Clinical Research Directory

Post-Market Registry Study for Vibrant Hearing Solutions

This observational registry collects retrospective and prospective, data from children and adults who use CE-marked MED-EL implantable (PMEI, BCI, or AMEI) or non-implantable (BCD) hearing solutions as part of routine care. Participants will be followed long term, potentially up to the lifetime of their hearing solution, to assess quality of life, hearing and speech performance, and device use. Data will be collected using routinely administered clinical tests and questionnaires to evaluate real-world outcomes across diverse populations and MED-EL hearing systems.

Outcomes of Cartilage Tympanoplasty in Children

This study evaluates the anatomical and hearing outcomes of cartilage tympanoplasty in pediatric patients with chronic tympanic membrane perforations. A perforation (hole) in the eardrum in children can lead to recurrent ear discharge, chronic middle-ear infections, and conductive hearing loss. Cartilage tympanoplasty is a surgical technique that uses autologous cartilage (the patient's own cartilage tissue) to reconstruct and seal the eardrum. Cartilage is known for its rigidity and resistance to retraction, which may offer advantages in children who frequently experience middle-ear pressure and ventilation issues. Children aged 8 to 18 years presenting with large, subtotal, or persistent dry central perforations will undergo cartilage tympanoplasty at Assiut University Hospitals. All participants will undergo standardized pre-surgical and post-surgical evaluations, including otological microscopic examinations and pure-tone audiometry tests. The main objectives are to evaluate the graft success rate (complete anatomical closure and stability of the eardrum) and to measure functional hearing restoration, specifically changes in air-conduction thresholds and the air-bone gap (ABG).

Evaluation of Flexible Conductive Hearing Aids

Conductive hearing loss (CHL) is the most common type of hearing loss among the pediatric population. CHL occurs when sound is not properly transmitted from the external ear to the cochlea, and congenital pathologies like microtia/anotia, atresia, and absent or malformed ossicles make hearing loss permanent.

Hearing for Learning Initiative - a Health Facilitator Model for Otitis Media

The Hearing for Learning Initiative is a stepped-wedge cluster randomised controlled trial. The HfLI will implement and rigorously evaluate an innovative community-based service-enhancement model of ear and hearing health, in partnership with participating communities and health and education services. This initiative will address the following research question: In urban, rural and remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, does employment, training and integration of local Ear and Hearing Clinical and Education Support Officers into health and education services (the Hearing for Learning initiative), compared to current practice, increase the proportion of children who receive an ear assessment, reduce the prevalence of ear and hearing problems and improve education outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, during a four year trial period?

Middle Ear Optical Coherence Tomography Imaging and Vibrometry in Patients With Hearing Loss

This study involves imaging ears with hearing loss with a new system that allows the user to see the middle ear bones and measure their movement in response to sound.

Comparative Study of Non-surgical Hearing Devices Based on Bone Conduction

This study will investigate the performance of four non-surgical bone conduction devices.

Wideband Tympanometry as a Non-behavioral Test of the Speech-weighted Middle Ear Transfer Function.

There is a need for a non-behavioral clinical test that provides an assessment of how speech is conducted through the middle ear for the optimization of middle ear implants. These implants utilize the functionality of the human middle ear and require adequate speech conduction through the middle ear chain. Consequently, the clinical test of this degree of speech transfer can contribute to the pre-operative indication for middle ear implants. Wideband Tympanometry (WT) is a non-invasive diagnostic tool for the clinical assessment of the condition of the middle ear. Unlike classical tympanometry, WT tests the impedance of the middle ear system as a function of both pressure and frequencies. Consequently, a WT measurement contains many times more information about the functionality of the middle ear than classical tympanometry and is ideally suited as a diagnostic tool for the clinical assessment of speech transfer through the middle ear. The WT measurements will be correlated with the Speech Intelligibility Index (SII) collected in normally hearing individuals and patients with isolated conductive hearing loss. This index is a measure of speech transfer through the middle ear. Consequently, a correlation of the WT measurements with the SII addresses the need for a non-behavioral clinical test of speech transfer through the middle ear. Additionally, WT measurements will be performed longitudinally in cochlear implant candidates, one of the populations that can benefit from the developed clinical test. These longitudinal WT measurements, which will be performed both pre- and post-operatively, allow for the evaluation of the impact of middle ear surgery on the predicted SII.