Prosocial reward relates to speech reception thresholds and age relates to subjective ratings of speech perception in noise

This study explores how prosocial motivation and social reward relate to speech perception in noise (SPiN). We investigated SPiN performance and subjective listening experiences across different masker conditions: 1-speaker, 2-speaker, and steady-state noise (SSN). Results indicate that individuals who rated themselves higher in prosocial traits performed better in the condition that yielded the worst threshold out of the three conditions i.e., the 2-speaker condition. Age significantly influenced subjective ratings of listening effort across all conditions where older participants reported greater effort. These findings highlight prosocial motivation as a potential factor influencing SPiN abilities, particularly in complex listening scenarios, alongside the role of age in shaping subjective auditory experiences.