Exploring real-world listening motivation in hearing aid users: associations between heart rate, ambient acoustics, and self-reported importance to hear well.

Objective: According to the Framework for Understanding Effortful Listening (FUEL), motivation is a key component of successful listening. So far, little is known about physiological and context-dependent correlates of listening motivation in real-world settings. Physiological measures such as heart rate can index arousal, while ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) can provide context-related information about real-world listening. This study explored associations between heart rate and listening motivation in different real-world listening situations.

Design: During a 2-week field trial, participants used a smartphone-based EMA-app to report their listening intents in the situations they encountered using a dropdown menu. As a proxy for listening motivation, they also rated the importance to hear well on a continuous visual analogue scale. Simultaneously, they wore hearing aids (HAs) and wristbands that collected ambient acoustic and heart rate data.

Study sample: 25 experienced HA users aged 53-83 years with symmetrical mild-to-moderate sensorineural hearing losses.

Results: Linear mixed-effects models showed that higher heart rate was associated with a higher importance to hear well during conversations with one person in relatively quiet environments, and during group conversations in relatively loud environments.

Conclusion: These results suggest that heart rate can index real-world listening motivation during speech-related listening in different acoustic environments.