Listening to the Mind: Earable Acoustic Sensing of Cognitive Load

Abstract

Earable acoustic sensing offers a powerful and non-invasive modality for capturing fine-grained auditory and physiological signals directly from the ear canal, enabling continuous and context-aware monitoring of cognitive states. As earable devices become increasingly embedded in daily life, they provide a unique opportunity to sense mental effort and perceptual load in real time through auditory interactions. In this study, we present the first investigation of cognitive load inference through auditory perception using acoustic signals captured by off-the-shelf in-ear devices. We designed speech-based listening tasks to induce varying levels of cognitive load, while concurrently embedding a..