A Quantitative Model of Listening Related Fatigue

Listening related fatigue is a common difficulty, especially for people with hearing loss. To reduce this negative impacts on their daily life, we have to understand the origins and the development of this fatigue. For this reason we developed a quantitative model of cognitive fatigue. We consider the development and course of fatigue, using a Simulink model including factors like internal and external demand, the discrepancy between expected and actual performance and the relation to reward. Besides, control and base motivation act as influencing factors on actual motivation. The functions changing according to the design of the fixed parameters are demanded effort, exerted effort, distress and fatigue. Fatigue acts as an additional input on motivation. Our focus lies mostly on listening-related fatigue. This type of fatigue occurs in difficult listening situations, especially in individuals with hearing loss. This model can be applied of a wide range of listening situations and provides a good basis for further research in this field.