Study of Listening Effort and Speech Understanding in Adults with Cochlear Implants and Typical Hearing

What this Trial Is About

This research aims to understand the changes in listening effort experienced by people with hearing loss, especially those using cochlear implants. The study focuses on how effort varies moment-to-moment during listening, how long it lasts, and how experience with a cochlear implant affects the planning and execution of listening effort. Listening effort is linked to fatigue, mental strain, and social challenges faced by individuals with hearing difficulties. Participants will take part in speech recognition tests in a sound-attenuated booth, listening to and repeating sentences while their pupil size is monitored by an eye tracker to assess changes related to listening effort. The study includes both cochlear implant users and typical-hearing controls. Various experiments will test different listening scenarios, such as preparing for difficult speech, clarifying misheard words, judging answers, and adjusting speech rates. Behavioral tasks and questionnaires will also measure subjective effort and cognitive processing. Participants will be evaluated through speech intelligibility tests, pupil size tracking, and cognitive tasks assessing attention and processing speed. The study measures listening effort and speech understanding during 60 to 90 minute sessions. Researchers will analyze how participants respond to different speech manipulations and monitor changes in effort using eye tracking and subjective reports. The total participation time varies depending on the number of experiments completed, with detailed observation of effort and comprehension.

Listening Effort in Cochlear Implant Users