Feasibility Study for recording of CAEPs in children with OME

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    A Feasibility Study Considering the Effects of Middle Ear Effusion on Cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials in children: Assessment of Waveform Detection and Differentiation.

  • IRAS ID

    183652

  • Contact name

    Scott Richards

  • Contact email

    s.h.richards@aston.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    Aston University

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    0 years, 6 months, 7 days

  • Research summary

    A review of NICE guidelines in 2008 saw a shift away from traditional surgical treatments for glue ear (OME) and favoured more conservative treatment regimes, such as hearing aid fitting to manage the associated hearing loss. As a result Audiology departments are seeing an increase in paediatric patients with glue ear using hearing aids.
    Clinically there is a growing interest in the use of cortical evoked auditory potentials (CAEP’s) to assess cortical function, and measure the change in neural activity brought about by hearing aid amplification. Therefore providing an objective measurement to verify hearing-aid fittings. This ensures enough gain is being given. Such objective measures can be invaluable in specialist populations such as paediatrics, where subject responses can be very limited.

    To-date, most CAEP research has been concerned with sensori-neural hearing loss, cochlear implants or normal hearing participants. No evidence of research examining CAEP responses and conductive hearing losses (in particular those caused by otitis media with effusion (OME)) could be found.
    Therefore this study hopes to examine the effects of OME on the waveform characteristics of children with OME compared to normally hearing children free from the disease. The CAEP recordings will be made on school-age participants, in their local audiology department at an NHS hospital. All testing will be carried out in one session lasting no longer than 1hour 20 minutes.
    Participants will undergo routine audiological testing including ear examination, a hearing test, and a middle ear pressure test. After this the CAEP recording will take place where three electrodes will be placed on the head, and then the participant will be asked to watch a muted DVD and relax in a comfortable chair whilst the recordings are being made.
    A control group of age - matched participants will also be included in the study.

  • REC name

    West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    15/WM/0404

  • Date of REC Opinion

    10 Nov 2015

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion