The effect of auditory training on listening effort in hearing-aid users: insights from a pupillometry study

OBJECTIVE: The study investigated how auditory training affects effort exerted by hearing-impaired listeners in speech-in-noise task.

DESIGN: Pupillometry was used to characterise listening effort during a hearing in noise test (HINT) before and after phoneme-in-noise identification training. Half of the study participants completed the training, while the other half formed an active control group.

STUDY SAMPLE: Twenty 63-to-79 years old experienced hearing-aid users.

RESULTS: Higher peak pupil dilations (PPDs) were obtained at the end of the study compared to the beginning in both groups of the participants. The analysis of pupil dilation in an extended time window revealed, however, that the magnitude of pupillary response increased more in the training than in the control group. The effect of training on effort was observed in pupil responses even when no improvement in HINT was found.

CONCLUSION: The results demonstrate that using a listening effort metric adds additional insights into the effectiveness of auditory training compared to the situation when only speech-in-noise performance is considered. Trends observed in pupil responses suggested increased effort-both after the training and the placebo intervention-most likely reflecting the effect of the individual's motivation.