Aug 2026· Hearing Research· Vol 481, pp.
109776
· 0 citations· 67 references
Medicine
Abstract
This study investigated the effects of noise and reverberation on recognition of Dutch digits-in-noise (DIN) test triplets. The findings demonstrate that the STIDIN, an adaptation to the standard speech transmission index (STI), provides a reliable, low‑error predictor of DIN test performance in conditions with noise and/or reverberation when only a single speech recognition threshold (SRT) measurement in noise is completed. To achieve this, twenty-four normal-hearing (NH) adults completed adaptive SRT measurements in noise-only, reverberation-only and combined noise and reverberation conditions using unprocessed (UP), low-pass filtered (LPF) and cochlear implant vocoded (CIvoc) speech materials. Standard STI values differed across conditions and overestimated the detrimental effect of reverberation on recognition. The STIDIN, derived from the magnitude cross power spectrum (mCPS) of reverberated DIN test triplets and unprocessed triplets, was applicable for T60 reverberation times up to 12 s. STIDIN values remained constant across conditions, showing no significant main effect of condition for any of the unprocessed and processed speech materials. The results show that when an SRTn measurement in noise-only is obtained using DIN test triplets (i.e., the clinical standard), the STIDIN can be used to predict the SRT in other listening conditions with noise and reverberation. The root‑mean‑square error between measured and predicted SRTs was 0.92 dB, and 95 % of predictions deviated <1.7 dB from the measured values in conditions with noise and/or reverberation.
The ezSRT test is capable of producing reliable SRT estimates in 6 min that are sensitive to different experimental conditions and listener groups and that result in different SiN performance levels when later tested in a fixed SNR configuration, and using the ezSRT test as part of the new i-RRT protocol to determine SNRs targeting specific intelligibility levels.
Christopher Slugocki, Francis Kuk, Petri Korhonen et al.· Ear and Hearing· 0 citations
The band importance function (BIF) quantifies the contribution of each frequency band to the intelligibility of speech and is a key element of the speech intelligibility index. The BIF depends on the type of speech material and speaker characteristics. Several BIFs exist, but they do not cover all test materials used in audiology. This study aimed to determine the BIF for the Dutch digits-in-noise (DIN) test, a widely used speech-in-noise measure. Twenty young adults with normal hearing completed a speech recognition task using Dutch DIN triplets presented at multiple signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) and filtered according to one-third octave bands. The BIF was estimated using the computational method of Kates (2013), applying both digit and triplet scoring approaches. In addition, two automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems, Whisper and FADE, were used to generate comparative BIF estimates. Extended high frequencies (EHFs) were included to assess their contribution to intelligibility. The results showed that the BIF of the Dutch DIN test substantially deviates from other BIFs, particularly in the contribution of high frequencies. Approximately 9% of speech information was attributed to the EHFs. Validation showed improved prediction of DIN test speech recognition thresholds using the newly derived BIF compared to the SPIN BIF. Scoring method influenced band importance slightly, whereas ASR-based estimates did not match human-derived BIFs.
Nick van Huis, N. Versfeld, C. Smits· Hearing Research· 0 citations
This study examined how nativeness affects the performance of spatial release from masking (SRM) during a task detecting speech in noise under anechoic and reverberant environments. While previous research has primarily focused on speech intelligibility, the differences in SRM performance in terms of detecting speech especially between native and nonnative languages remain unclear. In the present study, native Japanese listeners performed a detection task with native (Japanese) and nonnative (English) target utterances. Experiments were conducted in anechoic and reverberant environments. The target speech was fixed at 0°, while the noise was presented from five azimuthal angles ranging from 0° to 180° in 45° steps. The results showed no significant difference between languages in the anechoic condition. However, a significant interaction was observed in the reverberant condition: the native language showed a significantly larger SRM effect than the nonnative language. Specifically, while SRM effect for the nonnative language was reduced due to reverberation, high SRM effect for the native language remained. These results suggest that the nativeness of the target speech is a critical factor for the SRM effect, specifically in reverberant environments. [Work was supported by Sophia University Special Grant for Academic Research (Research in Priority Areas).]
Yukina Sakamoto, Taiki Matsubara, Shinya Tsuji et al.· Journal of the Acoustical So...· 0 citations
Despite technical innovations in amplification and signal processing, hearing aid users still frequently report difficulty understanding speech in noise. Recent advances in hearing aid technology using deep neural networks (DNNs) promise to expand benefits of amplification beyond traditional noise reduction features. The present study evaluated the efficacy of a commercially available DNN-enabled hearing aid in a free-field speech understanding task using the coordinate response measure corpus with noise background. We compared multiple configurations of the DNN-enabled device (DNN-on versus DNN-off) as well as comparison devices with traditional noise reduction technologies. Results showed a significant benefit of the DNN-based noise reduction represented by higher CRM accuracy at all target locations, with the highest behavioral performance improvement observed at lateral target locations (±120 deg) for the DNN-enabled device compared to the same device with the DNN-off or the comparison devices. Furthermore, individual behavioral and cognitive measures were shown in some cases to have direct associations with this benefit. The results reported here demonstrate the benefits of unique noise reduction features to improve listener performance across multiple objective measures, and listener variability may in part be explained by suprathreshold and cognitive abilities.
Erol J. Ozmeral, Carrie A. Secor, Nathan C. Higgins· Journal of the Acoustical So...· 0 citations
OBJECTIVES
For cochlear implant (CI) patients, reliable predictors of speech outcome are desirable. In this longitudinal study, we examined the contributions of spectro-temporal sensitivity to successful speech recognition following cochlear implantation.
DESIGN
We assessed N = 46 recently implanted adult patients shortly after CI activation (T1) and 6 months later (T2) with an adaptive ripple discrimination paradigm where dynamic ripples varied around the temporal rate of 4 Hz and spectral scale of 0.5 cyc/oct. At time points T1 and T2, we evaluated speech-in-quiet recognition using the Freiburg number and monosyllabic word test. The Oldenburg speech-in-noise test was administered 1 year after implantation (T3) to a subset of N = 36 CI recipients.
RESULTS
Shortly after implantation (T1), temporal ripple discrimination thresholds predicted speech-in-noise recognition 1 year later (T3; Pearson's r = 0.51). In a linear model predicting 1-year speech-in-noise outcome, the predictors temporal or spectral thresholds at T1 and age performed better than speech measures such as Freiburg wordrecognition.
CONCLUSIONS
A simple spectro-temporal ripple discrimination test is a reliable predictor of speech-in-noise outcome 1 year after cochlear implantation, over and above established clinical speech tests. It offers an efficient method in clinical settings to improve the early prediction of speech outcome.
J. Erb, Malte Wöstmann, Jens Kreitewolf et al.· Ear and Hearing· 0 citations
The human auditory system is able to improve speech intelligibility in challenging multi-talker scenarios by using the binaural cues [Interaural Time Differences (ITDs) and Interaural Level Differences (ILDs)] for spatially separated talkers. However, aging and hearing loss can vastly degrade a listener's ability to perceive ITDs, resulting in a decreased binaural benefit. For this reason, we investigated a method to transform imperceptible ITDs (artificially removed to simulate ITD sensitivity loss) into low-frequency ILDs to assess the binaural benefit that can be gained this way, based on listening experiments with normal-hearing listeners. In a reverberant environment, no binaural benefit was found. In an anechoic environment and with a central target speaker, the decrease in speech reception tresholds because of removed ITDs was almost completely compensated when low-frequency ILDs were added. For a lateral target speaker, the low-frequency ILDs even provided a significant improvement over the baseline where ITDs and ILDs are available. Simulations using the binaural speech intelligibility model (BSIM) supported the measured results from the listening experiment. These findings suggest that this cue conversion method could potentially bring a benefit to hearing impaired and elderly listeners when implemented in cochlear implants and hearing aids.
Timm-Jonas Bäumer, Johannes W. de Vries, Stephan Töpken et al.· Journal of the Acoustical So...· 0 citations
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