Who can participate?
- Infants, children, and adults who use a cochlear implant in at least one ear
- Infants, children, and adults who have normal hearing
What happens in the study?
For infants:
- Your child will sit on your lap or age-appropriate chair in a quiet room with one of our study helpers
- The helper will engage your child in age-appropriate play
- Your child’s responses to different sounds will be recorded by researchers observing through a window from outside the booth
For older children and adults, they will raise a hand, press a keyboard button, or mouse click when they hear a different sound.
For cochlear implant users:
- You or your child will wear their sound processor and listen to sounds presented at a comfortable loudness from a speaker in the room
- In some studies, a new signal processing strategy will be tested, which changes how sound information is coded by the CI
What are the logistics?
- Infants will be tested up to 10 visits over a 2-5 month period
- School-age children and adults will be tested over 1-3 visits
- Each visit will last between 1 to 3 hours including breaks
- Scheduling is flexible!
- We will schedule visits whenever is convenient for you
- Testing is possible on the weekends
- A babysitter is provided at no charge for siblings (currently not available due to pandemic conditions)
- We can try to schedule your study visits the same day that your child has appointments at Seattle Children’s Hospital
- Reimbursement includes $15.00 per hour as well as parking
- There are no costs to you and no insurance billing
- Reimbursement for travel expenses and local lodging may be available for some participants. Please inquire with study personnel.
If you would like to enroll your child in our research study, please contact us.
