title: On Detectable and Meaningful Speech-Intelligibility Benefits.
abstract: The most important parameter that affects the ability to hear and understand speech in the presence of background noise is the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Despite decades of research in speech intelligibility, it is not currently known how much improvement in SNR is needed to provide a meaningful benefit to someone. We propose that the underlying psychophysical basis to a meaningful benefit should be the just noticeable difference (JND) for SNR. The SNR JND was measured in a series of experiments using both adaptive and fixed-level procedures across participants of varying hearing ability. The results showed an average SNR JND of approximately 3 dB for sentences in same-spectrum noise. The role of the stimulus and link to intelligibility was examined by measuring speech-intelligibility psychometric functions and comparing the intelligibility JND estimated from those functions with measured SNR JNDs. Several experiments were then conducted to establish a just meaningful difference (JMD) for SNR. SNR changes that could induce intervention-seeking behaviour for an individual were measured with subjective scaling and report, using the same stimuli as the SNR JND experiment as pre- and post-benefit examples. The results across different rating and willingness-to-change tasks showed that the mean ratings increased near linearly with a change in SNR, but a change of at least 6 dB was necessary to reliably motivate participants to seek intervention. The magnitude of the JNDs and JMDs for speech-intelligibility benefits measured here suggest a gap between what is achievable and what is meaningful.
authors.affiliation: MRC/CSO Institute of Hearing Research-Scottish Section, Glasgow, UK. bill@ihr.gla.ac.uk.
authors.forename: William M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Whitmer
authors.affiliation: MRC/CSO Institute of Hearing Research-Scottish Section, Glasgow, UK.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: McShefferty
authors.affiliation: MRC Institute of Hearing Research, Nottingham, UK.
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Akeroyd
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio; D013065:Speech Intelligibility
keywords: Hearing impairment; Just-noticeable difference; Signal-to-noise ratio; Speech intelligibility