Better understanding of hearing complaints in bilingual adults
Improving Interpretation of Hearing- Related Patient Reported Outcomes for Bilingual Adults
This project works to make hearing questionnaires and clinic test results easier to interpret for bilingual adults, especially when hearing in noisy places is a problem.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R21 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Henry M. Jackson Fdn for the Adv Mil/med NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Bethesda, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11142593 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
Researchers will collect language histories, patient-reported hearing questionnaires, and objective hearing tests from bilingual adults and compare results across quiet and noisy listening conditions. The work focuses on older adults where age-related hearing loss and cognitive changes can interact with bilingual language use. The team will identify when standard patient reports may not reflect true auditory function for bilingual people and develop guidance for clinicians. The aim is to help clinicians combine test results and self-reports more fairly for people who use more than one language.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are bilingual adults age 21 and older who use English and another language and who experience hearing difficulties, particularly in background noise or with age-related changes.
Not a fit: Monolingual people, children, or patients whose hearing loss is already fully managed with devices may not directly benefit from questionnaire-interpretation improvements.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, clinicians could make more accurate hearing diagnoses and provide more appropriate recommendations for bilingual patients.
How similar studies have performed: Previous research has shown bilingual adults can perform worse on speech-in-noise tests and show some age-related auditory declines, but adapting patient-reported measures for language history is a relatively new approach.
Where this research is happening
Bethesda, United States
- Henry M. Jackson Fdn for the Adv Mil/med — Bethesda, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Bieber, Rebecca — Henry M. Jackson Fdn for the Adv Mil/med
- Study coordinator: Bieber, Rebecca
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.