Abstract
PurposeObjective measures of listening effort have been gaining prominence, as they provide metrics to quantify the difficulty of understanding speech under a variety of circumstances. A key challenge has been to develop paradigms that enable the complementary measurement of subjective listening effort in a quantitatively precise manner. In this study, we introduce a novel decision-making paradigm to examine age-related and individual differences in subjective effort during listening.MethodOlder and younger adults were presented with spoken sentences mixed with speech-shaped noise at multiple signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). On each trial, subjects were offered the choice between completing an easier listening trial (presented at +20 dB SNR) for a smaller monetary reward and completing a harder listening trial (presented at either +4, 0, −4, −8, or −12 dB SNR) for a greater monetary reward. By varying the amount of the reward offered for the easier option, the subjective value of performing effortful listening trials at each SNR could be assessed.ResultsOlder adults discounted the value of effortful listening to a greater degree than young adults, opting to accept less money in order to avoid more difficult SNRs. Additionally, older adults with poorer hearing and smaller working memory capacities were more likely to choose easier trials; however, in younger adults, no relationship with hearing or working memory was found. Self-reported measures of economic status did not affect these relationships.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that subjective listening effort depends on factors including, but not necessarily limited to, hearing and working memory. Additionally, this study demonstrates that economic decision-making paradigms can be a useful approach for assessing subjective listening effort and may prove beneficial in future research.
Highlights
Objective measures of listening effort have been gaining prominence, as they provide metrics to quantify the difficulty of understanding speech under a variety of circumstances
Preregistration of sample size, primary outcome measures, and exclusion criteria can be found at https://osf.io/tfc83/, 1While our construct of interest is subjective listening effort, we acknowledge that the judgments in the listening task may not be solely “effort-based” judgments; rather, they likely represent an accumulation of factors that contribute to the “cost” of performance, which may include perceived difficulty, self-efficacy, motivation, and the desire to appear competent
It allowed us to control for potential intelligibility and income differences between young and older adult participants, which is crucial for interpreting the relationship between speech perception ability and discounting
Summary
Preregistration of sample size, primary outcome measures, and exclusion criteria can be found at https://osf.io/tfc83/, 1While our construct of interest is subjective listening effort, we acknowledge that the judgments in the listening task may not be solely “effort-based” judgments; rather, they likely represent an accumulation of factors that contribute to the “cost” of performance, which may include perceived difficulty, self-efficacy, motivation, and the desire to appear competent. When referring to the construct of interest, we use the term “subjective listening effort,” and when referring to how it is measured in the discounting task, we use the term “subjective listening cost.”. Experimental materials (including experiment programs and stimuli), raw data, and analysis scripts can be found at https://osf.io/8jpnx/files/. All procedures were approved by the Washington University in St. Louis Institutional Review Board
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