Researchers test 'brain training' games to improve the lives of people with hearing loss

Researchers at The University of Nottingham are involved in a new study that will test whether using online gaming techniques could help people to cope with hearing loss and adapt to hearing aids, it was announced on World Hearing Day (3 March 2018). The NIHR Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) team, which includes clinicians, scientists, researchers and patients from the University of Nottingham; Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH); and Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (SFH), are about to start developing new online training packages, which use techniques taken directly from the world of brain training and computer games to improve listening and cognition for hearing aid users. Although hearing aids substantially improve access to quiet sounds for people with hearing loss, hearing aid users often continue to face difficulties listening in background noise. Working with software developers Ounce Technology Ltd, the training 'games' will be specifically designed with patients to help those with hearing loss listen well in challenging everyday situations such as noisy environments. From 1 October 2018, people attending NUH and SFH Audiology departments to receive hearing aids for the first time will be invited to take part in the research. Patients will be randomly assigned to either test one of two new online training games in addition to standard care, or to receive the existing support and advice from audiologists. Those testing the games will be asked to go online on a regular basis over a four-week period, during which their experiences will be monitored.