Motion-Steered Noise Management in Hearing Aids Reduces Listening Effort and Stress Indexed by Pupil Size and Heart Rate

Key Points

• The study aims to determine the impact of motion-steered noise management in hearing aids on listening effort and stress as indexed by physiological measures.
• Utilized VR for naturalistic evaluation of hearing aids with unobtrusive heart rate monitoring.
• Assessed how head movements and body orientation affect hearing aid performance.
• Measured heart rate, pupil dilation, and task difficulty during tasks involving localization and speech comprehension.
• Relative heart rate changes indicated varying levels of task difficulty and technology effects on hearing aids.
• Pupil dilation aligned with heart rate changes, reflecting reduced stress when using motion-steered noise management.
• Motion-steering improved speech comprehension by lessening listening stress and effort during localization tasks.