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INFORMED CONSENT DOCUMENT: Binaural and spatial hearing in dyslexic listeners
Your participation in this experiment is entirely voluntary, and you may withdraw from
the experiment at any time without prejudice.
(1) Research Description
In this research, to be conducted in the Department of Cognitive and Neural Systems at
Boston University, we are studying the ability of dyslexic and healthy humans to spatially
perceive sound and to process the differences in the perceived sound at the two ears. More
specifically, we are interested in determining the deficits of the dyslexics in their ability to
process sounds perceived by their two ears, and to use that information to derive the position of
the source that emitted the sound.
We are interested in measuring these perceptions for people with normal hearing
sensitivity. Therefore, control subjects with known hearing deficits will not be allowed to
participate in this study and the auditory deficit in dyslexics, if any, will be carefully
characterized. An initial audiometric screening will be performed at the audiology clinic at
Sargent College, Boston University, prior to any other experiments. During this session, your
sensitivity to sounds at different frequencies will be tested. These tests will be performed at
no cost to you, and the results will be made available to you. You will be paid for your
participation in this screening at the standard hourly rate for subject participation. The
screening should last no more than one half an hour. If your screening shows that you have a
hearing loss of at least 15 dB (relative to normal listeners) at any frequency or in either ear,
you will not be asked to continue in the study. In addition, if it becomes clear that there is no
useful information in data collected from a particular subject, we may ask you to withdraw
from further experiments. For dyslexic subjects, the screening will be followed by evaluation
of their disability. Approximately 3 hours of testing will be required for this screening.
Two experiments will be performed in either a soundproof booth or a small conference room
in the Department of Cognitive and Neural Systems at Boston University. As one of the twenty
or more subjects in these experiments, you will wear headphones that present sounds to your ears
and/or be presented with sound sources from speakers at various locations. During the
experiments in which you are in the soundproof both, normal sounds from outside the booth will
be difficult or impossible to hear. The tasks you will be asked to perform will be to report
(verbally or by typing) a sentence presented via the headphones or from one of multiple speakers.
In general, an experimental session will last no more than 2 hours. Depending on the phase of
the study in which you are involved, you may be asked to participate in more than one such
session in order to complete a full set of experiments. We expect our subjects to participate in
two two-hour sessions.
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(2) Risks
In order to protect you from any accidents while you are wearing the headphones and in the
sound-proof booth, a normal-hearing experimenter will monitor all environmental sounds and
inform you of any alarms or other events of which you need to be aware.
Extremely loud sounds may cause discomfort or damage to the sense of hearing. All sound
generation equipment will be carefully calibrated and maintained to ensure that presented sounds
will never be painfully loud. In the unlikely event that an uncomfortably loud sound is presented,
immediately remove the headphones and inform the investigator.
(3) Benefits
Dyslexic subjects will be paid $10.00 per hour and healthy subjects will be paid $8.00 per
hour for all work they complete. In addition, the results of a preliminary audiometric test will be
provided to the subjects, free of charge. Beyond these benefits, there will be no personal benefit
on the subject’s side from participating in this research.
(4) Subject Confidentiality
You will be assigned a random, unique number for identification purposes. This number will
be used in identifying subject data files and in all reports, publications, and references to the
subjects.
(5) Further Questions
If you have further questions, you should feel free to contact the following people: for
questions regarding the research or in the unlikely even of research-related injury, Prof. Barbara
Shinn-Cunningham (353-5764); for questions about research subjects’ rights, David Berndt of
the Charles River Campus Institutional Review Board of Boston University (353-4365).
(6) Participation
You are welcome to ask questions of the investigator and to discuss experimental procedures
with the investigator at any time you wish. Also, of course, you are free to withdraw consent and
to discontinue your participation in the experiments at any time and for any reason without
prejudice. If you are affiliated with Boston University, refusal to participate in further tests will
not result in any penalty to your status as a student or employee of the University.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I have read and understood the above statements. I have been given the opportunity to ask the
experimenter any questions I wish, including questions not explicitly raised in the above
description. If I am affiliated with Boston University, I understand that refusal to participate will
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not adversely influence my status as a student or employee of the institution. I agree to participate
as a subject in these experiments.
Subject name (print):
_____________________________________________
Subject signature:
_____________________________________________
Signature of person obtaining consent:
_____________________________________________
Date:
_______________________
A copy of the signed consent form will be provided to the subject.
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