Speech intelligibility in complex acoustic environments in young children

2003 ◽  
Vol 113 (4) ◽  
pp. 2207-2207
Author(s):  
Ruth Litovsky
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Acoustic Environments

scholarly journals Electroacoustic assessment of wireless remote microphone systems

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haniyeh Salehi ◽  
Vijay Parsa ◽  
Paula Folkeard
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Signal ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
The Other ◽  
Clinical Implications ◽  
Significant Interest ◽  
Acoustic Environments ◽  
Acoustic Conditions

Wireless remote microphones (RMs) transmit the desired acoustic signal to the hearing aid (HA) and facilitate enhanced listening in challenging environments. Fitting and verification of RMs, and benchmarking the relative performance of different RM devices in varied acoustic environments are of significant interest to Audiologists and RM developers. This paper investigates the application of instrumental speech intelligibility and quality metrics for characterizing the RM performance in two acoustic environments with varying amounts of background noise and reverberation. In both environments, two head and torso simulators (HATS) were placed 2 m apart, where one HATS served as the talker and the other served as the listener. Four RM systems were interfaced separately with a HA programmed to match the prescriptive targets for the N4 standard audiogram and placed on the listener HATS. The HA output in varied acoustic conditions was recorded and analyzed offline through computational models predicting speech intelligibility and quality. Results showed performance differences among the four RMs in the presence of noise and/or reverberation, with one RM exhibiting significantly better performance. Clinical implications and applications of these results are discussed.

scholarly journals Acoustic Sensing Analytics Applied to Speech in Reverberation Conditions

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (18) ◽  
pp. 6320
Author(s):  
Piotr Odya ◽  
Jozef Kotus ◽  
Adam Kurowski ◽  
Bozena Kostek
Keyword(s):  
Speech Processing ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Acoustic Sensing ◽  
Transmission Index ◽  
Speech Transmission ◽  
Natural Remedies ◽  
Polish Language ◽  
Processing Control ◽  
Acoustic Environments ◽  
Acoustic Conditions

The paper aims to discuss a case study of sensing analytics and technology in acoustics when applied to reverberation conditions. Reverberation is one of the issues that makes speech in indoor spaces challenging to understand. This problem is particularly critical in large spaces with few absorbing or diffusing surfaces. One of the natural remedies to improve speech intelligibility in such conditions may be achieved through speaking slowly. It is possible to use algorithms that reduce the rate of speech (RoS) in real time. Therefore, the study aims to find recommended values of RoS in the context of STI (speech transmission index) in different acoustic environments. In the experiments, speech intelligibility for six impulse responses recorded in spaces with different STIs is investigated using a sentence test (for the Polish language). Fifteen subjects with normal hearing participated in these tests. The results of the analytical analysis enabled us to propose a curve specifying the maximum RoS values translating into understandable speech under given acoustic conditions. This curve can be used in speech processing control technology as well as compressive reverse acoustic sensing.

scholarly journals Effect of competitive acoustic environments on speech intelligibility

2021 ◽  
Vol 2069 (1) ◽  
pp. 012162
Author(s):  
G E Puglisi ◽  
A Warzybok ◽  
A Astolfi ◽  
B Kollmeier
Keyword(s):  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Informational Content ◽  
Noise Sources ◽  
School Settings ◽  
Listening Tests ◽  
Noise Type ◽  
Spatial Release ◽  
Release From Masking ◽  
Acoustic Environments ◽  
Design Of Learning Environments

Abstract Excessive noise and reverberation times degrade listening abilities in everyday life environments. This is particularly true for school settings. Most classrooms in Italy are settled in historical buildings that generate competitive acoustic environments. So far, few studies investigated the effect of real acoustics on speech intelligibility and on the spatial release from masking, focusing more on laboratory conditions. Also, the effect of noise on speech intelligibility was widely investigated considering its energetic rather than its informational content. Therefore, a study involving normal hearing adults was performed presenting listening tests via headphone and considering the competitive real acoustics of two primary-school classrooms with reverberation time of 0.4 s and 3.1 s, respectively. The main objective was the investigation of the effect of reverberation and noise on the spatial release from masking to help the design of learning environments. Binaural room impulse responses were acquired, with noise sources at different azimuths from the listener’s head. The spatial release from masking was significantly affected by noise type and reverberation. Longer reverberation times brought to worst speech intelligibility, with speech recognition thresholds higher by 6 dB on average. Noise with an informational content was detrimental by 7 dB with respect to an energetic noise.

Spatial Acoustic Scenarios in Multichannel Loudspeaker Systems for Hearing Aid Evaluation

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (07) ◽  
pp. 557-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giso Grimm ◽  
Birger Kollmeier ◽  
Volker Hohmann
Keyword(s):  
Performance Measures ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Sound Field ◽  
Speech Quality ◽  
Reference Condition ◽  
Systematic Evaluation ◽  
Technical Performance ◽  
Acoustic Environments

Background: Field tests and guided walks in real environments show that the benefit from hearing aid (HA) signal processing in real-life situations is typically lower than the predicted benefit found in laboratory studies. This suggests that laboratory test outcome measures are poor predictors of real-life HA benefits. However, a systematic evaluation of algorithms in the field is difficult due to the lack of reproducibility and control of the test conditions. Virtual acoustic environments that simulate real-life situations may allow for a systematic and reproducible evaluation of HAs under more realistic conditions, thus providing a better estimate of real-life benefit than established laboratory tests. Purpose: To quantify the difference in HA performance between a laboratory condition and more realistic conditions based on technical performance measures using virtual acoustic environments, and to identify the factors affecting HA performance across the tested environments. Research Design: A set of typical HA beamformer algorithms was evaluated in virtual acoustic environments of different complexity. Performance was assessed based on established technical performance measures, including perceptual model predictions of speech quality and speech intelligibility. Virtual acoustic environments ranged from a simple static reference condition to more realistic complex scenes with dynamically moving sound objects. Results: HA benefit, as predicted by signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and speech intelligibility measures, differs between the reference condition and more realistic conditions for the tested beamformer algorithms. Other performance measures, such as speech quality or binaural degree of diffusiveness, do not show pronounced differences. However, a decreased speech quality was found in specific conditions. A correlation analysis showed a significant correlation between room acoustic parameters of the sound field and HA performance. The SNR improvement in the reference condition was found to be a poor predictor of HA performance in terms of speech intelligibility improvement in the more realistic conditions. Conclusions: Using several virtual acoustic environments of different complexity, a systematic difference in HA performance between a simple reference condition and more realistic environments was found, which may be related to the discrepancy between laboratory and real-life HA performance reported previously.

Evaluation of Loudspeaker-Based Virtual Sound Environments for Testing Directional Hearing Aids

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (07) ◽  
pp. 541-556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Oreinos ◽  
Jörg M. Buchholz
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Life Experience ◽  
Microphone Array ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Directional Hearing ◽  
Real Environment ◽  
Data Collection And Analysis ◽  
Intelligibility Test ◽  
Acoustic Environments

Background: Assessments of hearing aid (HA) benefits in the laboratory often do not accurately reflect real-life experience. This may be improved by employing loudspeaker-based virtual sound environments (VSEs) that provide more realistic acoustic scenarios. It is unclear how far the limited accuracy of these VSEs influences measures of subjective performance. Purpose: Verify two common methods for creating VSEs that are to be used for assessing HA outcomes. Research Design: A cocktail-party scene was created inside a meeting room and then reproduced with a 41-channel loudspeaker array inside an anechoic chamber. The reproduced scenes were created either by using room acoustic modeling techniques or microphone array recordings. Study Sample: Participants were 18 listeners with a symmetrical, sloping, mild-to-moderate hearing loss, aged between 66 and 78 yr (mean = 73.8 yr). Data Collection and Analysis: The accuracy of the two VSEs was assessed by comparing the subjective performance measured with two-directional HA algorithms inside all three acoustic environments. The performance was evaluated by using a speech intelligibility test and an acceptable noise level task. Results: The general behavior of the subjective performance seen in the real environment was preserved in the two VSEs for both directional HA algorithms. However, the estimated directional benefits were slightly reduced in the model-based VSE, and further reduced in the recording-based VSE. Conclusions: It can be concluded that the considered VSEs can be used for testing directional HAs, but the provided sensitivity is reduced when compared to a real environment. This can result in an underestimation of the provided directional benefit. However, this minor limitation may be easily outweighed by the high realism of the acoustic scenes that these VSEs can generate, which may result in HA outcome measures with a significantly higher ecological relevance than provided by measures commonly performed in the laboratory or clinic.

Speech Intelligibility of Young School-Aged Children in the Presence of Real-Life Classroom Noise

2004 ◽  
Vol 15 (07) ◽  
pp. 508-517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald G. Jamieson ◽  
Garry Kranjc ◽  
Karen Yu ◽  
William E. Hodgetts
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
School System ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Older Children ◽  
School Aged Children ◽  
Age Appropriate ◽  
Better Than

We examined the ability of 40 young children (aged five to eight) to understand speech (monosyllables, spondees, trochees, and trisyllables) when listening in a background of real-life classroom noise. All children had some difficulty understanding speech when the noise was at levels found in many classrooms (i.e., 65 dBA). However, at an intermediate (-6 dB SNR) level, kindergarten and grade 1 children had much more difficulty than did older children. All children performed well in quiet, with results being comparable to or slightly better than those reported in previous studies, suggesting that the task was age appropriate and well understood. These results suggest that the youngest children in the school system, whose classrooms also tend to be among he noisiest, are the most susceptible to the effects of noise.

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