Could a common Alzheimer's drug help people hear better with cochlear implants?

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: 1. At least 6 months of cochlear implant use 2. Age ≥ 18 years 3. Post-lingual onset of deafness 4. Audiometric thresholds meeting FDA-labeled indications for adult cochlear implantation 5. Normal or corrected-to-normal vision assessed with a Snellen eye chart 6. English verbal communication 7. No participation in any other clinical trial within the past 3 months 8. Physically healthy 9. Female participants must have no child-bearing potential or agree to practice effective contraception during the study (such as established use of oral, injected or implanted hormonal methods of contraception; placement of an intrauterine device or intrauterine system; condom with spermicidal foam/gel/film/cream/suppository; occlusive cap with spermicidal foam/gel/film/cream/suppository; male partner sterilization; or true abstinence when this is in line with the preferred and usual lifestyle of the subject) 10. Female participants of child-bearing potential must have a negative urine pregnancy test at the time of enrollment and before each study visit Exclusion Criteria: 1. Evidence of conductive hearing loss 2. Diagnosed neurological or sensory disorder (such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, stroke, autism, schizophrenia, or uncorrected visual impairment) 3. Positive urine pregnancy test at any time during the study 4. Breastfeeding or nursing at any time during the study 5. Known hypersensitivity to donepezil hydrochloride or to piperidine derivatives 6. Current use of medications with known anticholinergic effects (such as tricyclic antidepressants, first-generation antihistamines, or bladder antispasmodics) 7. Current or prior use of cholinesterase inhibitors 8. Use of tobacco or nicotine products in the past 1 month 9. Severe anatomic abnormalities of the temporal bone 10. Major active life-threatening illness