A Moderated Mediation Model Linking Speech-in-Noise Exposure, Speech Perception in Noise Ability, Loneliness, and Depression.

Overview

1. Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin–Madison
2. Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Abstract

Purpose: Hearing loss is associated with elevated levels of loneliness and depression, but the factors accounting for these associations remain unclear. This study examined whether real-world hearing behaviors—time spent in speech-in-noise (SiN) environments and speech perception in noise (SPIN) ability—are associated with loneliness and depression in young adults with normal hearing, using a moderated mediation model.

Method: Fifty-four participants with audiometrically normal hearing completed standardized assessments of SPIN ability (Quick Speech-in-Noise test), loneliness (UCLA Loneliness Scale), and depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9). Participants wore audio recorders for 1 week, and an open-source deep neural network (Yet Another Mobile Network) classified recordings to estimate SiN exposure time. Regression-based moderated mediation analyses tested whether the association between SiN exposure and depression was mediated by loneliness and moderated by SPIN ability.

Results: Greater time in SiN was associated with lower loneliness, particularly among individuals with average or better SPIN ability. In contrast, participants with poorer SPIN ability showed weaker associations, with high exposures sometimes associated with greater loneliness. Loneliness was positively associated with depression scores. A significant moderated mediation association emerged: The indirect association between SiN exposure and depression via loneliness was statistically significant only for individuals with approximately average or better SPIN ability.

Conclusions: These findings are consistent with a person–environment fit perspective: Individuals whose hearing abilities align well with the demands of their environments tend to show better social–emotional health outcomes, whereas those with a mismatch between SPIN ability and SiN exposure show weaker or even reversed associations. This study illustrates how hearing-related behaviors and hearing abilities may be associated with social–emotional well-being and underscores the importance of considering both individual ability and everyday listening environments when designing and evaluating hearing health interventions.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

The paper links to its data, not to its authors' code: see the Data section.

Tracing map

A tracing map links a paper to the code its authors published: this paper has none, so it has no map.

Data

Datasets cited

• osf:xwajd, at OSF; found in “Data Availability Statement”

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/xwajd/.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 4 authors, 10 MeSH terms, 1 funder, 102 references.

Cite

This paper

Jorgensen, E., Werner, M., Modahl, L., & Misurelli, S. (2026). A Moderated Mediation Model Linking Speech-in-Noise Exposure, Speech Perception in Noise Ability, Loneliness, and Depression. Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR, 69(7), 3483-3500. https://doi.org/10.1044/2026_jslhr-25-00615

Similar papers

The papers with a page that share the most with this one: the tools found in their code, their categories, datasets, cited references and authors, the rarest counting most.

[1] doi:10.1038/s41467-026-72529-y [code]

Associations of social isolation and loneliness with neurological disorders, psychiatric disorders, brain structures and behavioural phenotypes among UK Biobank participants.

Journal: Nature communications

In common: depression, cognitive, 4 references

[2] doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1696515 [code]

Loneliness in adolescents and youth with bipolar disorder: a scoping review.

Journal: Frontiers in psychiatry

In common: 4 references

[3] doi:10.1038/s42003-026-10108-z [code]

Time-resolved EEG decoding reveals altered neural dynamics of affective semantic evaluation in depression and suicidality.

Journal: Communications biology

In common: depression, cognitive, 1 reference

[4] doi:10.1093/braincomms/fcag116 [code]

Multi-level language deficits in behavioural frontotemporal degeneration and related disorders.

Journal: Brain communications

In common: depression, 1 reference

[5] doi:10.1002/npr2.70125

Glutathione-Related Metabolite Levels and Enzyme Activities in Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Journal: Neuropsychopharmacology reports

In common: depression, 1 reference

[6] doi:10.1038/s41598-026-54509-w

Identification and validation of palmitoylation-associated biomarkers in major depressive disorder.

Journal: Scientific reports

In common: depression, 1 reference

[7] doi:10.1093/psyrad/kkag015 [code]

Neurocomputational mechanisms of reward-based online mood regulation in adolescents with bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder.

Journal: Psychoradiology

In common: depression, 1 reference

[8] doi:10.1038/s41467-026-71542-5 [code]

Astrocyte fatty acid metabolism as a driver of risk for major depressive disorder.

Journal: Nature communications

In common: depression, 1 reference

[9] doi:10.1038/s41380-026-03560-0

Optimized multichannel 4 mA vs conventional transcranial direct current stimulation for major depressive disorder: A randomized sham-controlled trial.

Journal: Molecular psychiatry

In common: depression, 1 reference

[10] doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3003935 [code]

Lateralised neural mechanisms facilitate auditory self-other distinction and coordination in human dyads.

Journal: PLoS biology

In common: cognitive, 1 reference

Contribute

The authors of this paper can claim it, correct its record and validate its tracing map, and the maintainers of its code (its owner, or a public member of its organization) correct what it says of their repository; anyone signed in can ask for its removal. Every request goes to OSCR's own machine, which answers it; your account page follows them.

Request its removal

To ask OSCR to remove this record, the copies of its authors' scripts or its tracing map, use the removal request page: signed in, you say who you are, what to remove and why, then review and confirm the request. Published rules decide every request (how).

Discussion: questions and error reports about this paper and its code, from signed-in readers and its authors. It opens with sign-in.

Reproductions: reports from readers who ran the authors' code: what they reproduced, with which environment, commit and data. It opens with sign-in.

Activity: what happens around this paper: new versions of its record, its map's validation, discussions and reproductions. It opens with sign-in.