Speech intelligibility in military noise for normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners using level-dependent tactical hearing protectors

2012 ◽  
Vol 131 (4) ◽  
pp. 3310-3310
Author(s):  
Christian Giguère ◽  
Chantal Laroche ◽  
Véronique Vaillancourt
Keyword(s):  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Hearing Protectors

Second Formant Transitions of Selected Consonant-Vowel Combinations in the Speech of Deaf and Normal-Hearing Children

1976 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randall B. Monsen
Keyword(s):  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Normal Subjects ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Target Frequency ◽  
Second Formant ◽  
Hearing Children

Although it is well known that the speech produced by the deaf is generally of low intelligibility, the sources of this low speech intelligibility have generally been ascribed either to aberrant articulation of phonemes or inappropriate prosody. This study was designed to determine to what extent a nonsegmental aspect of speech, formant transitions, may differ in the speech of the deaf and of the normal hearing. The initial second formant transitions of the vowels /i/ and /u/ after labial and alveolar consonants (/b, d, f/) were compared in the speech of six normal-hearing and six hearing-impaired adolescents. In the speech of the hearing-impaired subjects, the second formant transitions may be reduced both in time and in frequency. At its onset, the second formant may be nearer to its eventual target frequency than in the speech of the normal subjects. Since formant transitions are important acoustic cues for the adjacent consonants, reduced F 2 transitions may be an important factor in the low intelligibility of the speech of the deaf.

scholarly journals Duration measurement of vocants in infants with Cochlear Implants

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paris Binos
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Prosodic Feature ◽  
Verbal Skills ◽  
Young Infants

Vocants are precursors to speech and are facially neutral. The presence of these speechlike vocalizations was evident during the precursors to mature phonology called “protophones”. The prosodic feature of duration of the nuclei plays a crucial role in the shift of prelexical to mature speech, since speech intelligibility is closely related to the control of duration. The aim of this work is to determine whether cochlear implants (CIs) positively trigger language acquisition and the development of verbal skills. Recent literature findings are compared and discussed with the performance of two Greek congenitally hearing-impaired infants who were matched with three normal-hearing (NH) infants. This work highlighted an important weakness of the prosodic abilities of young infants with CIs.

The Effects of Different Frequency Responses on Sound Quality Judgments and Speech Intelligibility

1988 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 166-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alf Gabrielsson ◽  
Bo N. Schenkman ◽  
Björn Hagerman
Keyword(s):  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Quality Measures ◽  
Sound Quality ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Music Programs ◽  
The Other ◽  
Frequency Responses ◽  
Word Lists ◽  
Lower Frequencies

Four speech programs and two music programs were reproduced using five different frequency responses: one flat and the others combinations of reductions at lower frequencies and/or increases at higher frequencies. Twelve hearing impaired (HI) and 8 normal hearing (NH) subjects listened monaurally to the reproductions at comfortable listening level and judged the sound quality on seven perceptual scales and a scale for total impression. Speech intelligibility was measured for phonetically balanced (PB) word lists and for sentences in noise. Significant differences among the reproductions appeared in practically all scales. The most preferred system was characterized by a fiat response at lower frequencies and a 6 dB/octave increase thereafter. There were certain differences between the NH and HI listeners in the judgments of the other systems. The intelligibility of PB word lists did not differ among the systems, and the S/N threshold for the sentences in noise only distinguished the flat response as worse than all others for the HI listeners. There was little correspondence between intelligibility measures and sound quality measures. The latter provided more information and distinctions among systems.

Optimum Reverberation for Speech Intelligibility for Normal and Hearing-Impaired Listeners in Realistic Classrooms Using Auralization

2007 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 163-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wonyoung Yang ◽  
Murray Hodgson
Keyword(s):  
Noise Level ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Noise Source ◽  
Virtual Classroom ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Reverberation Time ◽  
Noise Sources ◽  
Virtual Classrooms ◽  
Sound Fields

The objective of this study was to use auralization techniques to investigate the optimal reverberation for speech intelligibility for normal-hearing and hearing-impaired adult listeners in classrooms with non-diffuse sound fields. This extended a previous study involving rooms with diffuse sound fields to more realistic rooms. Modified Rhyme Test (MRT) signals were auralized in six virtual classroom configurations with different reverberation times. Each classroom contained a speech source, a listener at a receiver position, and a noise source located between the talker and the listener. Two speech- and noise-source output-level differences (0 and +4 dB) were tested. Subjects performed speech-intelligibility tests in the virtual classrooms to identify the reverberation time that gave the best results in each case. For both normal and hearing-impaired listeners, the optimal reverberation time was generally non-zero, and increased with decreased speech-to-noise level difference. Hearing-impaired subjects apparently required more early energy than normal-hearing subjects. The optimal reverberation time for speech intelligibility in classrooms is not necessarily zero, as is commonly believed. The optimal value is generally non-zero, and varies with the room, the locations of the speech and noise sources and the listener, and the noise level.

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