Predicting masking release of lateralized speech
Abstract
Lőcsei et al. (2015) [Speech in Noise Workshop, Copenhagen, 46] measured speech reception thresholds (SRTs) in anechoic conditions where the target speech and the maskers were lateralized using interaural time delays. The maskers were speech-shaped noise (SSN) and reversed babble with 2, 4, or 8 talkers. For a given interferer type, the number of maskers presented on the target’s side was varied, such that none, some, or all maskers were presented on the same side as the target. In general, SRTs did not vary significantly when at least one masker was presented on the same side as the target. The largest masking release (MR) was observed when all maskers were on the opposite side of the target. The data in the conditions containing only energetic masking and modulation masking could be accounted for using a binaural extension of the speech-based envelope power spectrum model [sEPSM; Jørgensen et al., 2013, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 130], which uses a short-term equalization-cancellation process to model binaural unmasking. In the conditions where informational masking (IM) was involved, the predicted SRTs were lower than the measured values because the model is blind to confusions experienced by the listeners. Additional simulations suggest that, in these conditions, it would be possible to estimate the confusions, and thus the amount of IM, based on the similarity of the target and masker representations in the envelope power domain.
References
Best, V., Thompson, E.R., Mason, C.R., and Kidd, G. (2013). “An energetic limit on spatial release from masking,” J. Assoc. Res. Otolaryngol., 14, 603-610.
Beutelmann, R., Brand, T., and Kollmeier, B. (2010). “Revision, extension, and evaluation of a binaural speech intelligibility model,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 127, 2479-2497.
Breebaart, J., van de Par, S., and Kohlrausch, A. (2001). “Binaural processing model based on contralateral inhibition. I. Model structure,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 110, 1074-1088.
Bronkhorst, A. (2000). “The cocktail party phenomenon: A review of research on speech intelligibility in multiple-talker conditions,” Acta Acust. United Ac., 86, 117-128.
Chabot-Leclerc, A., MacDonald, E.N., and Dau, T. (2015). “Predicting binaural speech intelligibility using the signal-to-noise ratio in the envelope power domain,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., submitted.
Christiansen, S.K., Jepsen, M.L., and Dau, T. (2014). “Effects of tonotopicity, adaptation, modulation tuning, and temporal coherence in “primitive” auditory stream segregation,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 135, 323-333.
Cooke, M., Barker, J., Cunningham, S., and Shao, X. (2006). “An audio-visual corpus for speech perception and automatic speech recognition,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 120, 2421-2424.
Durlach, N. (1963). “Equalization and cancellation theory of binaural masking-level differences,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 35, 1206-1218.
Elhilali, M. and Shamma, S.A. (2008). “A cocktail party with a cortical twist: How cortical mechanisms contribute to sound segregation,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 124, 3751-3771.
Jørgensen, S., Ewert, S.D., and Dau, T. (2013). “A multi-resolution envelope-power based model for speech intelligibility,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 134, 436-446.
Lavandier, M. and Culling, J.F. (2010). “Prediction of binaural speech intelligibility against noise in rooms,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 127, 387-399.
Lőcsei, G., Hefting Pedersen, J., Laugesen, S., Santurette, S., Dau, T., and MacDonald, E.N. (2015). “Lateralized speech perception, temporal processing and cognitive function in NH and HI listeners,” Poster presented at Speech in Noise Workshop (Copenhagen, Denmark).
Nielsen, J.B., Dau, T., and Neher, T. (2014). “A danish open-set speech corpus for competing-speech studies,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 135, 407-420.
Rhebergen, K.S., Versfeld, N.J., and Dreschler, W.A. (2005). “Release from informational masking by time reversal of native and non-native interfering speech,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 118, 1274-1277.
Stone, M.A., Füllgrabe, C., and Moore, B.C.J. (2012). “Notionally steady background noise acts primarily as a modulation masker of speech,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 132, 317-326.
Verhey, J.L., Dau, T., and Kollmeier, B. (1999). “Within-channel cues in comodulation masking release (CMR): Experiments and model predictions using a modulationfilterbank model‘,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 106, 2733-2745.
Wan, R., Durlach, N.I., and Colburn, H.S. (2014). “Application of a short-time version of the equalization-cancellation model to speech intelligibility experiments with speech maskers,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 136, 768-776.
Watson, C.S. (2005). “Some comments on informational masking,” Acta Acust. United Ac., 91, 502-512.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
a. Authors retain copyright* and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
b. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
c. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
*From the 2017 issue onward. The Danavox Jubilee Foundation owns the copyright of all articles published in the 1969-2015 issues. However, authors are still allowed to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
