We are looking for interested people who would like to support our research!

The scientists in the cluster conduct a large number of studies that only lead to new findings through your participation. For this purpose, we are always looking for interested people from the Oldenburg or Hanover region who are willing to participate in studies. Your age or hearing ability does not matter. We look forward to hearing from you.

Do you know this situation: you are sitting in a restaurant and have difficulty following a conversation at the table? Such difficulties arise when hearing performance declines in old age. Even if your hearing still works well in other situations, this is a time to think about fitting a hearing aid. There are new studies that suggest that early fitting of a hearing aid could have positive effects on well-being, memory and also the brain. This is what we want to investigate with this study.

Who can participate?

You can participate if you are between 50 and 80 years old, have a mild to moderate hearing loss and do not yet wear a hearing aid. In addition, you should not have any mental or neurological illnesses or wear any metal-containing objects (e.g. pacemakers) in or on your body. We would clarify further criteria for participation with you in a conversation.

What do I have to do?

If you participate in the study, we would first test your hearing to see if you have a hearing loss. If this is the case and you would like to continue in the study, you would have to agree either to be fitted with a hearing aid and wear it regularly or to wait another year before being fitted with a hearing aid. This is the only way we can compare whether wearing a hearing aid changes anything over the course of a year. To do this, we do several tests before and after fitting the hearing aid. On the test days at the university, we will test your performance (e.g. in speech comprehension or memory). We will also record your brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG). With fMRI, brain activity can be measured with the help of magnetic fields. With EEG, the brain waves are derived from the surface of the head. Both methods have been tested many times and are harmless.

How time-consuming is participation?

You will be supervised by us for a total of one year within the framework of this study and have a fixed contact person for all your questions. This person will tell you when and where you have to do which tests. At the beginning and end of the study, you will take part in an fMRI and an EEG examination on two days each at the university. Further appointments will take place at the hearing centre for the fitting of the hearing aids. In addition, after the hearing aids have been fitted, you will take a few short online tests from home every day for several weeks to show us how well you are coping with the hearing aids in everyday life. This means that although the study takes a certain amount of time, it also involves a very detailed examination of whether you are coping well with the hearing aids.

What kind of hearing aid will I get?

If you are drawn to the group that will be fitted with a hearing aid, you can choose one that you do well with from a variety of hearing aids. The hearing aid will be provided to you free of charge for the study participation. After participating in the study, you could buy a similar one from your hearing care professional. If you are assigned to the waiting group, we would ask you not to purchase a hearing aid during that year. After the end of the study, you will receive a free hearing aid consultation through Hörzentrum Oldenburg gGmbH.

Are there any costs associated with the study?

You will not incur any costs as part of the study. The time spent on the tests is compensated with an expense allowance.

Die Studie wird in Kooperation von Wissenschaftlern des Exzellenzclusters (Prof. Thiel, Prof. Debener, Prof. Hildebrandt) mit dem Hörzentrum Oldenburg durchgeführt. Für weitere Fragen steht Ihnen Frau Anja Stierl (hearfit@uol.de) zur Verfügung.

Further current studies

Here you will find specific current studies for which volunteers are currently being sought.