title: Cognitive skills and the effect of noise on perceived effort in employees with aided hearing impairment and normal hearing.
abstract: The aim of the following study was to examine the relationship between working memory capacity (WMC), executive functions (EFs) and perceived effort (PE) after completing a work-related task in quiet and in noise in employees with aided hearing impairment (HI) and normal hearing. The study sample consisted of 20 hearing-impaired and 20 normally hearing participants. Measures of hearing ability, WMC and EFs were tested prior to performing a work-related task in quiet and in simulated traffic noise. PE of the work-related task was also measured. Analysis of variance was used to analyze within- and between-group differences in cognitive skills, performance on the work-related task and PE. The presence of noise yielded a significantly higher PE for both groups. However, no significant group differences were observed in WMC, EFs, PE and performance in the work-related task. Interestingly, significant negative correlations were only found between PE in the noise condition and the ability to update information for both groups. In summary, noise generates a significantly higher PE and brings explicit processing capacity into play, irrespective of hearing. This suggest that increased PE involves other factors such as type of task that is to be performed, performance in the cognitive skill required solving the task at hand and whether noise is present. We therefore suggest that special consideration in hearing care should be made to the individual's prerequisites on these factors in the labor market.
authors.affiliation: Linnaeus Centre HEAD, Swedish Institute for Disability Research; Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Linköping University, Sweden.
authors.forename: Hakan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hua
authors.forename: Magnus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Emilsson
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Widén
authors.forename: Claes
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Möller
authors.forename: Bjorn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lyxell
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004651:Employment; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009624:Noise, Transportation; D010465:Perception; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014937:Work / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult