title: Subjective and objective effects of fast and slow compression on the perception of reverberant speech in listeners with hearing loss.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of the current study was to assess the effect of fast and slow attack/release times (ATs/RTs) on aided perception of reverberant speech in quiet.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty listeners with mild-to-moderate sensorineural hearing loss were tested monaurally with a commercial hearing aid programmed in 3 AT/RT settings: linear, fast (AT = 9 ms, RT = 90 ms), and slow (AT = 900 ms, RT = 1,500 ms). Stimuli consisted of 200 low-predictability Speech-Perception-in-Noise sentences, presented at 60 dB SPL at 4 reverberation levels (RT(60) = 0, 0.6, 1.2, and 3.6 s). Listeners were randomly presented with 12 listening conditions (3 AT/RT settings x 4 reverberation levels). Intelligibility scores and clarity ratings of the sentences were obtained.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Aided speech intelligibility and clarity significantly decreased as reverberation increased. Both fast and slow ATs/RTs resulted in significantly higher speech intelligibility than linear, but no significant difference was observed between fast and slow ATs/RTs. Clarity rating was similar across 3 settings; however, rating decreased the fastest with fast AT/RT as reverberation increased. Slow AT/RT resulted in significantly higher real-ear aided response than fast AT/RT and linear, despite the same programmed gain for all settings.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Reverberation had a more significant effect on aided speech perception than AT/RT, but fast and slow AT/RT resulted in improved speech intelligibility over linear amplification.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Long Island University-Brooklyn Campus, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA. lu.shi@liu.edu
authors.forename: Lu-Feng
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Karen A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Doherty
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008144:Loudness Perception; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009622:Noise; D010700:Phonetics; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D013060:Speech; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D013067:Speech Perception