Associations Between Self-Reported Workload and Measures of Speech Recognition in Adults Across the Lifespan

Purpose: Listening workload may partially explain variations in speech recognition that speech audibility alone cannot capture, as increased workload can interfere with speech processing. This study aimed to investigate the association between listening workload and speech recognition in a large sample of the general population with varying ages and hearing thresholds. Method: Data from 635 participants, from a longitudinal cohort study, who completed a modified version of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) following the Northwestern University Auditory Test No. 6 (NU-6; n = 635), Speech Perception in Noise test (SPIN; n = 440), and Staggered Spondaic Word test (SSW; n = 455) were included. Adjusted for age, sex, and race, linear regressions models were used to examine associations between self-reported workload, defined by NASA-TLX domains of performance, effort, and frustration, with five outcomes of speech recognition, measured by the NU-6 (both adjusted and unadjusted for audibility), SPIN low-context (both adjusted and unadjusted for audibility), and SSW total percent scores. Results: In general, lower levels of self-reported workload were associated with better speech recognition scores, including for audibility-adjusted and non–audibility-adjusted speech recognition tasks and after adjustment for demographic factors. Conclusions: Findings suggest that self-reported performance, effort, and frustration ratings were associated with speech recognition in various listening conditions, with influences from reduced speech audibility and demographic factors including age, sex, and race. Thus, self-reported workload may serve as a complementary tool to provide better understanding of listening abilities of individuals with hearing loss. Supplemental Material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.32690985