Recruiting

Transcranial Stimulation

Sponsor:

Boston University Charles River Campus

Code:

NCT06738030

Conditions

Difficulties Understanding Speech in Noise

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 50+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Transcranial current stimulation

Auditory training

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if non-invasive brain stimulation (called transcranial stimulation) can enhance the benefits from auditory training in people who struggle to understand one talker when many people are talking at the same time. The main questions it aims to answer are:

  • Does transcranial stimulation improve speech-on-speech understanding in people who struggle with this task?
  • Does transcranial stimulation enhance the benefits of a commercially available auditory training program?

Researchers will compare transcranial stimulation to sham stimulation (no stimulation is applied during the listening task).

Participants will:

  • Receive login information to an online auditory training program to complete at home over 2 weeks
  • Visit the laboratory 4 times to receive transcranial stimulation while listening to speech-on-speech: once before at-home training, two times during the at-home training period, and once after at-home training has ended

Conditions

Difficulties Understanding Speech in Noise

Study ID

NCT06738030

Start date

Nov 7, 2025

Status verified date

Oct, 2026

Completion date

Jul, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Jul, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 50+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 50 years of age or older
  • Audiometric thresholds that do not exceed 90 dB HL at any frequency from 250-6000 Hz
  • Able to provide informed consent and understand experimental instructions
  • Able to read print on a computer screen
  • Difficulty with speech-on-speech understanding
  • Access to computer or mobile phone with access to internet that can play sound (for the at-home training)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Non-native speakers of English
  • History of skull fracture, scalp tissue damage, metallic implants around the head, seizures, neurological disorders, or traumatic brain injury, current or suspected pregnancy

Study Design

Enrollment

94 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Active transcranial stimulation

This group will receive active transcranial alternating current stimulation that matches the envelope of the target speech.

sham comparator: Sham stimulation

This group will receive transcranial stimulation that ramps on and off before the speech is presented.

Interventions

Transcranial current stimulation

The transcranial alternating current stimulation is delivered during the speech stimulus and the current matches the envelope of the target speech

Auditory training

An at-home auditory training program that adaptively and interactively trains the listener in degraded speech, cognitive skills, and communication strategies

Primary outcome measure

  • Speech-on-speech intelligibility percent correct [ Time Frame: From enrollment to the end of participation at 6 weeks ]
  • Pupillometry measured listening effort [ Time Frame: From enrollment to the end of participation at 6 weeks ]
  • QuickSIN SNR Loss [ Time Frame: Days 1, 6, and 14 of the two-week auditory training ]
  • Hearing Handicap Inventory [ Time Frame: Days 1 and 14 of the two-week auditory training program ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Elin Roverud, AuD, PhD

617-358-7440erover@bu.edu

Locations

Communication Neuroscience Research Lab at Boston University

Recruiting

Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02215

Contacts

Tyler Perrachione, PhD

617-358-7410tkp@bu.edu

Monique Montoute

mmontout@bu.edu

Principal Investigator:

Elin Roverud, AuD, PhD

More Information

Sponsor

Boston University Charles River Campus

Last update posted

Oct 19, 2026

Last verified

Oct, 2026

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-10-23. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Boston University Charles River Campus on 2026-10-19. Recruitment status is synced daily from ClinicalTrials.gov and may not reflect the sponsor's current status. Confirm during your call.