Physiological methods as indexes of listening effort measurement: an integrative literature review

Abstract

Purpose: to review the scientific literature and present existing instruments and methods for the objective assessment of the listening effort in normal hearing individuals worldwide. Methods: a literature integrative review whose purpose was to gather and summarize the scientific knowledge regarding the objective methods theme for measuring the listening effort, developed through the search of articles in specialized national and international journals, in the English and Portuguese languages, available in the databases: PUBMED, Cochrane Library, LILACS and SCIELO. Results: 18 articles which used physiological methods to measure the listening effort in individuals with normal hearing were reviewed. The main findings described in those articles refer to the author(s) and purpose(s) of the research, country where the research was conducted, casuistry, physiological method used and results. Conclusion: there is no consensus among the researchers about the best physiological method to measure this parameter, that is, this effort in the speech perception tasks, although the level of skin conductance is considered the most accurate measure to date.