Speak Up: How Hearing Loss and the Lack of Hearing Aids Affect Conversations in Quiet

The study examines the effect of hearing loss and hearing aid (HA) amplification on the conversational dynamics between hearing-impaired (HI) and normal-hearing (NH) interlocutors. Combining data from the current and a prior study, we explore how the speech levels of both interlocutors correlate and relate to HI interlocutors' degree of hearing loss.

Sixteen pairs of younger NH and elderly HI interlocutors conversed in quiet, with the HI interlocutor either unaided or wearing HAs. We analyzed the effect of hearing status and HA amplification on the conversational dynamics, including turn-taking times (floor-transfer offsets), utterance lengths, and speech levels. Furthermore, we conducted an in-depth analysis of the speech levels using combined data sets from the current and previously published data by Petersen, MacDonald, and Sørensen (2022).

Unaided HI interlocutors were slower and more variable at timing their turns, but wearing HAs reduced the differences between the HI and NH interlocutors. Conversations were less interactive, and pairs were slower at solving the conversational tasks when the HI interlocutor was unaided. Both interlocutors spoke louder when the HI interlocutor was unaided. The speech level of the NH interlocutors was related to that of the HI interlocutors, with the HI speech levels also correlating with their own degree of hearing loss.

Despite typically being unchallenging for HI individuals, one-on-one conversations in quiet were impacted by the HI interlocutor not wearing HAs. Additionally, combining data sets revealed that NH interlocutors adjusted their speech level to match that of HI interlocutors.