Research / Survey Opportunities

Agencies, Organizations, Universities and others are often looking for participation of families and professionals for current research and survey projects. Each opportunity listed below has contact information if you would like to participate. Please contact the specific entity that is sponsoring each research/survey opportunity if you would like more information.

Unless otherwise noted, Hands & Voices does not necessarily promote the goals and objectives of listed research/survey opportunities and participants are advised to clarify any questions/concerns prior to participation with contacts listed for each research/survey opportunity.

For information on submitting your project for inclusion on this page please read our Submittal Request Sheet.

Parent Research / Survey Opportunities

- Descriptions of Studies -

Prosody and Literacy in Children with Cochlear Implants

Seeking participants for an online study on listening and reading!

Hello! We are researchers from the George Washington University Cochlear Implant Communication Lab located in Washington, D.C. The goal of our research is to better understand how young, deaf children with cochlear implants develop their listening and reading abilities. We are currently obtaining data from children with cochlear implants. Our research will investigate characteristics of language, listening, reading, and cognitive development. This research will be conducted online – no in-person visit is necessary.

 Who is eligible for this research?

We are looking for participants with cochlear implants who exhibit reliance on spoken English in the home and who meet the following criteria:

• Are 7 to 12 years old
• Are profoundly deaf with the deafness detected at or near birth
• Have at least one cochlear implant, received prior to 3 years of age
• Rely on spoken English for communication
• Have no motor or cognitive difficulties that would affect development
• Are located in the Greater Washington, D.C. area, including Northern VA and MD

 What is involved if my child participates?

• Your child will be involved in a number of tasks aimed at sampling their listening, language, reading and cognitive abilities.  These include standardized testing, computerized listening games, and play activities.
• Participation in tasks will require up to 2 ½ hours and can be done in 2 or 3 sessions.
• Due to COVID-19 restrictions, sessions will take place over video call.

Following completion of data collection:

• You will receive $75 per session for your time.
• You will also be able to keep the Bluetooth speaker sent to your home for the purposes of the study.
• Results of standardized testing will be shared with parent.

If you have questions or are interested in participating in this study please contact:

James Mahshie, Ph.D.
Professor, George Washington University
Researcher

April Yoder
Graduate Student, George Washington University
Researcher

Please call at (301) 785-4428, email cistudy@gwu.edu or go to our website at https://gwu-implant.org/ for more information or to enroll in the study.

Study on mobile messaging apps with adults and children with hearing, vision, or mobility disabilities

Participate in a research study – $20 Amazon Gift Card reward!
MeasuringU, a third party research firm, is conducting a research study on the accessibility and experience of mobile messaging applications for individuals with hearing, vision, or mobility disabilities. The purpose of this research study is to help us understand pain points that individuals experience when using their mobile messaging applications, and ways that it can be improved! You will be asked to think back to the last time you performed certain tasks on your mobile messaging app and share your experience.

Completion of this survey will take approximately 25 minutes of your time, and respondents that complete this survey will receive a $20 Amazon Gift Card!

Click here to participate!

If you complete this survey, you will also be asked for your interest in joining follow-up studies where you will also be compensated for your time. Thank you for sharing your feedback and participating in this research study!

Please contact MeasuringU if you have any questions.
Email: research@measuringu.com
Phone: (303) 963-5449
Phone: (303) 362-1932
Website: https://measuringu.com/

Profiles of Language and Literacy Acquisition in Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children who use Sign

Dear Parents,
We are looking for signing D/HH children, ages 4-18, to participate in our research study. We are investigating assessment strategies that identify typical vs. delayed sign language acquisition and learn how they relate to attainment of academic skills. We are looking for sign language and academic skills of all levels.

Who is eligible:

• D/HH children who use sign language at school to learn. There are no restrictions on program philosophy (ASL/English bilingual, Total-Communication, etc.)
• Students with home language(s) other than English or ASL are welcome to participate
• Students with additional disabilities (e.g. LD, ED, AD/HD, physical disabilities are welcome to participate

What participation involves:

• Evaluation of language and academic skills at Gallaudet University
• Participation will take approximately 3 hours, depending on age; you may be asked to return for a second session to complete the assessment epending on your child’s age and response to assessment activities
• Parent and teacher questionnaires

What you will get for participating:

• $20/hour of participation (payment will be provided at the end of participation)
• Research report of specific measures and profile of strengths and weaknesses

How to participate:

• Contact James McCann at james.mccann @gallaudet.edu or (202) 651-5688 (v)
• This research has been approved by the Gallaudet IRB
• The research is supported by the Office of Research Support and International Affairs at Gallaudet University
  

How do little ears with hearing loss hear?

What is the purpose of the study?
The purpose of the study is to identify neural factors that influence hearing aid benefit in children with hearing loss. Specifically, the study will use brain waves (EEG) to measure how well a child hears through his/her hearing aids. Using brain waves could help identify children who have difficulty hearing speech through hearing aids earlier than routine hearing tests and therefore help improve clinical care.

Who is eligible? 5 to 17 year old children with permanent (sensorineural) hearing loss in one or both ears. Children with hearing aids and/or one cochlear implant are eligible. Children with two cochlear implants are not eligible.

What does participation involve?

• Attending 1-2 test sessions at the Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
• Non-invasive clinically used procedures:
• Routine hearing test
• Watching a video while speech sounds are played in one ear and brain waves are measured
• We will make custom ear molds, if not available

What can I expect for my participation?

• $10/hour compensation
• Travel reimbursement (if driving >7 miles)
• Small prizes throughout test sessions
• Free parking, flexible scheduling, snacks, and beverages

Contact if you have any questions or are interested in participating:
Name: Emma McGrath
Email: childhearing@waisman.wisc.edu
Phone: 608-263-2697

Pregnancy Outcomes and Experiences among Deaf and Hard of Hearing Women

The Lurie Institute for Disability Policy at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management and the University of Michigan Department of Family Medicine are currently studying pregnancy outcomes and experiences in women with a hearing loss.  Our team of researchers recently launched a new online survey for Deaf and hard of hearing mothers who have given birth in the last 10 years.  The goal of this survey is to help us understand what may be driving the increased risk for adverse birth outcomes and improve pregnancy care for Deaf and hard of hearing women. 

If you, or anyone you know who might be interested in taking the survey (available in ASL, English or Spanish), please follow this link:

https://sardiprogram.com/DeafPregnancyOutcomes/

Download Flyer - Aqui en espanol

Study on Parenting, Language Environment, and Language Acquisition in Deaf Children

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Greetings from Gallaudet University! My name is Zoe Aquilino, I am a clinical master’s student in Gallaudet’s Speech-Language Pathology program. I am currently seeking families who have D/HH infants and toddlers to participate in a research study for my master’s thesis project. My study is about the relationship between home language environment, parent-child relationship, and language and social skills for young children from different backgrounds, including D/HH children. Participants will be asked to complete a few questionnaires and demonstrate how they communicate with their child during play sessions at home and in our lab. Children will complete two speech and language tasks appropriate for infants and toddlers. The study involves two visits to our lab lasting up to 4 hours total. We will pay $20/hour for participation.

We would love to have you and your child participate in the study if:
Your child is between the ages of 18-24 months
Your child uses spoken English and no other languages
Your child is deaf/hard of hearing and utilizes amplification (such as hearing aids or CIs)
Your child meets some of our medical history criteria
You have typical hearing

To participate or learn more about this research, please contact the Developmental Neurolinguistic and Cognition Lab at DNC.lab@gallaudet.edu

Thank you and we hope to hear from you!

Study on language disorder in children who use ASL

Hello parents! My name is Lauren Kelley and I am a graduate student researcher at Gallaudet studying speech-language pathology. I am currently seeking a deaf child aged 4-11 years old who is having unexplained difficulty with ASL acquisition to participate in my study about ASL language disorder. The purpose of my study is to inform ASL language intervention for children with language disorder to ultimately provide effective treatment for this population. If your child is 4-11 years old, uses ASL and has one Deaf parent, you may be eligible to participate in this study. If eligible, your child will receive free evidence-based therapy in ASL.

If interested please contact me, Lauren Kelley, at lauren.kelley@gallaudet.edu.

Flyer

Can an eHealth program after early childhood hearing aid fitting improve parent coping and child outcomes?

Who can participate?
Parents of children under three years of age who have been diagnosed with permanent hearing loss and recently received or will soon receive hearing aids.

Who is conducting this study?
This research study is being conducted by Dr. Karen Muñoz, a Professor in the Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education at Utah State University, Dr. Michael Levin, an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Utah State University, and Dr. Michael Twohig, a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Utah State University.

What is the purpose of this study?
The purpose of this research is to test if participating in an eHealth intervention in addition to treatment as usual will be beneficial to parents of children newly diagnosed with hearing loss. Your participation is entirely voluntary.

What will I need to do if I participate?
All participants will complete online assessments at pretreatment (Week 1), posttreatment (Week 8), and one-month follow-up (Week 12). Each assessment is expected take 15-30 minutes. The total assessment time is expected to take approximately an hour. Participants will be randomly assigned to either the intervention condition or waitlist condition.

Intervention Condition
You will complete a six-week eHealth program that contains videos (total of 58 minutes) and six weekly coaching phone calls (the first and last coaching calls will be 30 minutes long and the four in between will each be 10 minutes long; total of 100 minutes) in additional to treatment as usual. The intervention is expected to take 2.6 hours
Waitlist Condition
You will continue with treatment as usual. You will be given the option to also participate in the eHealth intervention after your initial participation in the study.
All participants will receive up to $50 in Amazon eGift cards.

How do I sign up for the study?
You can call the researchers at (435) 797-2318 or email Karen Muñoz at karen.munoz@usu.edu

Adverse Childhood Experiences, Parental Self-Efficacy, and Language Outcomes for Children with Hearing Loss

How do early childhood experiences and parenting affect English language outcomes for children with hearing loss?

If you are the maternal caregiver (biological/foster/adoptive mother) of a child ages 3-5 with any degree or type of permanent hearing loss, you may qualify to participate in this study.

What will I be asked to do?
Mothers will fill out demographic information and surveys about childhood experiences and parenting online.  This should take no more than 30 minutes of your time and can be completed at home.

Children will take a standardized language test (Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals - Preschool, 2nd Edition; CELF-P2) administered by your child’s speech-language pathologist.  This should take no more than 45-60 minutes, depending on your child’s skill level.  If your child’s SLP has administered this test recently, there may not be a need for re-testing.

Study is ongoing -- accepting participants until 6/2020. To learn more and sign up for the study, visit: bit.ly/researchfamilies.

Questions?
Contact Principal Investigator Elizabeth Rosenzweig MS CCC-SLP LSLS Cert. AVT ear2178@tc.columbia.edu - flier

Families & Hearing Study

Description:
The enormous variability in developmental outcomes of children with hearing loss is a significant clinical problem. Research efforts to account for individual differences that focus almost exclusively on hearing loss- or child-related factors are a critical barrier to progress in the field of pediatric audiology. In this 5-year project (funded by the NIH-NIDCD #DC014956), we are examining the influence of family dynamics on spoken language and executive function outcomes in children with hearing loss.

Who we are recruiting and what is involved:

The Developmental Speech Lab at The Ohio State University and the DeVault Otologic Research Lab at the Indiana University School of Medicine are jointly recruiting families of children age 3-8 years, who have an English-speaking parent and who wear hearing aids or cochlear implants OR have typical hearing and language development.

Help us learn more about the contribution of family environment to developmental outcomes in children.

Caregivers complete questionnaires. Caregivers and children participate in games and exercises involving language and thinking. All sessions happen in the home with two clinical researchers from Ohio State or the Indiana University School of Medicine. Families participate in 3 sessions over the next 2 years, at their convenience.

Participants receive up to $625 in gift cards.

For more information in or near Ohio, contact The Developmental Speech lab at 614-688-2235 or devspech_lab@osu.edu
For more information in or near Indiana, contact the DeVault Otologic Research Lab at 317-274-4915 or devinfo@iupui.edu

Parent Child Interaction therapy for parents and deaf children

• Do you have concerns about your child’s behavior?
• Do you feel that you and your child could improve on communication?
• Are you a parent with a deaf child?
• Is your child between the ages of 3 to 6 years?

PCIT is an empirically-supported treatment for young children with emotional and behavioral disorders that focus on improving the quality of the parent-child relationship.  Treatment lasts a minimum of 12 weeks. 
If you are interested in learning more about PCIT to see if your family qualifies please contact pcit@gallaudet.edu

These services will be offered at no charge to families who are willing to commit to the program.  The sessions are held weekly at Gallaudet University and are supervised by licensed psychologist.

This research has been approved by Gallaudet University’s Institutional Review Board. If you would like to receive PCIT services for you and your family, please contact me us at pcit@gallaudet.edu.

The George Washington University Cochlear Implant Communication Lab

Washington, D.C.

Participants needed By George Washington University Researchers

Prosody & Voice Characteristics of
Children Using Cochlear Implants

Hello! We are researchers from the George Washington University Cochlear Implant Communication Lab located in Washington, D.C. The goal of our research is to better understand how young, deaf children with cochlear implants and/or hearing aids develop their speaking and listening abilities. We are currently obtaining data on both hearing children and those with cochlear implants. Our research will investigate characteristics of language, sound production, voice, rhythm, and inflections during various speaking tasks.

Who is eligible for this research?

We are looking for participants with normal hearing, hearing aids, or cochlear implants who exhibit reliance on spoken English in the home and who meet the following criteria:

• Are 4 to 8 years old
• Have no motor or cognitive difficulties that would affect development
• Are located in the Greater Washington, D.C. area, including Northern VA and MD
• For those who are deaf or hard of hearing:
• Are profoundly deaf with the deafness detected at or near birth
• Have received their first implant or hearing aid prior to 36 months of age

What is involved if my child participates?

• Your child will be involved in a number of tasks aimed at sampling their speech, listening, and language abilities.  These include standardized testing, computerized listening games, and play activities aimed at sampling the child’s language skills.
• Participation in tasks will require 1 to 2 visits of 60 to 90 minutes each.

Following completion of data collection:

• You will receive $100 to cover transportation, parking and time involved.
• Your child will receive an educational toy following each session.
• Results of standardized testing will be shared with the parents.

If you have questions or are interested in participating in this study please contact:
James Mahshie, Ph.D.
Professor, George Washington University
Sangsook Choi, Ph.D.
Researcher
2115 G St., NW
Washington, DC 20052
(202) 994-3195 or email cistudy@gwu.edu

• Flyer for Children with hearing aids or cochlear implants
• Flyer for Children without hearing loss

Study: Binaural Pitch Fusion
in Children with Cochlear Implants and Hearing Aids

Portland, Oregon

The goal of our research is to understand how children who wear hearing aids, cochlear implants, or a hearing aid and a cochlear implant combine sounds between the two ears, and how this may explain some of the variability in speech and music perception abilities. We are also studying how age and development in children affect how sounds are combined between the ears.

Your child may be eligible to participate if he/she:

• Is between 6-8 years of age
• Has a moderate to profound sensorineural hearing loss in both ears, and:
  1. Wears hearing aids in both ears, or
  2. Wears a hearing aid in one ear and a cochlear implant in the other ear, or
  3. Wears cochlear implants in both ears
• Has no motor or cognitive difficulties that would impact testing
• Resides in the western U.S., including WA, OR, CA, ID, NV, AZ and UT.

What is involved if my child participates?

• Your child will be asked to listen to sounds and words, and respond by pressing the appropriate button on a computer touch screen. 
• Your child will receive stickers, prizes, and other motivators during study participation. They will be able to take breaks during testing.  
• The time needed to complete the testing each year is a total of 5-6 hours, which can be divided into up to four shorter sessions of 1-2.5 hours per session.
• Your child would return for testing once a year for five years.

Participants will receive:

Your child will be paid $15-$25 per hour for the study, plus travel and overnight costs, as applicable.  More information about the study is available online at http://www.ohsu.edu/cihalab.

If your child would like to participate in this study or you would like more information, please contact:
Lina A.J. Reiss, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
reiss@ohsu.edu
(503) 494-2917

This study is funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

The Looking Game:

Children’s Social Play, Language Development, and Eye Contact with Adults.

Is your child deaf or hard of hearing?

Participate in our study!

We are looking for children who are deaf or hard of hearing to play during a Looking-Game Study. We want to learn about children’s social play, language development, and eye contact with adults. Parents can learn about related research discoveries. Children play with researchers and toys. Parents are with their child for the whole visit. Paperwork for parents is in English. Participation is completely voluntary.

Participation Details:
Involves a one time, one hour visit to the University of Washington. Parents will be compensated for travel and parking expenses. The child will receive a thank you gift for participating in our study.

Child may be eligible to participate if:

1. He/she is 8-36 months old
2. Deaf or hard of hearing

Contact information:

Dawn Hathaway
jalab@uw.edu
(206) 685-2045
Our Flyer: http://ilabs.washington.edu/DHHLookStudy.pdf

Language Development in Children with Hearing Loss Research Project

Your child may be eligible to participate if he/she:

• Is between 6 and 30 months
• Has a hearing loss

Participants will receive:

All children will receive at no cost to you:

• Comprehensive language assessments 4 times over 18 to 30 months
• Monthly speech and language check-ups
• Assessment reports about your child’s language development
• Some money for your time

Participants will be randomly chosen to receive either parent training and monthly language check-ups OR monthly language check-ups only.

Only children assigned to the parent training intervention group will receive:

• Weekly, 1-hour parent training sessions at your home for six months where parents learn language teaching strategies.

Contact:

Megan Roberts, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
megan.roberts1@northwestern.edu
(315) 481-9605

This study is funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

Research Volunteers Needed for
a Study at the University of
Chicago Medical Center!

We are looking for parents of children with hearing loss to participate in a toddler sound environment study

Families who qualify may earn between $350 and $400

Dr. Suskind and her research team at the University of Chicago Medical Center are interested in learning more about toddler sound environments. As part of this study, you will complete recordings of your child’s sound environment and the research team will analyze the recordings using special software. Information gathered will help find ways to improve children’s sound environments and help them reach their potential!

You and your child may qualify if:

• Your child is under 4 ½  years old
• Your child has moderate to profound hearing loss
• Your child uses hearing aid(s), bone-anchored hearing aid, or cochlear implant(s)
• Your family uses spoken language in the home
• You have at least one day per week when you’re home with your child

Call 773-834-8629 to find out if you qualify!

Hands & Voices is pleased to announce it’s Partnership with the:  

National Early Childhood Assessment Project (NECAP – “kneecap”)

Principal Investigator: Christine Yoshinaga-Itano, Ph.D.
Project Coordinator: Allison Sedey, Ph.D.

We are excited to announce a new project awarded to Dr. Christine Yoshinaga-Itano at the University of Colorado-Boulder by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).  The aims of this project are to:

• support interested states in implementing a standard assessment battery for children from birth to 4 years of age who are deaf or hard of hearing
• examine the feasibility of creating a national database of early childhood outcomes
• assist states in interpreting assessment results and using these results to drive intervention goals and decisions
• characterize the service delivery models of early intervention programs throughout the United States
• determine early intervention program characteristics that are related to more successful language outcomes for children who are deaf or hard of hearing

Eligible Participants

All children from 6 months to 4 years of age with permanent hearing loss are eligible to participate.  Children whose loss is not permanent (e.g., cases where the hearing loss is solely a result of otitis media) are not eligible.  Eligible children may have:

• Unilateral or bilateral loss
• Conductive, senori-neural, or mixed hearing loss
• Any degree of permanent hearing loss from mild to profound
• Multiple disabilities or hearing loss only
• English or Spanish as the language of the home

Benefits of Participation

Individual Child and Family Benefits

• Includes parent input in the assessment process
• Measures children’s skills and abilities across a variety of developmental areas
• Allows parents and interventionists to monitor a child’s progress over time and identify potential delays at their onset
• Compares a child’s language abilities to both children who are hearing and other children with hearing loss
• Provides a data-driven approach to making educational programming decisions
• Assists in the generation of IFSP/IEP goals

Program Benefits

• Provides statewide and program-specific accountability data on an annual basis
• Allows programs to examine outcomes across different subgroups of children
• Informs professional personnel preparation needs
• Includes access to normative test data on children who are deaf or hard or hearing
• Results in networking with program directors and EHDI personnel in other states
• Gives states an opportunity to contribute to a national database which will allow us to characterize the language strengths and weaknesses of children with hearing loss and identify factors that are predictive of more successful language outcomes

If you have questions or are interested in becoming involved in this project, please contact:

Allison Sedey
University of Colorado-Boulder
409 UCB
Boulder, CO  80309
303: 492-0078
Allison.Sedey@Colorado.edu

Hands & Voices Contact:  Janet DesGeorges
303-492-6283
janet@handsandvoices.org

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Science of Learning Center on Visual Languages and Visual Learning (VL2)at Gallaudet University

ANNOUNCING the launch of a longitudinal study of young deaf and hard of hearing children by the Science of Learning Center on Visual Languages and Visual Learning (VL2) at Gallaudet University.  The three-year study will involve gathering detailed information and collecting data regarding young deaf and hard of hearing children’s language development, communication, and developmental profiles.

Along with surveys of parents, teachers, and school administrators, a comprehensive battery of assessments administered by trained evaluators from Gallaudet University will be given to deaf and hard of hearing children whose families agree to participate.    

VL2 is seeking schools to participate in the study.  Parents are encouraged to talk to their school administrators and inform them about the study.  Participation is not limited to children who sign; all communication approaches are eligible to participate.

I have set up a blog on the VL2 Public Wiki http://vl2wiki.editme.com/ to provide updates about the project and to answer questions that you may have. 

Sharon Baker, Research-Practice Integration Team member

 For more information or to register as a partnership school, contact:

Thomas Allen, Ph.D., Principal Investigator
Science of Learning Center on Visual Language and Visual Learning
Gallaudet University SLCC 1200
800 Florida Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20002
Phone: 202-651-5866

Email: VL2@gallaudet.edu

Science of Learning Center on Visual Language and Visual Learning (VL2)
The VL2 Center, located on the campus of Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, is one of six Science of Learning Centers (SLC) funded by the National Science Foundation grant # SBE-0541953.  The Center brings together deaf and hearing researchers and educators from national and international institutions to conduct interrelated studies across disciplines. VL2’s primary mission is to gain a greater under­standing of the biological, cognitive, linguistic, sociocultural, and pedagogical conditions that influence visual language and visual learning.  More information may be found at www.vl2.gallaudet.edu.

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SURVEY ON FM USE FOR CHILDREN WITH HEARING LOSS

To our colleagues and to parents of children
with hearing loss

We are trying to understand how many children with hearing loss are using FM systems. If they are using them, at what ages, and in what conditions they are used. We have developed a quick and easy survey that we want to distribute to parents of children with hearing loss (assuming that they will know best how and where their children are using FM's). We would appreciate it if you could share this survey link with the parents of children you work with in the hope that they will be willing to complete the information. Families with more than one child with hearing loss should complete the form separately for each child.  We are really grateful for your help

Thank you, Jane Madell and Carol Flexer

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FMkids

Jane R. Madell, PhD
Director, Pediatric Audiology Consulting
Jane@JaneMadell.com

Carol Flexer, PhD
Distinguished Professor Emeritus
University of Akron
cflexer@uakron.edu