REAL-HEARING

Hearing loss is a widespread condition that makes listening more effortful, often leading to increased stress, fatigue, and social isolation. While most research on listening-related stress has been conducted in laboratory settings, this project investigates how hearing loss affects stress in daily life. Using a combination of physiological measurements and short questionnaires via a smartphone app, participants' stress responses and listening effort in real-world situations were monitored. This study aims to identify which lab-based measures best predict real-life listening stress, with the goal of improving clinical assessment, treatment strategies, and hearing aid design. Data were collected for ECG, ICG, pupillometry, skin conductance, accelerometry, EMA, Castor, and microphone recordings; both in the lab and during regular daily activities. . A total of 188 participants took part in the study (including a pilot study) with a wide range of hearing acuity; however, due to data collection issues such as logistics or data quality, complete datasets across all modalities were not available for every participant.