Listening effort can be defined as a measure of cognitive resources used by listeners to perform a listening task. Various methods have been proposed to measure this effort, yet their reliability remains unestablished, a crucial step before their application in research or clinical settings. This study encompassed 32 participants undertaking speech-in-noise tasks across two sessions, approximately a week apart. They listened to sentences and word lists at varying signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) (−9, −6, −3 and 0 dB), then retaining them for roughly 3 s. We evaluated the test–retest reliability of self-reported effort ratings, theta (4–7 Hz) and alpha (8–13 Hz) oscillatory power, suggested previously as neural markers of listening effort. Additionally, we examined the reliability of correct word percentages. Both relative and absolute reliability were assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and Bland–Altman analysis. We also computed the standard error of measurement (SEM) and smallest detectable change (SDC). Our findings indicated heightened frontal midline theta power for word lists compared to sentences during the retention phase under high SNRs (0 dB, −3 dB), likely indicating a greater memory load for word lists. We observed SNR's impact on alpha power in the right central region during the listening phase and frontal theta power during the retention phase in sentences. Overall, the reliability analysis demonstrated satisfactory between-session variability for correct words and effort ratings. However, neural measures (frontal midline theta power and right central alpha power) displayed substantial variability, even though group-level outcomes appeared consistent across sessions.

中文翻译：

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听力努力的自我报告和神经测量的有效性和可靠性

听力努力可以定义为听者执行听力任务所使用的认知资源的度量。人们已经提出了各种方法来衡量这种努力，但其可靠性尚未确定，这是其应用于研究或临床环境之前的关键一步。这项研究包括 32 名参与者，他们在两次会议中执行噪声中的语音任务，时间间隔大约一周。他们以不同的信噪比 (SNR)（−9、−6、−3 和 0 dB）聆听句子和单词列表，然后将它们保留大约 3 秒。我们评估了自我报告的努力评级、θ（4-7 Hz）和阿尔法（8-13 Hz）振荡功率的重测可靠性，之前建议将其作为听力努力的神经标记。此外，我们还检查了正确单词百分比的可靠性。使用组内相关系数（ICC）和 Bland-Altman 分析评估相对和绝对可靠性。我们还计算了测量标准误差 (SEM) 和最小可检测变化 (SDC)。我们的研究结果表明，在高 SNR（0 dB，−3 dB）下的保留阶段，与句子相比，单词列表的额叶中线 theta 功率更高，这可能表明单词列表的记忆负载更大。我们观察了 SNR 对听力阶段右中心区域 alpha 功率和句子保留阶段额叶 theta 功率的影响。总体而言，可靠性分析表明正确单词和努力评级的会话间变异性令人满意。然而，神经测量（额叶中线 θ 功率和右中线 α 功率）显示出很大的变异性，尽管小组水平的结果在各个疗程中似乎是一致的。