Erik Jorgensen, Au.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Communication Sciences and Disorders, UW-Madison
Quantifying Auditory Ecology and its Relationship to Listening Performance
Hearing aid use and listening performance are shaped by auditory ecology—the sounds and soundscapes listeners encounter in daily life and their interaction with them. One of the primary goals of our lab is to better understand the bidirectional effects between auditory ecology and listening performance, and how these affects shape hearing aid use and benefit. This talk will discuss the theoretical framework around auditory ecology and its relationship to hearing and hearing aid use. Then, methods and sampling considerations for characterizing auditory ecology will be discussed, including time, place, and participant. Preliminary results of studies investigating how auditory ecology in younger listeners affects listening performance and how hearing loss and hearing aid use may shape auditory ecology in older listeners are presented. A particular focus will be given to how technologies to collect and analyze real-world data, including mobile technologies and machine learning, can be used to quantify auditory ecology, as well the challenges and limitations that come with these technologies.