title: Listening effort with cochlear implant simulations.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Fitting a cochlear implant (CI) for optimal speech perception does not necessarily optimize listening effort. This study aimed to show that listening effort may change between CI processing conditions for which speech intelligibility remains constant.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nineteen normal-hearing participants listened to CI simulations with varying numbers of spectral channels. A dual-task paradigm combining an intelligibility task with either a linguistic or nonlinguistic visual response-time (RT) task measured intelligibility and listening effort. The simultaneously performed tasks compete for limited cognitive resources; changes in effort associated with the intelligibility task are reflected in changes in RT on the visual task. A separate self-report scale provided a subjective measure of listening effort.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All measures showed significant improvements with increasing spectral resolution up to 6 channels. However, only the RT measure of listening effort continued improving up to 8 channels. The effects were stronger for RTs recorded during listening than for RTs recorded between listening.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that listening effort decreases with increased spectral resolution. Moreover, these improvements are best reflected in objective measures of listening effort, such as RTs on a secondary task, rather than intelligibility scores or subjective effort measures.
authors.affiliation: University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands. c.pals@umcg.nl
authors.forename: Carina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pals
authors.forename: Anastasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sarampalis
authors.forename: Deniz
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Baskent
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000328:Adult; D019929:Cochlear Implantation; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D003638:Deafness / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D006309:Hearing; D006801:Humans; D008037:Linguistics; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D017755:Prosthesis Fitting; D011930:Reaction Time; D013063:Speech Discrimination Tests; D013067:Speech Perception; D055815:Young Adult