Speech‐perception training for older adults with hearing loss impacts word recognition and effort

Abstract

The current pupillometry study examined the impact of speech-perception training on word recognition and cognitive effort in older adults with hearing loss. Trainees identified more words at the follow-up than at the baseline session. Training also resulted in an overall larger and faster peaking pupillary response, even when controlling for performance and reaction time. Perceptual and cognitive capacities affected the peak amplitude of the pupil response across participants but did not diminish the impact of training on the other pupil metrics. Thus, we demonstrated that pupillometry can be used to characterize training-related and individual differences in effort during a challenging listening task. Importantly, the results indicate that speech-perception training not only affects overall word recognition, but also a physiological metric of cognitive effort, which has the potential to be a biomarker of hearing loss intervention outcome.

Relations Between Self-Reported Daily-Life Fatigue, Hearing Status, and Pupil Dilation During a Speech Perception in Noise Task

“…A significant negative correlation was found between self-reported fatigue 19 and peak pupil dilation. A similar correlation was also found between Speech Intelligibility Index 20 required for 50% correct and peak pupil dilation.…”

“…Participants were also instructed not to drink coffee prior to testing, 18 even though recent evidence suggests that the pupil dilation response is not highly sensitive to 19 caffeine consumption (Bardak et al 2016). The test session took place in a sound-treated room, 20 where auditory stimuli were presented diotically over headphones (Sennheiser, HD 280).…”

Temporal effects in priming of masked and degraded speech

“…To the extent that they can be generalized, the current results and future studies on this topic may give direction for the design of training protocols where listeners attempt to improve their speech recognition for words and sentences through feedback that includes some form of priming in short-term (e.g., Davis et al, 2005;Hervais-Adelman et al, 2008;Loebach et al, 2010;Hervais-Adelman et al, 2011) and longer-term training protocols (e.g., Burk and Humes, 2007;Kuchinsky et al, 2014). Also, priming in the form of textual captions has been used in computerized aural rehabilitation programs designed mostly for home use (e.g., LACE, Henderson Sabes, 2004, 2006, and "The Listening Room," produced by Advanced Bionics).…”

Eye-tracking evidence that happy faces impair verbal message comprehension: the case of health warnings in direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical television commercials

“…Incongruence between visual and auditory information may thus be detectable in terms of cognitive load, as reflected by pupil dilation. Indeed, research suggests that pupil dilation can serve as an indicator of listening effort and difficulty of processing speech (Kuchinsky et al 2013, 2014). In the context of TV commercials, pupil dilation can thus serve as a signal of listening difficulty (Kuchinsky et al 2013, 2014).…”