title: Predicting speech intelligibility based on the signal-to-noise envelope power ratio after modulation-frequency selective processing.
abstract: A model for predicting the intelligibility of processed noisy speech is proposed. The speech-based envelope power spectrum model has a similar structure as the model of Ewert and Dau [(2000). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 108, 1181-1196], developed to account for modulation detection and masking data. The model estimates the speech-to-noise envelope power ratio, SNR(env), at the output of a modulation filterbank and relates this metric to speech intelligibility using the concept of an ideal observer. Predictions were compared to data on the intelligibility of speech presented in stationary speech-shaped noise. The model was further tested in conditions with noisy speech subjected to reverberation and spectral subtraction. Good agreement between predictions and data was found in all cases. For spectral subtraction, an analysis of the model's internal representation of the stimuli revealed that the predicted decrease of intelligibility was caused by the estimated noise envelope power exceeding that of the speech. The classical concept of the speech transmission index fails in this condition. The results strongly suggest that the signal-to-noise ratio at the output of a modulation frequency selective process provides a key measure of speech intelligibility.
authors: Centre for Applied Hearing Research, Department of Electrical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
authors: Søren
authors: S
authors: Jørgensen
authors: Torsten
authors: T
authors: Dau
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000162:Acoustics; D000328:Adult; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001302:Audiometry, Speech; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D005160:Facility Design and Construction; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009622:Noise / Q000009:adverse effects*; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D013067:Speech Perception; D013997:Time Factors; D014732:Vibration; D055815:Young Adult