title: The effects of reverberant self- and overlap-masking on speech recognition in cochlear implant listeners.
abstract: Many cochlear implant (CI) listeners experience decreased speech recognition in reverberant environments [Kokkinakis et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 129(5), 3221-3232 (2011)], which may be caused by a combination of self- and overlap-masking [Bolt and MacDonald, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 21(6), 577-580 (1949)]. Determining the extent to which these effects decrease speech recognition for CI listeners may influence reverberation mitigation algorithms. This study compared speech recognition with ideal self-masking mitigation, with ideal overlap-masking mitigation, and with no mitigation. Under these conditions, mitigating either self- or overlap-masking resulted in significant improvements in speech recognition for both normal hearing subjects utilizing an acoustic model and for CI listeners using their own devices.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708 jill.desmond@duke.edu, leslie.collins@duke.edu, chandra.throckmorton@duke.edu.
authors.forename: Jill M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Desmond
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708 jill.desmond@duke.edu, leslie.collins@duke.edu, chandra.throckmorton@duke.edu.
authors.forename: Leslie M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708 jill.desmond@duke.edu, leslie.collins@duke.edu, chandra.throckmorton@duke.edu.
authors.forename: Chandra S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Throckmorton
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000368:Aged; D000465:Algorithms; D001302:Audiometry, Speech; D019929:Cochlear Implantation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009038:Motion; D009622:Noise / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D013067:Speech Perception; D014732:Vibration