Test–Retest Reliability and the Role of Task Instructions when Measuring Listening Effort Using a Verbal Response Time Paradigm

Abstract

Listening amidst competing noise taxes one's limited cognitive resources, leading to increased listening effort. As such, there is interest in incorporating a reliable test of listening effort into the clinical test battery. One clinically promising method for measuring listening effort is verbal response time (VRT) because it can be obtained using already-established clinical tasks. In order for widespread implementation of the VRT paradigm, a better understanding of the psychometric properties is needed. The purpose of this work was to improve the understanding of the reliability and sensitivity of the VRT listening task. Using within-subject study designs, we completed a pilot study to evaluate the test–retest reliability (Study 1) and the effects of task instructions and listening condition (Study 2). Preliminary results show that the VRT paradigm enjoys good to excellent test–retest reliability and that neither task instructions nor listening condition meaningfully influence VRT once measurement error is accounted for. Future studies should account for measurement error when considering statistically significant versus meaningful effects of experimental parameters when using listening effort tasks.