scholarly journals The effect of compression limiting on the speech intelligibility of sensorineural hearing impaired listeners

1981 ◽  
Vol 69 (S1) ◽  
pp. S121-S121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane K. Bustamante ◽  
Steven DeGennaro ◽  
Louis D. Braida ◽  
Nathaniel I. Durlach
Keyword(s):  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Sensorineural Hearing

scholarly journals Measuring the Influence of Noise Reduction on Listening Effort in Hearing-Impaired Listeners Using Response Times to an Arithmetic Task in Noise

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 233121652110144
Author(s):  
Ilja Reinten ◽  
Inge De Ronde-Brons ◽  
Rolph Houben ◽  
Wouter Dreschler
Keyword(s):  
Noise Reduction ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Listening Effort ◽  
Arithmetic Task ◽  
Test Retest Reliability ◽  
Influence Of Noise ◽  
Measured Response

Single microphone noise reduction (NR) in hearing aids can provide a subjective benefit even when there is no objective improvement in speech intelligibility. A possible explanation lies in a reduction of listening effort. Previously, we showed that response times (a proxy for listening effort) to an auditory-only dual-task were reduced by NR in normal-hearing (NH) listeners. In this study, we investigate if the results from NH listeners extend to the hearing-impaired (HI), the target group for hearing aids. In addition, we assess the relevance of the outcome measure for studying and understanding listening effort. Twelve HI subjects were asked to sum two digits of a digit triplet in noise. We measured response times to this task, as well as subjective listening effort and speech intelligibility. Stimuli were presented at three signal-to-noise ratios (SNR; –5, 0, +5 dB) and in quiet. Stimuli were processed with ideal or nonideal NR, or unprocessed. The effect of NR on response times in HI listeners was significant only in conditions where speech intelligibility was also affected (–5 dB SNR). This is in contrast to the previous results with NH listeners. There was a significant effect of SNR on response times for HI listeners. The response time measure was reasonably correlated ( R142 = 0.54) to subjective listening effort and showed a sufficient test–retest reliability. This study thus presents an objective, valid, and reliable measure for evaluating an aspect of listening effort of HI listeners.

scholarly journals Mechanisms of Spectrotemporal Modulation Detection for Normal- and Hearing-Impaired Listeners

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 233121652097802
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Ponsot ◽  
Léo Varnet ◽  
Nicolas Wallaert ◽  
Elza Daoud ◽  
Shihab A. Shamma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Temporal Modulation ◽  
Computational Tools ◽  
Cochlear Tuning ◽  
Cochlear Hearing Loss ◽  
Nonlinear Processing ◽  
Linear Band ◽  
Band Pass ◽  
Modulation Filter

Spectrotemporal modulations (STM) are essential features of speech signals that make them intelligible. While their encoding has been widely investigated in neurophysiology, we still lack a full understanding of how STMs are processed at the behavioral level and how cochlear hearing loss impacts this processing. Here, we introduce a novel methodological framework based on psychophysical reverse correlation deployed in the modulation space to characterize the mechanisms underlying STM detection in noise. We derive perceptual filters for young normal-hearing and older hearing-impaired individuals performing a detection task of an elementary target STM (a given product of temporal and spectral modulations) embedded in other masking STMs. Analyzed with computational tools, our data show that both groups rely on a comparable linear (band-pass)–nonlinear processing cascade, which can be well accounted for by a temporal modulation filter bank model combined with cross-correlation against the target representation. Our results also suggest that the modulation mistuning observed for the hearing-impaired group results primarily from broader cochlear filters. Yet, we find idiosyncratic behaviors that cannot be captured by cochlear tuning alone, highlighting the need to consider variability originating from additional mechanisms. Overall, this integrated experimental-computational approach offers a principled way to assess suprathreshold processing distortions in each individual and could thus be used to further investigate interindividual differences in speech intelligibility.

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.

Vowel Confusions of Hearing-Impaired Listeners under Reverberant and Nonreverberant Conditions

1985 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 126-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna K. Nabelek ◽  
Tomasz R. Letowski
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Sensorineural Hearing ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Error Patterns ◽  
Formant Frequencies ◽  
Test Conditions ◽  
English Vowels

The effects of reverberation on the perception of vowels and diphthongs were evaluated using 10 subjects with moderate sensorineural hearing losses. Stimuli were 15 English vowels and diphthongs, spoken between/b/and/t/and recorded in a carrier sentence. The test was recorded without and with reverberation (T = 1.2 s). Although vowel confusions occurred in both test conditions, the number of vowels and diphthongs affected and the total number of errors made were significantly greater under the reverberant condition. The results indicated that the perception of vowels by hearing-impaired listeners can be influenced substantially by reverberation. Errors for vowels in reverberation seemed to be related to the overestimation of vowel duration and to a tendency to perceive the pitch of the formant frequencies as being higher than in vowels without reverberation. Error patterns were somewhat individualized among subjects.

Speech intelligibility in patients of different ages with chronic sensorineural hearing loss

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 8-14
Author(s):  
M. Yu. Boboshko ◽  
◽  
E. V. Zhilinskaya ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Sensorineural Hearing Loss ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Comprehensive Evaluation ◽  
Young Patients ◽  
Sensorineural Hearing ◽  
Speech Audiometry ◽  
Similar Degree ◽  
Different Ages ◽  
Monosyllabic Words

Deterioration in speech intelligibility, the most common complaint of people with hearing loss, leads to social isolation and dramatically reduces the quality of life. The correction of peripheral hearing loss by hearing aid fitting does not always solve this problem in patients with chronic sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). That is why in the process of audiological examination of patients with complaints of hearing loss, it is necessary to include methods of speech audiometry, which make it possible to comprehensively assess the functioning of the auditory system. The aim of the study: assessment of speech intelligibility in patients of different ages with SNHL. 94 people from 20 to 74 years of age were examined: 54 patients with SNHL (14 young and 40 elderly) and 40 people with normal hearing thresholds (20 young and 20 elderly). Besides the standard audiological examination, speech audiometry testing was conducted: evaluation of monosyllabic words intelligibility in quiet, binaural rapidly alternating speech test, dichotic digits test, Russian matrix sentence test (RuMatrix). Results: Speech intelligibility in elderly patients with SNHL was shown to be significantly worse than in young patients with a similar degree of hearing loss. The RuMatrix test in noise was proved to be the most sensitive test for comprehensive evaluation of the hearing system functioning.

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