Speech intelligibility in fluctuating maskers
Resumé
Within several experiments, the influence of different maskers on the speech reception threshold (SRT, signal-to-noise ratio for 50% speech intelligibility) was examined using the Oldenburg sentence test (OLSA). The maskers were stationary noises, speech or speech-like signals. The speech and speech-like signals were intelligible or non-intelligible, composed of different languages with natural or destroyed fine structure (ICRA5-like) but similar pause durations and long-term average speech spectra (LTASS). The SRT differences for normal-hearing German listeners, normal-hearing foreign native listeners and hearing-impaired Germans were small with stationary noises, but enlarged with fluctuating maskers. Intelligibility of the masker increased the SRT only slightly, whereas the ICRA5-like maskers resulted in a significant SRT increase. SRT also increased for an older normal-hearing listener group compared to a younger listener group. Composition of same or different speakers to babble noise increased the SRT even beyond its stationary noise value. Different masker levels showed a significant effect on the SRT for fluctuating maskers. Open (free oral response) and closed (response on a touch screen) test settings led to significant differences for the fluctuating masker but not for the stationary maskers. Additionally, measured reaction times for the vocal response and subjective listening effort ratings in some of the experiments were related to speech intelligibility results and independent of masker type.Referencer
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