Navigating while listening

Study Description

It can often be challenging to perform multiple tasks at once, such as conversing with someone while walking in your neighbourhood. This is because tasks of listening and navigating compete for mental resources. It has been suggested that many individuals who later develop clinically relevant cognitive impairments (e.g., dementia), subjectively perceive problems with their memory, thinking, and reasoning, even before impairments can be objectively measured. Older adults with hearing loss and/or cognitive decline may find a task of listening while navigating particularly challenging due to increased listening effort which results in increased mental load.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether older adults, with and without hearing loss and subjective cognitive decline, differ in terms of navigation performance under controlled and safe testing conditions. Wearing a virtual reality headset, eligible participants will be asked to walk within a virtual environment while completing a listening task.

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Eligibility Criteria

1. Healthy adults aged 65+ with or without hearing loss (who have never worn hearing aids)
2. Healthy adults aged 65+ with or without memory concerns

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Duration and Compensation

The study will consist of up to two sessions, each lasting between 1.5 and 2 hours. In the first session, participants will be asked to complete a series of questionnaires on their health history and some basic measures of sensory and cognitive abilities. The second session will include the actual experimental task using virtual reality. Participants will be compensated $20/hour.

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Principal Investigator

This study is conducted by Dr. Jennifer Campos and graduate student, Lianna Montanari. If you have questions about the study, please contact Lianna Montanari at: Lianna.Montanari@uhn.ca or 416-597-3422 x3064.

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Ethics approval

This study has been approved by the Research Ethics Board of the University Health Network (REB# 24-5499).

 

Start Date

Recruitment ongoing

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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.