The Impact of Hearing Aids on Listening Effort and Listening-Related Fatigue - Investigations in a Virtual Realistic Listening Environment.

Only twenty participants completed the study, and most of the electroencephalography data were lost to technical problems. Everyone had mild to moderate hearing loss and was an experienced hearing aid user, so the results may not apply to people with severe loss or new users. The hearing aids were fitted at default settings, so the effect of specific noise reduction or directional microphone features was not tested. Stress hormone sampling was timed late in the session, which may have missed the peak cortisol response to effortful listening. The word recall task was too easy, with accuracy above eighty percent, which may have hidden fatigue effects on reaction times.

The study was funded by Phonak, the manufacturer of the hearing aids used. Several authors were employed by Sonova, the parent company of Phonak, and another author moved to Cochlear Deutschland.

Do not read the lower fatigue ratings as proof that hearing aids prevent listening fatigue. The reduction appeared only in subjective ratings, not in reaction times or stress hormone levels, and fatigue still rose across the session in both conditions.