Report on a binaural extension of the Speech Transmission Index method for nonlinear systems and narrowband interference

Authors

  • Anton Schlesinger Acoustical Imaging and Sound Control, Delft University of Technology, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands
  • Juan-Pablo Ramirez Quality and Usability Lab., Deutsche Telekom Laboratories, Berlin Institute of Technology, D-10587 Berlin, Germany
  • Jasper van Dorph Schuitman Acoustical Imaging and Sound Control, Delft University of Technology, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands
  • Marinus M. Boone Acoustical Imaging and Sound Control, Delft University of Technology, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands

Abstract

A speech-based and binaural version of the Speech Transmission Index (STI) is presented. An ef cient envelope regression method of the STI (Goldsworthy and Greenberg, 2004) provides the basis for the proposed method and offers the estimation of nonlinear distortion on speech intelligibility. The speech-based STI method is expanded by an auditory lterbank for the peripheral processing and a binaural processing stage. By this means, the in uence of narrow- to broadband interferences and the binaural advantage on speech intelligibility in normal hearing and hearing impaired people can be predicted. The method has been primarily developed to assess nonlinear and binaural processors of speech enhancement, e.g. algorithms of the computational auditory scene analysis, but is generally quali ed for other applications of binaural listening. To illustrate the binaural advantage in speech intelligibility, the binaural STI was contrasted with the monaural STI in room acoustical simulation. The performance of the proposed STI method was evaluated against a subjective test. Initial results show an appropriate operation of the proposed STI method. However, the binaural bene t is undervalued and nonlinearly processed speech is overestimated by the proposed STI with respect to subjective perception. For these conditions, further improvement of the objective measure is required.

References

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Additional Files

Published

2009-12-15

How to Cite

Schlesinger, A., Ramirez, J.-P., Schuitman, J. van D., & Boone, M. M. (2009). Report on a binaural extension of the Speech Transmission Index method for nonlinear systems and narrowband interference. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research, 2, 353–362. Retrieved from https://proceedings.isaar.eu/index.php/isaarproc/article/view/2009-36

Issue

Vol. 2 (2009): Binaural Processing and Spatial Hearing

Section

2009/3. Speech processing and perception under adverse conditions

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