The use of ecological momentary assessment in hearing research and future clinical applications

To obtain real-world insights into the hearing difficulties of individuals, the field of hearing research has
recently started to adopt ecological momentary assessment. Using this approach, study participants
describe their experiences in real time, in their own natural environment.
This paper describes the use of ecological momentary assessment in hearing research to date. Several
studies have shown the approach is feasible and has good construct validity for use with adults with
hearing impairment and/or tinnitus.
Two recent studies conducted by the authors are described. The first study investigated the listening
experiences of older adults with mild hearing impairment and concluded that ecological momentary
assessment provided group and individual data which highlighted the between-subject variability in this
clinical population. The second study investigated the difference that the provision of hearing aids could
make for older adults with mild hearing impairment. The pilot study indicated that ecological
momentary assessment could be successfully used in intervention studies to measure, for example, individual
hearing aid benefit, which may extend beyond improved speech understanding. The study also
revealed the potential for ecological momentary assessment as a tool for clinical practice and decisionmaking.