scholarly journals Effects of Wearing Face Masks While Using Different Speaking Styles in Noise on Speech Intelligibility During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hoyoung Yi ◽  
Ashly Pingsterhaus ◽  
Woonyoung Song
Keyword(s):  
Background Noise ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Word Identification ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Face Mask ◽  
Presentation Mode ◽  
Mask Condition ◽  
Clear Speech

The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in the recommended/required use of face masks in public. The use of a face mask compromises communication, especially in the presence of competing noise. It is crucial to measure the potential effects of wearing face masks on speech intelligibility in noisy environments where excessive background noise can create communication challenges. The effects of wearing transparent face masks and using clear speech to facilitate better verbal communication were evaluated in this study. We evaluated listener word identification scores in the following four conditions: (1) type of mask condition (i.e., no mask, transparent mask, and disposable face mask), (2) presentation mode (i.e., auditory only and audiovisual), (3) speaking style (i.e., conversational speech and clear speech), and (4) with two types of background noise (i.e., speech shaped noise and four-talker babble at −5 signal-to-noise ratio). Results indicate that in the presence of noise, listeners performed less well when the speaker wore a disposable face mask or a transparent mask compared to wearing no mask. Listeners correctly identified more words in the audiovisual presentation when listening to clear speech. Results indicate the combination of face masks and the presence of background noise negatively impact speech intelligibility for listeners. Transparent masks facilitate the ability to understand target sentences by providing visual information. Use of clear speech was shown to alleviate challenging communication situations including compensating for a lack of visual cues and reduced acoustic signals.

scholarly journals The adverse effect of wearing a face mask during the COVID-19 pandemic and benefits of wearing transparent face masks and using clear speech on speech intelligibility

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hoyoung Yi ◽  
Ashly Pingsterhaus ◽  
Woonyoung Song
Keyword(s):  
Adverse Effect ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Word Identification ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Face Mask ◽  
Presentation Mode ◽  
Clear Speech

The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in recommended/required use of a face mask in public. The use of a face mask compromises communication, especially in the presence of competing noise. It is crucial to measure potential adverse effect(s) of wearing face masks on speech intelligibility in communication contexts where excessive background noise occurs to lead to solutions for this communication challenge. Accordingly, effects of wearing transparent face masks and using clear speech to support better verbal communication was evaluated here. We evaluated listener word identification scores in the following four conditions: (1) type of masking (i.e., no mask, transparent mask, and disposable paper mask), (2) presentation mode (i.e., auditory only and audiovisual), (3) speaker speaking style (i.e., conversational speech and clear speech), and (4) with two types of background noise (i.e., speech shaped noise and four-talker babble at negative 5 signal to noise ratio levels). Results showed that in the presence of noise, listeners performed less well when the speaker wore a disposable paper mask or a transparent mask compared to wearing no mask. Listeners correctly identified more words in the audiovisual when listening to clear speech. Results indicate the combination of face masks and the presence of background noise impact speech intelligibility negatively for listeners. Transparent masks facilitate the ability to understand target sentences by providing visual information. Use of clear speech was shown to alleviate challenging communication situations including lack of visual cues and reduced acoustic signal.

Auditory and Auditory-Visual Perception of Clear and Conversational Speech

1997 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 432-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen S. Helfer
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cues ◽  
Presentation Mode ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
Visual Speech ◽  
Conversational Speech ◽  
Clear Speech ◽  
Nature Of Information ◽  
Speech Cues ◽  
Visual Speech Information ◽  
Speech Information

Research has shown that speaking in a deliberately clear manner can improve the accuracy of auditory speech recognition. Allowing listeners access to visual speech cues also enhances speech understanding. Whether the nature of information provided by speaking clearly and by using visual speech cues is redundant has not been determined. This study examined how speaking mode (clear vs. conversational) and presentation mode (auditory vs. auditory-visual) influenced the perception of words within nonsense sentences. In Experiment 1, 30 young listeners with normal hearing responded to videotaped stimuli presented audiovisually in the presence of background noise at one of three signal-to-noise ratios. In Experiment 2, 9 participants returned for an additional assessment using auditory-only presentation. Results of these experiments showed significant effects of speaking mode (clear speech was easier to understand than was conversational speech) and presentation mode (auditoryvisual presentation led to better performance than did auditory-only presentation). The benefit of clear speech was greater for words occurring in the middle of sentences than for words at either the beginning or end of sentences for both auditory-only and auditory-visual presentation, whereas the greatest benefit from supplying visual cues was for words at the end of sentences spoken both clearly and conversationally. The total benefit from speaking clearly and supplying visual cues was equal to the sum of each of these effects. Overall, the results suggest that speaking clearly and providing visual speech information provide complementary (rather than redundant) information.

Moebius Syndrome: Measures of Observer Intelligibility with versus without Visual Cues in Bilateral Facial Paralysis

2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 518-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shelley Von Berg ◽  
Douglas McColl ◽  
Tami Brancamp
Keyword(s):  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Auditory Signal ◽  
Speech Pathology ◽  
Auditory Information ◽  
Moebius Syndrome ◽  
High Predictability ◽  
The University

Objective: This study investigated observers’ intelligibility for the spoken output of an individual with Moebius syndrome (MoS) with and without visual cues. Design: An audiovisual recording of the speaker's output was obtained for 50 Speech Intelligibility in Noise sentences consisting of 25 high predictability and 25 low predictability sentences. Stimuli were presented to observers under two conditions: audiovisual and audio only. Data were analyzed using a multivariate repeated measures model. Observers: Twenty students and faculty affiliated with the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology at the University of Nevada, Reno. Results: ANOVA mixed design revealed that intelligibility for the audio condition only was significantly greater than intelligibility for the audiovisual condition; and accuracy for high predictability sentences was significantly greater than accuracy for low predictability sentences. Conclusions: The compensatory substitutional placements for phonemes produced by MoS speakers may detract from the intelligibility of speech. This is similar to the McGurk-MacDonald effect, whereby an illusory auditory signal is perceived when visual information from lip movements does not match the auditory information from speech. It also suggests that observers use contextual clues, more than the acoustic signal alone, to arrive at the accurate recognition of the message of the speakers with MoS. Therefore, speakers with MoS should be counseled in the top-down approach of auditory closure. When the speech signal is degraded, predictable messages are more easily understood than unpredictable ones. It is also important to confirm the speaking partner's understanding of the topic before proceeding.

Effects of Speech Rate, Background Noise, and Simulated Hearing Loss on Speech Rate Judgment and Speech Intelligibility in Young Listeners

2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (01) ◽  
pp. 028-039 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth M. Adams ◽  
Robert E. Moore
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Moderate Correlation ◽  
Signal To Noise ◽  
Noise Ratio

Purpose: To study the effect of noise on speech rate judgment and signal-to-noise ratio threshold (SNR50) at different speech rates (slow, preferred, and fast). Research Design: Speech rate judgment and SNR50 tasks were completed in a normal-hearing condition and a simulated hearing-loss condition. Study Sample: Twenty-four female and six male young, normal-hearing participants. Results: Speech rate judgment was not affected by background noise regardless of hearing condition. Results of the SNR50 task indicated that, as speech rate increased, performance decreased for both hearing conditions. There was a moderate correlation between speech rate judgment and SNR50 with the various speech rates, such that as judgment of speech rate increased from too slow to too fast, performance deteriorated. Conclusions: These findings can be used to support the need for counseling patients and their families about the potential advantages to using average speech rates or rates that are slightly slowed while conversing in the presence of background noise.

Gaze Patterns and Audiovisual Speech Enhancement

2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 471-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrid Yi ◽  
Willy Wong ◽  
Moshe Eizenman
Keyword(s):  
Speech Signal ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Tracking System ◽  
Gaze Patterns ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Specific Distance

Purpose In this study, the authors sought to quantify the relationships between speech intelligibility (perception) and gaze patterns under different auditory–visual conditions. Method Eleven subjects listened to low-context sentences spoken by a single talker while viewing the face of one or more talkers on a computer display. Subjects either maintained their gaze at a specific distance (0°, 2.5°, 5°, 10°, and 15°) from the center of the talker's mouth (CTM) or moved their eyes freely on the computer display. Eye movements were monitored with an eye-tracking system, and speech intelligibility was evaluated by the mean percentage of correctly perceived words. Results With a single talker and a fixed point of gaze, speech intelligibility was similar for all fixations within 10° of the CTM. With visual cues from two talker faces and a speech signal from one of the talkers, speech intelligibility was similar to that of a single talker for fixations within 2.5° of the CTM. With natural viewing of a single talker, gaze strategy changed with speech-signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). For low speech-SNR, a strategy that brought the point of gaze directly to within 2.5° of the CTM was used in approximately 80% of trials, whereas in high speech-SNR it was used in only approximately 50% of trials. Conclusions With natural viewing of a single talker and high speech-SNR, subjects can shift their gaze between points on the talker's face without compromising speech intelligibility. With low-speech SNR, subjects change their gaze patterns to fixate primarily on points that are in close proximity to the talker's mouth. The latter strategy is essential to optimize speech intelligibility in situations where there are simultaneous visual cues from multiple talkers (i.e., when some of the visual cues are distracters).

Enhancing Speech Intelligibility: Interactions Among Context, Modality, Speech Style, and Masker

2014 ◽  
Vol 57 (5) ◽  
pp. 1908-1918 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin J. Van Engen ◽  
Jasmine E. B. Phelps ◽  
Rajka Smiljanic ◽  
Bharath Chandrasekaran
Keyword(s):  
Visual Information ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Semantic Context ◽  
Visual Input ◽  
Conversational Speech ◽  
Clear Speech ◽  
Sentence Recognition ◽  
Speech In Noise ◽  
Masking Condition ◽  
Speech Cues

Purpose The authors sought to investigate interactions among intelligibility-enhancing speech cues (i.e., semantic context, clearly produced speech, and visual information) across a range of masking conditions. Method Sentence recognition in noise was assessed for 29 normal-hearing listeners. Testing included semantically normal and anomalous sentences, conversational and clear speaking styles, auditory-only (AO) and audiovisual (AV) presentation modalities, and 4 different maskers (2-talker babble, 4-talker babble, 8-talker babble, and speech-shaped noise). Results Semantic context, clear speech, and visual input all improved intelligibility but also interacted with one another and with masking condition. Semantic context was beneficial across all maskers in AV conditions but only in speech-shaped noise in AO conditions. Clear speech provided the most benefit for AV speech with semantically anomalous targets. Finally, listeners were better able to take advantage of visual information for meaningful versus anomalous sentences and for clear versus conversational speech. Conclusion Because intelligibility-enhancing cues influence each other and depend on masking condition, multiple maskers and enhancement cues should be used to accurately assess individuals' speech-in-noise perception.

Korean Clear Speech Improves Speech Intelligibility for Individuals with Normal Hearing and Individuals with Hearing Loss

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Su Yeon Shin ◽  
Hongyeop Oh ◽  
In-Ki Jin
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Mixed Model ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Conversational Speech ◽  
Clear Speech ◽  
Mixed Model Analysis ◽  
Data Collection And Analysis

Abstract Background Clear speech is an effective communication strategy to improve speech intelligibility. While clear speech in several languages has been shown to significantly benefit intelligibility among listeners with differential hearing sensitivities and across environments of different noise levels, whether these results apply to Korean clear speech is unclear on account of the language's unique acoustic and linguistic characteristics. Purpose This study aimed to measure the intelligibility benefits of Korean clear speech relative to those of conversational speech among listeners with normal hearing and hearing loss. Research Design We used a mixed-model design that included both within-subject (effects of speaking style and listening condition) and between-subject (hearing status) elements. Data Collection and Analysis We compared the rationalized arcsine unit scores, which were transformed from the number of keywords recognized and repeated, between clear and conversational speech in groups with different hearing sensitivities across five listening conditions (quiet and 10, 5, 0, and –5 dB signal-to-noise ratio) using a mixed model analysis. Results The intelligibility scores of Korean clear speech were significantly higher than those of conversational speech under most listening conditions in all groups; the former yielded increases of 6 to 32 rationalized arcsine units in intelligibility. Conclusion The present study provides information on the actual benefits of Korean clear speech for listeners with varying hearing sensitivities. Audiologists or hearing professionals may use this information to establish communication strategies for Korean patients with hearing loss.

scholarly journals Face mask type affects audiovisual speech intelligibility and subjective listening effort in young and older adults

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Violet Aurora Brown ◽  
Kristin J. Van Engen ◽  
Jonathan E. Peelle
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Face Mask ◽  
Noise Levels ◽  
Listening Effort ◽  
Impaired Performance ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Mask Type

Identifying speech requires that listeners make rapid use of fine-grained acoustic cues—a process that is facilitated by being able to see the talker’s face. Face masks present a challenge to this process because they can both alter acoustic information and conceal the talker’s mouth. Here, we investigated the degree to which different types of face masks and noise levels affect speech intelligibility and the subjective effort involved for young (N=180) and older (N=180) adult listeners. We found that in quiet, mask type had little influence on speech intelligibility relative to speech produced without a mask for both young and older adult listeners. However, with the addition of moderate (-5 dB SNR) and high (-9 dB SNR) levels of background noise, intelligibility dropped substantially for all types of face masks in both age groups. Across noise levels, transparent face masks and cloth face masks with filters impaired performance the most, and surgical face masks had the smallest influence on intelligibility. Importantly, participants also rated the speech as more effortful in the masked conditions compared to unmasked speech, particularly in background noise. Although young and older adults were similarly affected by face masks and noise in terms of intelligibility and subjective listening effort, older adults showed poorer intelligibility overall and rated the speech as more effortful to process relative to young adults. This research will help individuals make more informed decisions about which types of masks to wear in various communicative settings.

Quantitative Description of the Dysarthria in Women With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

1992 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 723-733 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Finley Kent ◽  
Raymond D. Kent ◽  
John C. Rosenbek ◽  
Gary Weismer ◽  
Ruth Martin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Word Identification ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Quantitative Description ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Acoustic Measures ◽  
Phonetic Features ◽  
Lateral Sclerosis

Speech intelligibility and its phonetic and acoustic correlates were studied in a group of 10 women with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Intelligibility assessment with a word-identification test indicated that the most disrupted phonetic features pertained to velopharyngeal valving, lingual function for consonant contrasts of place and manner, and syllable shape. An acoustic signature analysis based on trajectories of the first and second formants in selected monosyllabic test words revealed that the mean slope of the second formant (F 2 ) was reduced compared with that of a normal geriatric control group. This F 2 slope reduction is interpreted to reflect loss of lingual motoneurons. Acoustic measures of phonatory function for sustained vowel prolongation demonstrated abnormalities in fundamental frequency, perturbations of frequency (jitter) and amplitude (shimmer), and signal-to-noise ratio. The data for women with ALS are compared with data for a normal geriatric control group of women and with data for a group of 25 men with ALS (Kent et al., 1990). Although the overall ranking of errors was similar for males and females with ALS, men were more likely to have impairments of voicing in syllable-initial position.

Effect of Synchronized Linked Band Selection on Speech Intelligibility of Bilateral Cochlear Implant Users

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Gajęcki ◽  
Waldo Nogueira
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Stimulation ◽  
Cochlear Implant ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Band Selection ◽  
Signal To Noise ◽  
Intelligibility Test ◽  
Bilateral Cochlear Implant

Normal hearing listeners have the ability to exploit the audio input perceived by each ear to extract target information in challenging listening scenarios. Bilateral cochlear implant (BiCI) users, however, do not benefit as much as normal hearing listeners do from a bilateral input. In this study, we investigate the effect that bilaterally linked band selection, bilaterally synchronized electrical stimulation and ideal binary masks (IdBMs) have on the ability of 10 BiCIs to understand speech in background noise. The performance was assessed through a sentence-based speech intelligibility test, in a scenario where the speech signal was presented from the front and the interfering noise from one side. The linked band selection relies on the most favorable signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) ear, which will select the bands to be stimulated for both CIs. Results show that no benefit from adding a second CI to the most favorable SNR side was achieved for any of the tested bilateral conditions. However, when using both devices, speech perception results show that performing linked band selection, besides delivering bilaterally synchronized electrical stimulation, leads to an improvement compared to standard clinical setups. Moreover, the outcomes of this work show that by applying IdBMs, subjects achieve speech intelligibility scores similar to the ones without background noise.

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