scholarly journals The role of interaural differences on speech intelligibility in complex multi-talker environmentsa)

2017 ◽  
Vol 141 (2) ◽  
pp. EL170-EL176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel L. Ellinger ◽  
Kasey M. Jakien ◽  
Frederick J. Gallun
Keyword(s):  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Interaural Differences

scholarly journals Temporal fine structure influences voicing confusions for consonant identification in multi-talker babble

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vibha Viswanathan ◽  
Barbara G. Shinn-Cunningham ◽  
Michael G. Heinz
Keyword(s):  
Fine Structure ◽  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Temporal Fine Structure ◽  
Vast Literature ◽  
Listening Environments ◽  
Intact Condition ◽  
Speech Content

To understand the mechanisms of speech perception in everyday listening environments, it is important to elucidate the relative contributions of different acoustics cues in transmitting phonetic content. Previous studies suggest that the energy envelopes of speech convey most speech content, while the temporal fine structure (TFS) can aid in segregating target speech from background noise. Despite the vast literature on TFS and speech intelligibility, the role of TFS in conveying additional speech content over what envelopes convey in complex acoustic scenes is poorly understood. The present study addresses this question using online psychophysical experiments to measure consonant identification in multi-talker babble for intelligibility-matched intact and 64-channel envelope-vocoded stimuli. Consonant confusion patterns revealed that listeners had a greater tendency in the vocoded (versus intact) condition to be biased towards reporting that they heard an unvoiced consonant, despite envelope and place cues being largely preserved. This result was replicated when babble instances were varied across independent experiments, suggesting that TFS conveys important voicing cues over what envelopes convey in multi-talker babble, a masker that is ubiquitous in everyday environments. This finding has implications for assistive listening devices that do not currently provide TFS cues, such as cochlear implants.

scholarly journals Energetic and Informational Components of Speech-on-Speech Masking in Binaural Speech Intelligibility and Perceived Listening Effort

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 233121651985459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Rennies ◽  
Virginia Best ◽  
Elin Roverud ◽  
Gerald Kidd
Keyword(s):  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Spatial Separation ◽  
Signal To Noise ◽  
Listening Effort ◽  
Complex Sound ◽  
Time Frequency ◽  
Sound Fields ◽  
Energetic Masking

Speech perception in complex sound fields can greatly benefit from different unmasking cues to segregate the target from interfering voices. This study investigated the role of three unmasking cues (spatial separation, gender differences, and masker time reversal) on speech intelligibility and perceived listening effort in normal-hearing listeners. Speech intelligibility and categorically scaled listening effort were measured for a female target talker masked by two competing talkers with no unmasking cues or one to three unmasking cues. In addition to natural stimuli, all measurements were also conducted with glimpsed speech—which was created by removing the time–frequency tiles of the speech mixture in which the maskers dominated the mixture—to estimate the relative amounts of informational and energetic masking as well as the effort associated with source segregation. The results showed that all unmasking cues as well as glimpsing improved intelligibility and reduced listening effort and that providing more than one cue was beneficial in overcoming informational masking. The reduction in listening effort due to glimpsing corresponded to increases in signal-to-noise ratio of 8 to 18 dB, indicating that a significant amount of listening effort was devoted to segregating the target from the maskers. Furthermore, the benefit in listening effort for all unmasking cues extended well into the range of positive signal-to-noise ratios at which speech intelligibility was at ceiling, suggesting that listening effort is a useful tool for evaluating speech-on-speech masking conditions at typical conversational levels.

Role of modulation magnitude and phase spectrum towards speech intelligibility

2011 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuldip Paliwal ◽  
Belinda Schwerin ◽  
Kamil Wójcicki
Keyword(s):  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Phase Spectrum
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