after
training. In a subsequent Phase 2, we will develop clEAR’s commercial potenital, with the goal being that
older adults routinely receive clEAR as they adjust to new hearing aids.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9907262
- **Project number:** 1R43AG065075-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** CUSTOMIZED LEARNING EXERCISE FOR AURAL REHABILITATION, LLC
- **Principal Investigator:** Christopher Allen Cardinal
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $155,028
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-02-01 → 2022-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9907262

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9907262, Auditory Brain Training to Enhance Satisfaction and Usage of New Hearing Aids by Older Adults (1R43AG065075-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9907262. Licensed CC0.

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