title: Increasing motivation changes subjective reports of listening effort and choice of coping strategy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this project was to examine the effect of changing motivation on subjective ratings of listening effort and on the likelihood that a listener chooses either a controlling or an avoidance coping strategy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two experiments were conducted, one with auditory-only (AO) and one with auditory-visual (AV) stimuli, both using the same speech recognition in noise materials. Four signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) were used, two in each experiment. The two SNRs targeted 80% and 50% correct performance. Motivation was manipulated by either having participants listen carefully to the speech (low motivation), or listen carefully to the speech and then answer quiz questions about the speech (high motivation).
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixteen participants with normal hearing participated in each experiment. Eight randomly selected participants participated in both.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Using AO and AV stimuli, motivation generally increased subjective ratings of listening effort and tiredness. In addition, using auditory-visual stimuli, motivation generally increased listeners' willingness to do something to improve the situation, and decreased their willingness to avoid the situation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest a listener's mental state may influence listening effort and choice of coping strategy.
authors.affiliation: Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center , Nashville , USA.
authors.forename: Erin M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Picou
authors.forename: Todd A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Ricketts
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001302:Audiometry, Speech; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D009622:Noise / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D013067:Speech Perception; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014796:Visual Perception; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Listening effort; background noise; coping strategy; visual cues