In June and July 2018, each of the six ESRs were recruited and started their training and research activities. The scientific work performed in this period focused on the development of study protocols, data collection and analysis of the groundwork performed by each of the 6 ESRs. Furthermore, this period covers the transition from that groundwork to collaborative work in the combination studies with the exchange of knowledge, techniques, and procedures (WP4). Each of the ESRs have received training covering academic research skills, transferrable skills, and innovation and entrepreneurship training. Besides the individual training, the ESRs all attended the two network-wide HEARTRAIN events organized respectively by the coordinator VUmc in Amsterdam, The Netherlands (August 2018) and by the private partner Oticon A/S in Snekkersten, Denmark (September 2019). The main results include the evaluation of new analysis techniques for pupillometry measures of listening effort, the novel application of cardiovascular measures in speech perception research, combined with new methods to induce social effects in speech perception research. Furthermore, the results include new ways to induce and assess motivation and fatigue-related effects on listening effort and performance during speech perception. Also, EEG data (a third physiological measure of listening effort) suggest that it is sensitive to reward (motivation) in a sentence perception task. Finally, ways to adapt the acoustic specifications of the listening tests, stimuli, and environments in order to increase the ecological validity of the stimuli were investigated.
