Ingvi Örnolfsson: The impact of background noise on collaborative triadic decision making

Abstract
Current paradigms of diagnosing hearing loss rely heavily on passive listening tests, where no conversational partner is present. While such tests allow the audiologist to diagnose hearing-related issues, they do not directly inform about the capacity for successful communication, which inherently requires interaction. Communication of course relies on hearing, but not entirely, and can in fact be entirely non-verbal.
In my work, I am exploring the possibilities of developing methods for quantifying communication ability using a group decision making paradigm. I will present an exploratory study in which triads solve a collaborative general-knowledge task with and without the presence of loud background noise. I use a group decision-making model along with individual pre- and post-conversation decision responses to evaluate how group members influence each other during the conversation. The results show an interaction between background noise and metacognition, such that more confident members have a stronger impact on post-conversation decisions. There is also some indication that groups' post-conversation decisions are generally less coherent when conversing in noise.
About the speaker
Ingvi Örnolfsson, PhD student, Department of Health Technology, Danish Technical University
IMC Tuesday Seminar held March 12th, 2024.