Effects of Hearing on Driving Safety

Study Description

It can often be challenging to perform multiple tasks at once, such as conversing with a passenger while driving safely. This is because tasks of listening and driving often compete for similar mental resources. Older adults with hearing loss may find this task of listening while driving particularly challenging due to increased listening effort. This may result in increased mental load and leaves less resources available to support other behaviours. The present study will therefore examine whether those with and without hearing loss differ in terms of listening effort used during performance of a listening task while driving under controlled and safe testing conditions. Driving promotes enhanced mobility, independence, and dignity with older age; therefore, it is important to understand how different hearing abilities may affect driving safety to ensure that older adults can maintain safe driving for as long as possible.

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Eligibility Criteria

1. Healthy adults aged 21-35 or 65+
2. Those with a valid driver's license and at least 2 years of recent driving experience 
3. English monolingual or started learning English before the age of 5

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Duration and Compensation

The study includes a brief phone interview to determine eligibility and two visits to Toronto
Rehabilitation Institute which will involve driving in our state-of-the-art driving simulator. Each visit takes about 1.5 to 2 hours. Participants will receive compensation for their time in the amount of $20/hour.

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Principal Investigator

This study is conducted by Dr. Jennifer Campos and PhD student, Katherine Bak. 
If you have questions about the study, please contact Katherine Bak at: Katherine.Bak@uhn.ca or 416-597-3422 x7803.

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Ethics approval

This study has been approved by the Research Ethics Board of the University Health Network (REB# 19-5957)

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Participate

If you want to participate in this study, you can sign up below. By signing up you agree to be contacted by a research member of our team, but you do not commit to participate in the study. You can decline your participation at any time.