Evaluating the Feasibility of a Hearing and Tinnitus BioResource
What is the purpose of this study?
A BioResource is a database of volunteers and their data. The volunteers provide data, for example, age, gender, and health conditions, and give permission to be approached to take part in research studies. Researchers apply to the BioResource for access to participants and/or their data for a specific study. This reuse of data, and the provision of a pool of willing volunteers, maximises the benefit from collected data and speeds up research. The Nottingham Hearing and Tinnitus BioResource aims to recruit volunteers and carry out an initial set of tests that provide a lot of information about the ear and how we hear. These volunteers will include people with existing hearing loss, tinnitus, or any other hearing condition, as well as people without known hearing problems (to form a control group for comparison).
This current feasibility study aims to run a smaller version of the Hearing and Tinnitus BioResource to find out how well everything would work on a much larger project. We aim to recruit 84 volunteers and fill in questionnaires, carry out a set of hearing tests, and take a small sample of hair, to ensure that data and samples can be collected accurately and completely.
Who can take part?
Anyone aged 18 or over; with hearing loss, tinnitus or another hearing-related disorder, or without any hearing issues to form a comparison group.
What will the study involve?
You will attend two in-person appointments and complete an online session at home.
The in-person appointments will involve:
- Filling in questionnaires about your health and lifestyle and about your hearing.
- Having your ears examined with an otoscope.
- Having your hearing tested in the same way as it would be done for a routine audiology visit, but in more detail.
- Having your ears and hearing tested in several different ways, including with a small insert placed into your ear canal playing sounds and changing the pressure.
- Carrying out a cognitive (thinking abilities) test which involves some counting, drawing and remembering words to repeat back.
- -Having a small sample of hair taken (about the width of a matchstick) from the back of the head, if this is possible.
The online session will involve:
- Filling out questionnaires about your health and lifestyle and about your hearing.
- Completing a short hearing test if you have your own headphones.
How long will the study take?
Each in-person appointment will take about two hours and the online session should take about half an hour. You will be in the study for a maximum of seven months; the second appointment is about three months after the first, and the online session is about three months after the second appointment.
I think I would like to take part or I have more questions, who should I contact?
Please email the HearBio team at hearbio@nottingham.ac.uk.