title: Performance-intensity functions at absolute and masked thresholds.
abstract: In most applications of audibility and articulation theories, it is assumed that absolute thresholds and thermal noise maskers affect speech recognition performance-intensity (P-I) functions similarly. The purpose of this study was to evaluate that assumption. Performance-intensity functions for NU-6 monosyllabic words were obtained from eight normal-hearing subjects in quiet and in the presence of two levels of a noise that produced masked pure-tone thresholds parallel to, but higher than, those of each individual in quiet. The results support the practice of treating absolute threshold as a noise-masked threshold in predictions of speech recognition performance.
authors.affiliation: Memphis State University, Memphis Speech and Hearing Center, Tennessee 38105.
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Studebaker
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gilmore
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Sherbecoe
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009622:Noise / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013063:Speech Discrimination Tests; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*