Interindividual variability
hearing loss, lower cognitive functioning, cognitive functioning
HEARING LOSS, REGRESSION, AIDS, AGE-RELATED HEARING LOSS
Finally, another factor that may contribute to the interindividual variability we examined in this study is the impact of demographic and health factors. Age-related hearing loss is a complex condition that does not affect all individuals equally. Some people with specific characteristics are more likely to have hearing loss, or report hearing loss than others. For example, in a recent study conducted by our group, we found significant differences in speech-in-noise ability between males and females, with males showing a higher loss than females [Stepwise regression analyses were used to determine whether interindividual differences in performance with and without PSAP could be explained by age, hearing thresholds (Better ear PTA4), self-reported listening ability (Speech SSQ scale) and cognitive functioning (MoCA-HI). We found that the benefits of PSAPs can be explained by some demographic and health factors, at least for the PSAPs we employed in the current study and others with comparable features. Although these factors do not necessarily explain who will benefit most from these devices in the long term, they highlight important factors that future studies should consider when evaluating the impact of these devices on hearing and listening.First, we observed that people who met the criterion for hearing loss, who were younger older adults and reported having good speech-listening skills, had higher benefits on the QuickSIN with the devices. The effect of hearing thresholds is not surprising because few studies show that hearing thresholds are a significant determinant of the impact of PSAPs on listening ability. The devices seem beneficial for people with mild-to-moderate hearing loss but not for severe hearing loss [Another interesting result is that individuals with higher scores on the MoCA-HI benefitted more from the devices than those with lower scores. Here, all participants’ MoCA-HI scores were within a range considered cognitively healthy, showing that even normal cognitive score variability can lead to changes in PSAPs effects. The difference in PSAPs uptake as a function of cognitive status suggests that individuals with lower cognitive scores may be more overwhelmed by amplification than those with higher cognitive functioning. For instance, individuals with lower cognitive functioning may have fewer cognitive resources to adjust for the effect of amplification. This would be consistent with the literature on conventional hearing aids showing that speech intelligibility in noise appears worse for listeners with low working memory capacity than for those with high capacity [Finally, for listening effort, no single factor significantly explains the variability in the benefits. Looking at the individual data, we observe that almost all participants reported lower listening effort with the devices than without the devices. This suggests that one mechanism by which devices can help improve listening ability is by reducing listening effort. However, participants may also report less listening with the device because they believe it should help them hear better. Future studies should consider supplementing subjective rating of listening effort with more objective metrics such as pupil dilatation [e.g., 