Neural indices of listening effort in noisy environments

Listening in a noisy environment is challenging for individuals with normal hearing and can be a significant burden for those with hearing impairment. The extent to which this burden is alleviated by a hearing device is a major, unresolved issue for rehabilitation. Here, we found adult users of cochlear implants (CIs) self-reported listening effort during a speech-in-noise task that was positively related to alpha oscillatory activity in the left inferior frontal cortex, canonical Broca’s area, and inversely related to speech envelope coherence in the 2–5 Hz range originating in the superior-temporal plane encompassing auditory cortex. Left frontal cortex coherence in the 2–5 Hz range also predicted speech-in-noise identification. These data demonstrate that neural oscillations predict both speech perception ability in noise and listening effort.