Matching laboratory and real-world listening environments with ecological momentary assessment improves prediction of speech perception.

Authors

Erik Jorgensen, Megan Werner, Autumn Grove, Afton Noll

Published in

JASA express letters. Volume 6. Issue 10. Oct 01, 2026.

Abstract

Laboratory speech-in-noise measures fail to predict real-world listening performance. This study tested whether matching laboratory to real-world environments using self-reported noise sources from ecological momentary assessment (EMA) improves predictions. Speech intelligibility and listening effort were measured in virtual acoustic environments in 51 normal-hearing adults, who then self-rated both via EMA for 1 week. Laboratory intelligibility predicted real-world intelligibility only when laboratory and real-world environments were matched. Effort results were not significant. Findings suggest that environment-specific laboratory testing improves ecological validity of intelligibility measures, though environment matching explained only 1.1% of variance in real-world ratings, with individual differences accounting for substantially more.

PMID:
42867398
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 14 Oct 2026.

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