How noise impacts information exchange in triadic conversations

Description

The concept of communication success is crucial for evaluating the effectiveness of hearing interventions, as many hearing-impaired individuals encounter difficulties in interactive communicating settings. It is important to differentiate communication success from listening success, the latter referring to the ability to understand information in situations that do not require interaction. Although the aim of hearing interventions is to improve communication success, their effectiveness is often measured in terms of listening success. This discrepancy exists mainly because no suitable method exists which can directly and reliably assess communication success. This study introduces a new method to measure communication success directly. The method employs a group decision-making paradigm, and its potential is showcased by examining the impact of loud background noise on the decision-making processes. Participants were asked to answer a series of general-knowledge questions twice; once before, and once after discussing them in groups of three. The discussions took place in one of two different noise conditions: 78dB SPL and 48dB SPL. A formal model of the group decision making process was applied to determine the influence of individual group members on each other’s post-discussion decisions. This approach facilitated a detailed analysis of how information was exchanged between participants. The study found that background noise significantly altered the dynamics of information exchange, as evidenced by changes in the relative weight with which participants influenced each other’s post-discussion decisions. Contrary to initial expectations, participants did not show a greater reliance on their own opinions in the louder noise condition. However, in the louder condition, there was a general tendency towards less uniform weighting by individual participants, as well as more across-participant similarity in weights. This study demonstrates a method to quantify information exchange through a group decision-making task and shows that background noise can affect decision-making in group interactions. The methodology proposed here offers a new tool for assessing negative psychosocial consequences of hearing loss, such as social inclusion and loss of personal agency, which traditional hearing, listening and comprehension tests cannot capture.

Period	11 Jun 2024
Event title	7th International Conference on Cognitive Hearing Science for Communication: CHSCOM 2024
Event type	Conference
Conference number	7
Location	Linköping, SwedenShow on map