Enhancing understanding of real-world listening experiences: Insights from ecological momentary assessments with assistive listening technologies

Abstract

Comprehending the daily listening experiences of people who use assistive listening technologies is difficult due to individual differences and the variety of listening environments they encounter. Consequently, a lack of comprehensive insight into real-world experiences often leads to misconstrued interpretations of research outcomes and future technological directions. Addressing this issue, the National Acoustic Laboratories (NAL) in Sydney, Australia, has been actively investigating the applications of ecological momentary assessments (EMA) since 2010. By employing EMA, NAL aims to comprehend the impact of assistive listening technologies in real-world conditions. To achieve this, we invested data from four distinct studies, encompassing more than 3000 survey entries. Utilizing an EMA app specifically developed by NAL, participants reported various challenges they faced in their listening experiences. These challenges include difficulties in understanding conversation when listening to a single speaker or in multitasking scenarios, as well as frustration with the loudness and annoyance of background noise. The analysis of this extensive dataset involved a combination of conventional statistical methods and advanced machine learning models. By employing these techniques, key insights were extracted from the data, offering valuable guidance for the design of future research conducted in real-world settings.