Speech intelligibility with and without noise in individuals exposed to electronic music

Audiometry is the main way with which hearing is evaluated, because it is a universal and standardized test. Speech tests are difficult to standardize due to the variables involved, their performance in the presence of competitive noise is of great importance. Aim: To characterize speech intelligibility in silence and in competitive noise from individuals exposed to electronically amplified music. Material and Method: It was performed with 20 university students who presented normal hearing thresholds. The speech recognition rate (SRR) was performed after fourteen hours of sound rest after the exposure to electronically amplified music and once again after sound rest, being studied in three stages: without competitive noise, in the presence of Babble-type competitive noise, in monotic listening, in signal/ noise ratio of + 5 dB and with the signal/ noise ratio of 5 dB. Results: There was greater damage in the SRR after exposure to the music and with competitive noise, and as the signal/ noise ratio decreases, the performance of individuals in the test also decreased. Conclusion: The inclusion of competitive noise in the speech tests in the audiological routine is important, because it represents the real disadvantage experienced by individuals in daily listening.

Kalman tracking linear predictor for vowel intelligibility enhancement on european portuguese HMM based speech synthesis

The recent developments on Hidden Markov Models (HMM) based speech synthesis showed that this is a promising technology fully capable of competing with other established techniques. However some issues still lack a solution. Several authors report an over-smoothing phenomenon on both time and frequencies which decreases naturalness and sometimes intelligibility. In this work we present a new vowel intelligibility enhancement algorithm that uses a discrete Kalman filter (DKF) for tracking frame based parameters. The inter-frame correlations are modelled by an autoregressive structure which provides an underlying time frame dependency and can improve time-frequency resolution. The system’s performance has been evaluated using objective and subjective tests and the proposed methodology has led to improved results.

Efficacy of the Speech Intelligibility Index as an intervention tool with pediatric cancer patients

This study evaluates the Speech Intelligibility Index (SII) as a tool to describe hearing loss and predict when hearing aids would be appropriate for pediatric oncology patients who have received or are currently receiving cisplatin. The efficacy of the SII is compared to the Brock grade which is commonly used for patients with ototoxic hearing loss secondary to cisplatin treatment. The SII is a discrete measure that precisely reflects the patient’s functional hearing status and is highly correlated with the need for audiologic intervention.

Speech intelligibility in noise-induced hearing loss: effects of high-frequency compensation

This dissertation examines the frequency response that results in the maximum level of speech intelligibility for persons with noise-induced hearing loss.

Visual intelligibility of words in isolation and in sentence context

This paper reviews a study to examine the effects on lip reading performance of word position within a sentence.

Effect of amplification bandwidth on intelligibility of several different speech samples for a listener with sensorineural hearing loss

This paper examines the effect of amplification bandwidth on speech intelligibility using multiple speech samples.

Intelligibility of one's own speech relative to the speech of others

This paper reviews a speech intelligibility experiment using the same subjects as both talkers and listeners.

The intelligibility of different kinds of test material used in speech audiometry

This paper discusses several tests used to measure speech intelligibility and speech discrimination.

The intelligibility of cleft palate speech with and without dental prosthesis

This paper discusses a study to investigate the possibility of quantifying and analyzing the speech of cleft palate subjects.

The effects of varying amounts of visual information on telephone intelligibility

This study examines whether similarly reduced amounts of visible articulatory information has potential for increasing speech intelligibility over the telephone to hearing-impaired listeners.

The intelligibility of speech through phonetic transcription

This paper analyzes the phonetic accuracy of both hearing-impaired and normal-hearing individuals’ speech production.

The effects of varying amounts of visual information on telephone intelligibility

This study examines whether similarly reduced amounts of visible articulatory information has potential for increasing speech intelligibility over the telephone to hearing-impaired listeners.

The reliability and validity of monitored connected discourse as a test of the threshold of intelligibility

This paper discusses a study undertaken to determine whether a normal hearing person or hearing impaired person can reliably select a threshold of intelligibility and if so, whether this can be considered a valid measurement.

Subjective impressions of child cochlear-implant users: effects of conversational fluency, intelligibility, speech perception, and communication mode

This paper investigates the conversational fluency of young cochlear implant users. The study compares objective measures and subjective impressions of conversation fluency, relates how children’s communication skills influence both objective and subjective measures of conversational fluency, and compares the performance of children who use an oral mode with those who use a total communication mode in everyday conversation.

How the listener's experience influences the rating of the intelligibility of hearing-impaired children's speech

This paper discusses the importance of listener experience as a factor when developing intelligibility measures for hearing impaired children.