Abstract
Chronic stress can contribute to an increase in disease frequency which can\r debilitate the body. Increasingly prevalent in young adults, hearing loss remains endemic\r to an aged population. Though effortful listening has been shown to decrease memory\r performance, presently it is unclear if the cognitive demand implicit in effortful listening\r takes a physiological toll on the body. To understand if and how effortful listening affects\r relevant physiological functions, we tracked changes in cardiovascular and endocrine\r stress systems. Participants were 12 young adults with normal hearing and 18 older adults\r with a range of hearing acuity. Stimuli consisted of recorded six-word lists for free recall\r presented in either a silent background or in an effortful condition in which the words\r were partially masked by 20-Talker babble. All participants were exposed to both\r conditions in randomized order. Heart rate variability and salivary alpha amylase were\r monitored. A decrease in high frequency spectrum power during effortful listening as\r compared to silent listening was found in young adults, reflecting decreased vagal\r activation (p<.01). Higher alpha amylase secretion relative to baseline was found during\r effortful listening in both young and older adults, evidencing greater sympathetic nervous\r system (SNS) activation (p<.05). Also, a significant interaction between age group and\r listening difficulty was found (p<.05). In older adults, poor hearing was associated with\r higher alpha amylase levels during difficult listening (p<.05). While decreasing memory\r performance, this study shows that effortful listening causes an activation of stress\r systems. As auditory difficulties remain common in an aging population, attendant\r physiological stress presents negative health outcomes.