Metacognitive Awareness of Lipreading Gains in Young and Older Adults

When listening to speech in noise, lipreading can facilitate communication. However, beyond its objective benefits, individuals' perceptions of lipreading advantages may influence their motivation to use it in daily interactions. We investigated to what extent older and younger adults are metacognitively aware of lipreading benefits, focusing not only on performance improvements but also on changes in confidence and listening effort and on the internal evaluations (confidence and effort) that shape listening experiences and may influence strategy adoption.

Forty participants completed a hearing-in-noise task in virtual reality, facing a human-like avatar behind a translucent panel that varied in transparency to create pairs of conditions with different lip visibility. We measured audiovisual performance, confidence, and effort, deriving both real improvements (i.e., lipreading gain) and metacognitive improvements (i.e., perceived changes in accuracy, confidence, and effort) on a trial-by-trial basis.

Both age groups experienced comparable real improvements from lipreading and were similarly aware of its benefits for accuracy and confidence. Yet, older adults were less sensitive to the reduction of listening effort associated with higher lip visibility, particularly those with lower unisensory lipreading abilities (as measured in a visual-only condition).

While younger and older adults share similar awareness of lipreading benefits in speech perception, reduced sensitivity to effort reduction may impact older adults' motivation to use lipreading in everyday communication. Given the role of perceived effort in strategy adoption, these findings highlight the importance of addressing effort perceptions in interventions aimed at improving communication in aging populations.

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.30179404.