The Effect of Age on Listening Effort

Degeest, Sofie; Keppler, Hannah; Corthals, Paul

doi:10.1044/2015_jslhr-h-14-0288

Cited by 45 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…The difference in the SNR quadratic term was because the RT curve of the YNH participants was flatter than that of the OHI participants (Figure 6). This may reflect that OHI listeners exert more effort on speech understanding than YNH listeners (Desjardins & Doherty 2013; Degeest et al 2015). The difference in the linear trend was because the RT curve showed a negative trend in Experiments 1 and 3 (YNH) but not in Experiment 2 (OHI).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This interpretation assumes that (1) performance on each of the tasks requires some common cognitive resource allocation and (2) cognitive resources are limited (Kahneman 1973). Dual-task paradigms have been used to investigate the effect of age (Gosselin & Gagné 2011; Desjardins & Doherty 2013; Degeest et al 2015), hearing loss (Hick & Tharpe 2002), visual cues (Fraser et al 2010; Picou et al 2013; Picou & Ricketts 2014), hearing aids (Downs 1982; Hornsby 2013), noise reduction algorithms (Sarampalis et al 2009; Desjardins & Doherty 2014), and directional microphones (Wu et al 2014) on listening effort.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Psychometric Functions of Dual-Task Paradigms for Measuring Listening Effort

Stangl²,

Zhang³

et al. 2016

Ear &Amp; Hearing

114

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Objectives The purpose of the study was to characterize the psychometric functions that describe task performance in dual-task listening effort measures as a function of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Design Younger adults with normal hearing (YNH, n = 24; Experiment 1) and older adults with hearing impairment (OHI, n = 24; Experiment 2) were recruited. Dual-task paradigms wherein the participants performed a primary speech recognition task simultaneously with a secondary task were conducted at a wide range of SNRs. Two different secondary tasks were used: an easy task (i.e., a simple visual reaction-time task) and a hard task (i.e., the incongruent Stroop test). The reaction time (RT) quantified the performance of the secondary task. Results For both participant groups and for both easy and hard secondary tasks, the curves that described the RT as a function of SNR were peak shaped. The RT increased as SNR changed from favorable to intermediate SNRs, and then decreased as SNRs moved from intermediate to unfavorable SNRs. The RT reached its peak (longest time) at the SNRs at which the participants could understand 30% to 50% of the speech. In Experiments 1 and 2 the dual-task trials that had the same SNR were conducted in one block. To determine if the peaked shape of the RT curves was specific to the blocked SNR presentation order used in these experiments, YNH participants were recruited (n = 25; Experiment 3) and dual-task measures, wherein the SNR was varied from trial to trial (i.e., non-blocked), were conducted. The results indicated that, similar to the first two experiments, the RT curves had a peaked shape. Conclusions Secondary task performance was poorer at the intermediate SNRs than at the favorable and unfavorable SNRs. This pattern was observed for both YNH and OHI participants and was not affected by either task type (easy or hard secondary task) or SNR presentation order (blocked or non-blocked). The shorter RT at the unfavorable SNRs (speech intelligibility < 30%) possibly reflects that the participants experienced cognitive overload and/or disengaged themselves from the listening task. The implication of using the dual-task paradigm as a listening effort measure is discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychometric Functions of Dual-Task Paradigms for Measuring Listening Effort

Stangl²,

Zhang³

et al. 2016

Ear &Amp; Hearing

114

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…This study also contributes to a growing body of research suggesting that age is an important factor regarding listening effort. Several studies have similarly found that older adults exert more listening effort than young adults as evidenced by poorer performance on tasks of listening effort (e.g., Gosselin and Gagné, 2011;Desjardins and Doherty, 2013;Bernarding et al, 2013;Degeest et al, 2015). However, unlike age, other factors such as the age at the onset of hearing loss, age at implantation, and duration of CI use do not appear to significantly impact one's listening effort.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Listening Effort Measured in Adults with Normal Hearing and Cochlear Implants

Perreau

Tatge

et al. 2017

J Am Acad Audiol

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Background: Studies have examined listening effort in individuals with hearing loss to determine the extent of the impairment. Regarding cochlear implants (CIs), results suggest that listening effort is improved using bilateral CIs compared to unilateral CIs. Few studies have investigated listening effort and outcomes related to the hybrid CI. Purpose: Here, we compared listening effort across three CI groups, and to a normal-hearing control group. The impact of listener traits, that is, age, age at onset of hearing loss, duration of CI use, and working memory capacity, were examined relative to listening effort. Research Design: The participants completed a dual-task paradigm with a primary task identifying sentences in noise and a secondary task measuring reaction time on a Stroop test. Performance was assessed for all participant groups at different signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), ranging in 2-dB steps from 0 to 110 dB relative to an individual’s SNR-50, at which the speech recognition performance is 50% correct. Participants completed three questions on listening effort, the Spatial Hearing Questionnaire, and a reading span test. Study Sample: All 46 participants were adults. The four participant groups included (1) 12 individuals with normal hearing, (2) 10 with unilateral CIs, (3) 12 with bilateral CIs, and (4) 12 with a hybrid short-electrode CI and bilateral residual hearing. Data Collection and Analysis: Results from the dual-task experiment were compared using a mixed 4 (hearing group) by 6 (SNR condition) analysis of variance (ANOVA). Questionnaire results were compared using one-way ANOVAs, and correlations between listener traits and the objective and subjective measures were compared using Pearson correlation coefficients. Results: Significant differences were found in speech perception among the normal-hearing and the unilateral and the bilateral CI groups. There was no difference in primary task performance among the hybrid CI and the normal-hearing groups. Across the six SNR conditions, listening effort improved to a greater degree for the normal-hearing group compared to the CI groups. However, there was no significant difference in listening effort between the CI groups. The subjective measures revealed significant differences between the normal-hearing and CI groups, but no difference among the three CI groups. Across all groups, age was significantly correlated with listening effort. We found no relationship between listening effort and the age at the onset of hearing loss, age at implantation, the duration of CI use, and working memory capacity for these participants. Conclusions: Listening effort was reduced to a greater degree for the normal-hearing group compared to the CI users. There was no significant difference in listening effort among the CI groups. For the CI users in this study, age was a significant factor with regard to listening effort, whereas other variables such as the duration of CI use and the age at the onset of hearing loss were not significantly related to ...

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“…Regardless of the specific causes, existing data suggest that age-related declines in degraded speech recognition are likely to place greater demand on cognitive processing. That is, older adults appear to dedicate a greater portion of their finite cognitive resources to the speech recognition task compared to younger adults (Tun et al 2009; Gosselin & Gagné 2011; Desjardins & Doherty 2013; Degeest et al 2015). Accordingly, tasks designed to vary listening effort may offer insight into age-related performance differences.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age-Related Differences in Listening Effort During Degraded Speech Recognition

et al. 2017

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Objectives The purpose of the current study was to quantify age-related differences in executive control as it relates to dual-task performance, which is thought to represent listening effort, during degraded speech recognition. Design Twenty-five younger adults (18–24 years) and twenty-one older adults (56–82 years) completed a dual-task paradigm that consisted of a primary speech recognition task and a secondary visual monitoring task. Sentence material in the primary task was either unprocessed or spectrally degraded into 8, 6, or 4 spectral channels using noise-band vocoding. Performance on the visual monitoring task was assessed by the accuracy and reaction time of participants’ responses. Performance on the primary and secondary task was quantified in isolation (i.e., single task) and during the dual-task paradigm. Participants also completed a standardized psychometric measure of executive control, including attention and inhibition. Statistical analyses were implemented to evaluate changes in listeners’ performance on the primary and secondary tasks (1) per condition (unprocessed vs. vocoded conditions); (2) per task (baseline vs. dual task); and (3) per group (younger vs. older adults). Results Speech recognition declined with increasing spectral degradation for both younger and older adults when they performed the task in isolation or concurrently with the visual monitoring task. Older adults were slower and less accurate than younger adults on the visual monitoring task when performed in isolation, which paralleled age-related differences in standardized scores of executive control. When compared to single-task performance, older adults experienced greater declines in secondary-task accuracy, but not reaction time, than younger adults. Furthermore, results revealed that age-related differences in executive control significantly contributed to age-related differences on the visual monitoring task during the dual-task paradigm. Conclusions Older adults experienced significantly greater declines in secondary-task accuracy during degraded speech recognition than younger adults. These findings are interpreted as suggesting that older listeners expended greater listening effort than younger listeners, and may be partially attributed to age-related differences in executive control.

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The Effect of Age on Listening Effort

Cited by 45 publications

References 39 publications

Psychometric Functions of Dual-Task Paradigms for Measuring Listening Effort

Psychometric Functions of Dual-Task Paradigms for Measuring Listening Effort

Listening Effort Measured in Adults with Normal Hearing and Cochlear Implants

Age-Related Differences in Listening Effort During Degraded Speech Recognition

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