Real-World Listening Experiences Are Associated With In-Situ Heart Rate And Acoustic Measurements In Older Hearing-Impaired Adults

Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) combined with acoustic data-logging can provide detailed insights into the real-world listening experiences of hearing aid (HA) users. Previous studies have shown that adverse listening conditions are associated with poorer ratings of real-world listening experiences and higher momentary heart rate (HR). However, the association between HR and self-reported listening experiences has not been explored yet. Here, 16 experienced HA users completed smartphone-based EMAs during a 2-week period. When completing the EMAs, they also indicated their listening intent (focused listening, speech communication or non-specific listening). The HAs were fitted with adaptive noise management settings and provided in-situ measurements of the ambient sound pressure level (SPL) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Continuous HR data were collected with the help of wristbands. Linear mixed-effects models showed that higher SPL, lower SNR, and higher HR were associated with poorer EMA ratings. When considering the influence of listening intent on these results, higher SPL and lower SNR were more strongly associated with the EMA ratings during focused or speech listening compared to passive listening. For the general listening experience, the association between HR and EMA ratings was only found for focused listening. Further, HR was more strongly associated with ratings of noisiness of the surroundings during focused or speech listening
compared to passive listening. Overall, these findings indicate that in-situ HR and acoustic measurements allow for a more detailed prediction of real-world listening outcome. In future work, the influence of different HA settings on the observed associations will be investigated.