The Effects of Pitch, Reverberation, and Spatial Separation on the Intelligibility of Speech Masked by Speech in Normal-hearing and Hearing-impaired Listeners PDF Download
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Author: Suzanne Patricia Carr Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 212
Book Description
Abstract: Understanding speech in noisy and reverberant environments is a task that normal listeners can perform quite well and with which the hearing impaired have great difficulty. Comparing the performance of these two groups of listeners while varying perceptual cues gives insight into the segregation abilities of both normal and impaired auditory systems. The ability of normal and hearing-impaired listeners to use the segregation cues of pitch and spatial separation was measured in a speech intelligibility task, and the detrimental effects of reverberation on those cues was also measured. The target was always simulated as straight ahead (at 0 degrees azimuth). Three spatial configurations of the two masking talkers were simulated: (1) both maskers colocated with the target at 0 degrees; (2) maskers symmetrically placed at +60 and -60 degrees; and (3) both maskers located at +60 degrees azimuth. Pitch contours of all sentences were monotonized with the target always at 100 Hz. Three masking sentence pitch conditions were tested: (1) both at 100 Hz; (2) both at +1 semitone (106 Hz); and (3) both at +4 semitones (126 Hz). The conditions were all tested under simulated anechoic, mild, and moderate reverberation levels. Spatial release was correlated with amount of hearing loss, and decreased with increasing reverberation. Listeners in both groups were able to use the non-spatial segregation cue, pitch, to achieve lower thresholds in all spatial configurations and room conditions. Both segregation cues gave advantages, and the cues combined when both were available, due to the difficult segregation problem the experiment presented. Predictions of benefit gained from head-shadow and detriments due to audiogram thresholds were partially explained by SII model results, although all models failed to account for the variability of performance between subjects. Pitch factors were not included in the model, and thus was unable to predict the ability of subjects to use pitch. Some hearing-impaired listeners were able to get the same or more benefit from pitch as from spatial separation, suggesting non-spatial segregation cues could be exploited to improve speech intelligibility in hearing-impaired listeners in complex environments.
Author: Suzanne Patricia Carr Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 212
Book Description
Abstract: Understanding speech in noisy and reverberant environments is a task that normal listeners can perform quite well and with which the hearing impaired have great difficulty. Comparing the performance of these two groups of listeners while varying perceptual cues gives insight into the segregation abilities of both normal and impaired auditory systems. The ability of normal and hearing-impaired listeners to use the segregation cues of pitch and spatial separation was measured in a speech intelligibility task, and the detrimental effects of reverberation on those cues was also measured. The target was always simulated as straight ahead (at 0 degrees azimuth). Three spatial configurations of the two masking talkers were simulated: (1) both maskers colocated with the target at 0 degrees; (2) maskers symmetrically placed at +60 and -60 degrees; and (3) both maskers located at +60 degrees azimuth. Pitch contours of all sentences were monotonized with the target always at 100 Hz. Three masking sentence pitch conditions were tested: (1) both at 100 Hz; (2) both at +1 semitone (106 Hz); and (3) both at +4 semitones (126 Hz). The conditions were all tested under simulated anechoic, mild, and moderate reverberation levels. Spatial release was correlated with amount of hearing loss, and decreased with increasing reverberation. Listeners in both groups were able to use the non-spatial segregation cue, pitch, to achieve lower thresholds in all spatial configurations and room conditions. Both segregation cues gave advantages, and the cues combined when both were available, due to the difficult segregation problem the experiment presented. Predictions of benefit gained from head-shadow and detriments due to audiogram thresholds were partially explained by SII model results, although all models failed to account for the variability of performance between subjects. Pitch factors were not included in the model, and thus was unable to predict the ability of subjects to use pitch. Some hearing-impaired listeners were able to get the same or more benefit from pitch as from spatial separation, suggesting non-spatial segregation cues could be exploited to improve speech intelligibility in hearing-impaired listeners in complex environments.
Author: Renita Elizabeth Sudirga Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 314
Book Description
Previous studies provide evidence that listening experience in a particular reverberant environment improves speech intelligibility and localization performance in that environment. Such studies, however, are few, and there is little knowledge of the underlying mechanisms. The experiments presented in this thesis explored the effect of reverberation context, in particular, the similarity in interaural coherence within a context, on listeners' performance in sound localization, speech perception in a spatially separated noise, spatial release from speech-on-speech masking, and target location identification in a multi-talker configuration. All experiments were conducted in simulated reverberant environments created with a loudspeaker array in an anechoic chamber. The reflections comprising the reverberation in each environment had the same temporal and relative amplitude patterns, but varied in their lateral spread, which affected the interaural coherence of reverberated stimuli. The effect of reverberation context was examined by comparing performance in two reverberation contexts, mixed and fixed. In the mixed context, the reverberation environment applied to each stimulus varied trial-by-trial, whereas in the fixed context, the reverberation environment was held constant within a block of trials. In Experiment I (absolute judgement of sound location), variability in azimuth judgments was lower in the fixed than in the mixed context, suggesting that sound localization depended not only on the cues presented in isolated trials. In Experiment II, the intelligibility of speech in a spatially separated noise was found to be similar in both reverberation contexts. That result contrasts with other studies, and suggests that the fixed context did not assist listeners in compensating for degraded interaural coherence. In Experiment III, speech intelligibility in multi-talker configurations was found to be better in the fixed context, but only when the talkers were separated. That is, the fixed context improved spatial release from masking. However, in the presence of speech maskers, consistent reverberation did not improve the localizability of the target talker in a three-alternative location-identification task. Those results suggest that in multi-talker situations, consistent coherence may not improve target localizability, but rather that consistent context may facilitate the buildup of spatial selective attention.
Author: Ruth Y. Litovsky Publisher: Springer Nature ISBN: 3030571009 Category : Medical Languages : en Pages : 425
Book Description
The field of Binaural Hearing involves studies of auditory perception, physiology, and modeling, including normal and abnormal aspects of the system. Binaural processes involved in both sound localization and speech unmasking have gained a broader interest and have received growing attention in the published literature. The field has undergone some significant changes. There is now a much richer understanding of the many aspects that comprising binaural processing, its role in development, and in success and limitations of hearing-aid and cochlear-implant users. The goal of this volume is to provide an up-to-date reference on the developments and novel ideas in the field of binaural hearing. The primary readership for the volume is expected to be academic specialists in the diverse fields that connect with psychoacoustics, neuroscience, engineering, psychology, audiology, and cochlear implants. This volume will serve as an important resource by way of introduction to the field, in particular for graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, the faculty who train them and clinicians.
Author: National Research Council Publisher: National Academies Press ISBN: 0309092965 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 321
Book Description
Millions of Americans experience some degree of hearing loss. The Social Security Administration (SSA) operates programs that provide cash disability benefits to people with permanent impairments like hearing loss, if they can show that their impairments meet stringent SSA criteria and their earnings are below an SSA threshold. The National Research Council convened an expert committee at the request of the SSA to study the issues related to disability determination for people with hearing loss. This volume is the product of that study. Hearing Loss: Determining Eligibility for Social Security Benefits reviews current knowledge about hearing loss and its measurement and treatment, and provides an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the current processes and criteria. It recommends changes to strengthen the disability determination process and ensure its reliability and fairness. The book addresses criteria for selection of pure tone and speech tests, guidelines for test administration, testing of hearing in noise, special issues related to testing children, and the difficulty of predicting work capacity from clinical hearing test results. It should be useful to audiologists, otolaryngologists, disability advocates, and others who are concerned with people who have hearing loss.
Author: Pim van Dijk Publisher: Springer ISBN: 331925474X Category : Medical Languages : en Pages : 487
Book Description
The International Symposium on Hearing is a prestigious, triennial gathering where world-class scientists present and discuss the most recent advances in the field of human and animal hearing research. The 2015 edition will particularly focus on integrative approaches linking physiological, psychophysical and cognitive aspects of normal and impaired hearing. Like previous editions, the proceedings will contain about 50 chapters ranging from basic to applied research, and of interest to neuroscientists, psychologists, audiologists, engineers, otolaryngologists, and artificial intelligence researchers.
Author: Suzanne Patricia Carr
Author: Suzanne Patricia Carr
Author: Tanya Lee Arbogast
Author: Renita Elizabeth Sudirga
Author: Jianing Li
Author: 
Author: Ruth Y. Litovsky
Author: National Research Council
Author: Acoustical Society of America
Author: Pim van Dijk
Author: Jens Henrik Andersen