Articulation index predictions of contextually dependent words

Abstract

Three investigations were conducted to determine the application of the articulation index (AI) to the prediction of speech performance of hearing-impaired subjects as well as of normal-hearing listeners. Speech performance was measured in quiet and in the presence of two interfering signals for items from the Speech Perception in Noise test in which target words are either highly predictable from contextual cues in the sentence or essentially contextually neutral. As expected, transfer functions relating the AI to speech performance were different depending on the type of contextual speech material. The AI transfer function for probability-high items rises steeply, much as for sentence materials, while the function for probability-low items rises more slowly, as for monosyllabic words. Different transfer functions were also found for tests conducted in quiet or white noise rather than in a babble background. A majority of the AI predictions for ten individuals with moderate sensorineural loss fell within +/- 2 standard deviations of normal listener performance for both quiet and babble conditions.

Effects of age and hearing loss on the recognition of interrupted words in isolation and in sentences

“…Comparison of performance levels in the current study with those obtained by Dirks et al (1986), who reported performance for LP and HP sentences in the SPIN babble as a function of the articulation index (AI; ANSI S3.5-1969, 1/3-octave band method) reveals a good correspondence for the relative values of LP and HP scores. Percent-correct scores in the present study with a total glimpsed proportion of 0.33 are roughly equal to scores with an AI of 0.2 À 0.25, while scores in the 0.67 glimpse condition are similar to those observed with an AI in the 0.4 À 0.5 range.…”

The relationship between speech perception and electrode discrimination in cochlear implantees

“…Although the SII has been applied by numerous authors to the prediction of the speech perception of listeners with a sensorineural hearing loss ͑e.g., Ching et al, 1997Ching et al, , 1998Dirks et al, 1986;Kamm et al, 1985;Ludvigsen, 1987;Pavlovic, 1984;Pavlovic et al, 1986;Schum et al, 1991;Skinner et al, 1982͒, this method has not previously been applied to investigations of the speech perception abilities of cochlear implantees. In studies with hearing-impaired listeners, the SII has been shown to provide accurate predictions of speech perception for listeners with a mild to moderate sensorineural hearing loss, but tends to overestimate speech perception scores for listeners with a severe loss.…”

Frequency importance functions for a feature recognition test material

“…Two prediction schemes that have received considerable attention are the articulation index (AI) and the speech transmission index (STI). Both methods have been shown to provide good predictions of speech intelligibility for normal hearing persons and also for some hearing impaired listeners (Dugal et al, 1980;Steeneken and Houtgast, 1980;Dirks, 1982;Kamm et al, 1982;Skinner and Miller, 1983;Pavlovic, 1984;Pavlovic and Studebaker, 1984;Kamm et al, 1985;Dirks et al, 1986;Humes et al, 1986;Pavlovic et al, 1986). For other hearing impaired subjects, however, the predictions have been noticeably poorer than for normal listeners (Milner et al, 1984;Pavlovic, 1984;Kamm et al, 1985;Dirks et al, 1986).…”

“…Recently, there has been increased interest in the quantitative prediction of speech recognition (Dugal et al, 1980;Steeneken and Houtgast, 1980;Levitt, 1982;Pavlovic, 1984;Pavlovic and Studebaker, 1984;Dirks et al, 1986;Humes et al, 1986;Studebaker et al, 1987). Two prediction schemes that have received considerable attention are the articulation index (AI) and the speech transmission index (STI).…”