title: Behavioral Assessment of Listening Effort Using a Dual-Task Paradigm.
abstract: Published investigations ( n = 29) in which a dual-task experimental paradigm was employed to measure listening effort during speech understanding in younger and older adults were reviewed. A summary of the main findings reported in the articles is provided with respect to the participants' age-group and hearing status. Effects of different signal characteristics, such as the test modality, on dual-task outcomes are evaluated, and associations with cognitive abilities and self-report measures of listening effort are described. Then, several procedural issues associated with the use of dual-task experiment paradigms are discussed. Finally, some issues that warrant future research are addressed. The review revealed large variability in the dual-task experimental paradigms that have been used to measure the listening effort expended during speech understanding. The differences in experimental procedures used across studies make it difficult to draw firm conclusions concerning the optimal choice of dual-task paradigm or the sensitivity of specific paradigms to different types of experimental manipulations. In general, the analysis confirmed that dual-task paradigms have been used successfully to measure differences in effort under different experimental conditions, in both younger and older adults. Several research questions that warrant further investigation in order to better understand and characterize the intricacies of dual-task paradigms were identified.
authors.affiliation: 1 École d'orthophonie et d'audiologie, Chaire de recherche Caroline Durand en audition et vieillissement, Centre de recherche de, L'Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Gagné
authors.affiliation: 2 Phonak's research program in Cognitive & Ecological Audiology, Department of Science & Technology, Phonak AG, Science and Technology - CEA (Q480), Stäfa, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Besser
authors.affiliation: 2 Phonak's research program in Cognitive & Ecological Audiology, Department of Science & Technology, Phonak AG, Science and Technology - CEA (Q480), Stäfa, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Lemke
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention; D003071:Cognition; D032882:Comprehension; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D000073456:Multitasking Behavior; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D013067:Speech Perception; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: cognitive resources; dual-task paradigm; listening effort; speech recognition; speech understanding