Cognitive Load and Listening Effort: Concepts and Age-Related Considerations

Lemke, Ulrike; Besser, Jana

doi:10.1097/aud.0000000000000304

Cited by 76 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…A similar explanation can be inferred from a cognitive perspective, where enhanced envelope tracking could reflect the inefficient use of cognitive resources (Presacco et al 2016a) or the increased effort that older adults experience (e.g., Anderson Gosselin and Gagné 2011;Degeest et al 2015;Lemke and Besser 2016). In line with Presacco et al (2016a), we found that enhanced envelope tracking was associated with lower scores on the Stroop test, especially when the matrix sentences were presented.…”

Section: Neural Tracking Of the Speech Envelope And Modulations Of Nosupporting

confidence: 89%

Evidence for enhanced neural tracking of the speech envelope underlying age-related speech-in-noise difficulties

Decruy

Vanthornhout

Francart

2019

Journal of Neurophysiology

157

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When we grow older, understanding speech in noise becomes more challenging. Research has demonstrated the role of auditory temporal and cognitive deficits in these age-related speech-in-noise difficulties. To better understand the underlying neural mechanisms, we recruited young, middle-aged, and older normal-hearing adults and investigated the interplay between speech understanding, cognition, and neural tracking of the speech envelope using electroencephalography. The stimuli consisted of natural speech masked by speech-weighted noise or a competing talker and were presented at several subject-specific speech understanding levels. In addition to running speech, we recorded auditory steady-state responses at low modulation frequencies to assess the effect of age on nonspeech sounds. The results show that healthy aging resulted in a supralinear increase in the speech reception threshold, i.e., worse speech understanding, most pronounced for the competing talker. Similarly, advancing age was associated with a supralinear increase in envelope tracking, with a pronounced enhancement for older adults. Additionally, envelope tracking was found to increase with speech understanding, most apparent for older adults. Because we found that worse cognitive scores were associated with enhanced envelope tracking, our results support the hypothesis that enhanced envelope tracking in older adults is the result of a higher activation of brain regions for processing speech, compared with younger adults. From a cognitive perspective, this could reflect the inefficient use of cognitive resources, often observed in behavioral studies. Interestingly, the opposite effect of age was found for auditory steady-state responses, suggesting a complex interplay of different neural mechanisms with advancing age. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We measured neural tracking of the speech envelope across the adult lifespan and found a supralinear increase in envelope tracking with age. Using a more ecologically valid approach than auditory steady-state responses, we found that young and older, as well as middle-aged, normal-hearing adults showed an increase in envelope tracking with increasing speech understanding and that this association is stronger for older adults.

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Section: Neural Tracking Of the Speech Envelope And Modulations Of Nosupporting

confidence: 89%

Evidence for enhanced neural tracking of the speech envelope underlying age-related speech-in-noise difficulties

Decruy

Vanthornhout

Francart

2019

Journal of Neurophysiology

157

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“…This consistent finding suggests that dual-task experimental paradigms may not measure the same attributes of listening effort as the concepts used by listeners when asked to rate the effort that was required to perform a specified speech-understanding task. Accordingly, Lemke and Besser (2016) have suggested that the term listening effort should be used as an umbrella term for processing effort (in terms of resource allocation) during listening on the one hand and for perceived effort (self-reported experience) on the other hand. McGarrigle et al.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral Assessment of Listening Effort Using a Dual-Task Paradigm

2017

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Published investigations (n = 29) in which a dual-task experimental paradigm was employed to measure listening effort during speech understanding in younger and older adults were reviewed. A summary of the main findings reported in the articles is provided with respect to the participants’ age-group and hearing status. Effects of different signal characteristics, such as the test modality, on dual-task outcomes are evaluated, and associations with cognitive abilities and self-report measures of listening effort are described. Then, several procedural issues associated with the use of dual-task experiment paradigms are discussed. Finally, some issues that warrant future research are addressed. The review revealed large variability in the dual-task experimental paradigms that have been used to measure the listening effort expended during speech understanding. The differences in experimental procedures used across studies make it difficult to draw firm conclusions concerning the optimal choice of dual-task paradigm or the sensitivity of specific paradigms to different types of experimental manipulations. In general, the analysis confirmed that dual-task paradigms have been used successfully to measure differences in effort under different experimental conditions, in both younger and older adults. Several research questions that warrant further investigation in order to better understand and characterize the intricacies of dual-task paradigms were identified.

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“…Even though objective and subjective results are complementary, it should be noted that they do not necessarily measure the same underlying processes. Given that listening effort is a complex, multifactorial concept, Lemke and Besser (2016) argue that subjective and objective measures can assess different aspects of this concept.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Directional Microphone Technology in Hearing Aids on Neural Correlates of Listening and Memory Effort: An Electroencephalographic Study

et al. 2020

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The aim of the study was to compare the effect of different spatial noise-processing algorithms in hearing aids on listening effort and memory effort on a subjective, behavioral, and neurophysiological level using electroencephalography (EEG). Two types of directional microphone (DM) technologies for spatial noise processing were chosen: one with a wide directionality (wide DM) and another with a narrower directionality (narrow DM) to accentuate the speech source. Participants with a severe hearing loss were fitted with hearing aids and participated in two EEG experiments. In the first one, participants listened to sentences in cafeteria noise and were asked to rate the experienced listening effort. The second EEG experiment was a listening span task during which participants had to repeat sentence material and then recall the final words of the last four sentences. Subjective listening effort was lower with narrow than wide DM and EEG alpha power was reduced for the narrow DM. The results of the listening span task indicated a reduction in experienced memory effort and better memory performance. During the memory retention phase, EEG alpha level for the narrow relative to the wide DM was reduced. This effect was more pronounced during linguistically difficult sentences. This study extends previous findings, as it reveals a benefit for narrow DM in terms of cognitive performance and memory effort also on a neural level, and when speech intelligibility is almost 100%. Together, this indicates that a narrow and focused DM allows for a more efficient neurocognitive processing than a wide DM.

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Cognitive Load and Listening Effort: Concepts and Age-Related Considerations

Cited by 76 publications

References 62 publications

Evidence for enhanced neural tracking of the speech envelope underlying age-related speech-in-noise difficulties

Evidence for enhanced neural tracking of the speech envelope underlying age-related speech-in-noise difficulties

Behavioral Assessment of Listening Effort Using a Dual-Task Paradigm

Effect of Directional Microphone Technology in Hearing Aids on Neural Correlates of Listening and Memory Effort: An Electroencephalographic Study

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