{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,23]],"date-time":"2026-08-23T14:26:19Z","timestamp":1787495179270,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,6]],"date-time":"2025-02-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1738800000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001659","name":"Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["444724862"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["444724862"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001659","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100015717","name":"HEAD-Genuit-Stiftung","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["P-16\/10-W"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["P-16\/10-W"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100015717","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Listening to conversations and remembering their content is a highly demanding task, especially in noisy environments. Previous research has mainly focused on short-term memory using simple cognitive tasks with unrelated words or digits. The present study investigates the listeners\u2019 short-term memory and listening effort in conversations under different listening conditions, with and without soft or moderate noise. To this end, participants were administered a dual-task paradigm, including a primary listening task, in which conversations between two talkers were presented, and an unrelated secondary task. In Experiment 1, this secondary task was a visual number-judgment task, whereas in Experiments 2 and 3, it was a vibrotactile pattern recognition task. All experiments were conducted in a quiet environment or under continuous broadband noise. For the latter, the signal-to-noise ratio in Experiments 1 and 2 was +10 dB (soft-noise condition), while in Experiment 3 it was -3 dB (moderate-noise condition). In Experiments 1 and 2, short-term memory of running speech and listening effort were unaffected by soft-noise listening conditions. In Experiment 3, however, the moderate-noise listening condition impaired performance in the primary listening task, while performance in the vibrotactile secondary task was unaffected. This pattern of results could suggest that the moderate-noise listening condition, with a signal-to-noise ratio of -3 dB, required increased listening effort compared to the soft-noise and quiet listening conditions. These findings indicate that listening situations with moderate noise can reduce short-term memory of heard conversational content and increase listening effort, even when the speech signals remain highly intelligible.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0318821","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,6]],"date-time":"2025-02-06T13:47:37Z","timestamp":1738849657000},"page":"e0318821","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Exploring short-term memory and listening effort in two-talker conversations: The influence of soft and moderate background noise"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6916-1425","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Chinthusa","family":"Mohanathasan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cosima A.","family":"Ermert","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8694-7750","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Janina","family":"Fels","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Torsten W.","family":"Kuhlen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9051-4547","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Sabine J.","family":"Schlittmeier","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0318821.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"328","DOI":"10.1080\/002075999399648","article-title":"The effect of noise on memory for spoken syllables","volume":"34","author":"AM Surprenant","year":"1999","journal-title":"International Journal of Psychology"},{"key":"pone.0318821.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"523","DOI":"10.1097\/AUD.0b013e31828003d8","article-title":"The effects of hearing aid use on listening effort and mental fatigue associated with sustained speech processing demands","volume":"34","author":"BWY Hornsby","year":"2013","journal-title":"Ear Hear"},{"key":"pone.0318821.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"261","DOI":"10.1097\/AUD.0b013e31826d0ba4","article-title":"Age-Related Changes in Listening Effort for Various Types of Masker Noises","volume":"34","author":"JL Desjardins","year":"2013","journal-title":"Ear & Hearing"},{"key":"pone.0318821.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"611","DOI":"10.1097\/AUD.0000000000000055","article-title":"The effect of changing the secondary task in dual-task paradigms for measuring listening effort.","volume":"35","author":"EM Picou","year":"2014","journal-title":"Ear Hear"},{"key":"pone.0318821.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"62S","DOI":"10.1097\/AUD.0000000000000322","article-title":"Listening Effort in Younger and Older Adults: A Comparison of Auditory-Only and Auditory-Visual Presentations","volume":"37","author":"MS Sommers","year":"2016","journal-title":"Ear & Hearing"},{"key":"pone.0318821.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"252","DOI":"10.1080\/09541440701427838","article-title":"Does irrelevant music cause an irrelevant sound effect for auditory items","volume":"20","author":"SJ Schlittmeier","year":"2008","journal-title":"European Journal of Cognitive Psychology"},{"key":"pone.0318821.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1230","DOI":"10.1044\/1092-4388(2009\/08-0111)","article-title":"Objective measures of listening effort: effects of background noise and noise reduction","volume":"52","author":"A Sarampalis","year":"2009","journal-title":"J Speech Lang Hear Res"},{"key":"pone.0318821.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e0233251","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0233251","article-title":"Disentangling listening effort and memory load beyond behavioural evidence: Pupillary response to listening effort during a concurrent memory task.","volume":"16","author":"Y Zhang","year":"2021","journal-title":"PLOS ONE"},{"issue":"Suppl 1","key":"pone.0318821.ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"85S","DOI":"10.1097\/AUD.0000000000000308","article-title":"A Model of Auditory-Cognitive Processing and Relevance to Clinical Applicability","volume":"37","author":"B. 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