Study procedure
SESSION, EVENTS, SENSITIVITY
Prior to any in-person visit, a telephone screening will be conducted to determine a participant’s initial eligibility to participate in the study (i.e., will gather demographic information and a basic medical history, as well as the participant’s comfort level using a computer or tablet). Eligible participants will be asked to come into Concordia University’s Loyola Campus (Montreal location) or KITE-Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, University Health Network (University Centre location) to provide written consent, be further screened using a more in-depth health history interview, and be assessed on various cognitive and sensory measures, including pure-tone audiometry, CDTT, MoCA, Pelli-Robson Contrast Sensitivity, RAVLT, Coding, Digit Span, Trail Making Test A & B, Letter-Number-Sequencing, and Color Word Inference Test (Pre-Training Session 1). Testing will take place in a quiet, well-illuminated room. If deemed eligible, participants will be asked to come into Concordia University’s PERFORM Centre (Montreal location) or KITE-Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, University Health Network (University Centre) to assess our primary outcome measure (i.e., cognitive-motor dual-tasking) and other measures including the ETDRS and Mini-BESTest (Pre-Training Session 2). Participants will also be asked to complete a series of questionnaires online between Pre-Training Sessions 1 and 2 (i.e., LSEQ, ABC, EAQ, FFQ, HHIE-S, SDI). Participants will then be randomized into either the executive function training group or the wait-list control group. The executive function training group will receive a virtual tutorial session on how to use the at-home cognitive training program. Participants will then undergo either 12 weeks of cognitive training or will continue their life as usual (wait-list control group). Both groups will be called once a week to keep track of any changes in lifestyle, stress, energy levels or any other important life events. The executive function training group will also be asked about their training that week (e.g., if they are having any difficulty with the training or need further clarification, if they are noticing any progress/improvements, if they are experiencing any technical issues, if they missed a session). Following the 12-week period, all participants will be invited back to complete the same sensory, cognitive, and motor assessments that they completed at baseline (Post-Training Session 1 and Post-Training Session 2). Participants will also complete the LSEQ, ABC, and FFQ questionnaires again to measure changes in subjective hearing, mobility, and cognition, respectively. An overview of the study procedure across each testing site is shown in Fig. Flowchart of measures and timeline of our multi-site, single-blinded, randomized controlled trial 