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.

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.

Peaks in the Frequency Response of Hearing Aids: Evaluation of the Effects on Speech Intelligibility and Sound Quality

1996 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald A. van Buuren ◽  
Joost M. Festen ◽  
Tammo Houtgast
Keyword(s):  
Frequency Response ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Sound Quality ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Reference Frequency ◽  
Impaired Hearing ◽  
Speech Spectrum ◽  
Series Of Experiments

In a series of experiments, we introduced peaks of 10, 20, and 30 dB, in various combinations, onto a smooth reference frequency response. For each of the conditions, we evaluated speech intelligibility in noise, using a test as developed by Plomp and Mimpen (1979), and sound quality (for both speech and music), using a rating-scale procedure. We performed the experiments with 26 listeners with sensorineurally impaired hearing and 10 listeners with normal hearing. Signal processing was accomplished digitally; for each listener, the stimuli were filtered and subsequently amplified so that the average speech spectrum was well above the threshold of hearing at all frequencies. The results show that, as a result of the introduction of peaks onto the frequency response, speech intelligibility is affected more for the listeners with impaired hearing than for those with normal hearing. Sound-quality judgments tend to be less different between the listener groups. Conditions with 30-dB peaks especially show serious effects on both speech intelligibility and sound quality.

Temporal Resolution in Normal-Hearing and Hearing-Impaired Listeners Using Frequency-Modulated Stimuli

1992 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 436-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
John P. Madden ◽  
Lawrence L. Feth
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Resolution ◽  
Sound Pressure ◽  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Frequency Discrimination ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Pressure Level ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Individual

This study compares the temporal resolution of frequency-modulated sinusoids by normal-hearing and hearing-impaired subjects in a discrimination task. One signal increased linearly by 200 Hz in 50 msec. The other was identical except that its trajectory followed a series of discrete steps. Center frequencies were 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz. As the number of steps was increased, the duration of the individual steps decreased, and the subjects’ discrimination performance monotonically decreased to chance. It was hypothesized that the listeners could not temporally resolve the trajectory of the step signals at short step durations. At equal sensation levels, and at equal sound pressure levels, temporal resolution was significantly reduced for the impaired subjects. The difference between groups was smaller in the equal sound pressure level condition. Performance was much poorer at 4000 Hz than at the other test frequencies in all conditions because of poorer frequency discrimination at that frequency.

Visemes Observed by Hearing-Impaired and Normal-Hearing Adult Viewers

1985 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 381-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elmer Owens ◽  
Barbara Blazek
Keyword(s):  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
The Other ◽  
Vowel Context ◽  
Statistical Criteria ◽  
Nonsense Syllables

A series of VCV nonsense syllables formed with 23 consonants and the vowels //, /i/, /u/, and // was presented on videotape without sound to 5 hearing-impaired adults and 5 adults with normal hearing. The two-fold purpose was (a) to determine whether the two groups would perform the same in their identification of visemes and (b) to observe whether the identification of visemes is influenced by vowel context. There were no differences between the two groups either with respect to the overall percentage of items correct or to the visemes identified. Noticeable differences occurred in viseme identification between the /u/ context and the other 3 vowel contexts; visemes with // differed slightly from those with // and /i/; and there were no differences in viseme identification for // and /i/ contexts. Findings were in general agreement with other studies with respect to the visemes identified, provided it is acknowledged that changes can occur depending on variables such as talkers, stimuli, recording and viewing conditions, training procedures, and statistical criteria. A composite grouping consists of /p,b,m/; /f,v/; /θ,ð/; /w,r/; /t∫,d,∫,/; and /t,d,s,k,n,g,l/.

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