The effect of noise spectrum on speech recognition performance-intensity functions

• Published in: Journal of speech and hearing research Vol. 37; no. 2; p. 439
• Main Authors: Studebaker, G A, Taylor, R, Sherbecoe, R L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01-04-1994
• Subjects: Acoustic Stimulation; Adult; Auditory Threshold; Humans; Noise - adverse effects; Speech Perception; Task Performance and Analysis
• ISSN: 0022-4685
• DOI: 10.1044/jshr.3702.439

Articulation theory predicts that a subject's absolute or masked threshold configuration will affect the slope of the speech recognition performance-intensity (P-I) function. This study was carried out to test that prediction. Performance-intensity functions for the Technisonic Studios W-22 recordings were obtained from 12 subjects with normal hearing. Four continuous thermal noise maskers, high-pass (HP) noise, white noise, ANSI noise, and talker-spectrum-matched (TSM) noise, were used to shape threshold. P-I function slopes for the averaged data ranged from about 1.6%/dB in HP noise to about 6.7%/dB in TSM noise. At low to moderate speech intensity levels, the positions and slopes of the P-I functions were accurately estimated by an articulation index-type model that included corrections for subject proficiency and for high- and low-frequency spread of masking. At higher intensity levels, performance was overestimated by the model.