Effect of Noise at One Ear on the Masked Threshold for Tone at the Other

128

188

This study presents revision, extension, and evaluation of a binaural speech intelligibility model (Beutelmann, R., and Brand, T. (2006). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 120, 331-342) that yields accurate predictions of speech reception thresholds (SRTs) in the presence of a stationary noise source at arbitrary azimuths and in different rooms. The modified model is based on an analytical expression of binaural unmasking for arbitrary input signals and is computationally more efficient, while maintaining the prediction quality of the original model. An extension for nonstationary interferers was realized by applying the model to short time frames of the input signals and averaging over the predicted SRT results. Binaural SRTs from 8 normal-hearing and 12 hearing-impaired subjects, incorporating all combinations of four rooms, three source setups, and three noise types were measured and compared to the model's predictions. Depending on the noise type, the parametric correlation coefficients between observed and predicted SRTs were 0.80-0.93 for normal-hearing subjects and 0.59-0.80 for hearing-impaired subjects. The mean absolute prediction error was 3 dB for the mean normal-hearing data and 4 dB for the individual hearing-impaired data. 70% of the variance of the SRTs of hearing-impaired subjects could be explained by the model, which is based only on the audiogram.

Section: A Bsimmentioning

confidence: 78%

Revision, extension, and evaluation of a binaural speech intelligibility model

Beutelmann

Brand²,

Kollmeier³

2010

128

188

“…review chapters by Durlach and Colburn, 1978;Bronkhorst, 2000;Stern and Trahiotis, 1996). These experiments include simple tone-detection tasks (e.g., Blodgett et al, 1962;Jeffress et al, 1962;Colburn and Durlach, 1965;Green, 1966;Rabiner et al, 1966) and more complicated speech-intelligibility tasks in various environments (e.g., Cherry, 1953;Hawley et al, 2004;Marrone et al, 2008). Several theoretical descriptions of binaural processing have been developed over the past half century in connection with this empirical work (cf.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of an extended equalization-cancellation model to speech intelligibility with spatially distributed maskers

Wan

Durlach

Colburn

2010

An extended version of the equalization-cancellation (EC) model of binaural processing is described and applied to speech intelligibility tasks in the presence of multiple maskers. The model incorporates time-varying jitters, both in time and amplitude, and implements the equalization and cancellation operations in each frequency band independently. The model is consistent with the original EC model in predicting tone-detection performance for a large set of configurations. When the model is applied to speech, the speech intelligibility index is used to predict speech intelligibility performance in a variety of conditions. Specific conditions addressed include different types of maskers, different numbers of maskers, and different spatial locations of maskers. Model predictions are compared with empirical measurements reported by Hawley et al. [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 115, 833-843 (2004)] and by Marrone et al. [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 124, 1146-1158 (2008)]. The model succeeds in predicting speech intelligibility performance when maskers are speech-shaped noise or broadband-modulated speech-shaped noise but fails when the maskers are speech or reversed speech.

“…In early studies of binaural detection, random noise waveforms were generated in each trial for each listener (Blodgett et al, 1958;Blodgett et al, 1962;Dolan and Robinson, 1967), and detection performance was averaged across listeners and waveforms, described as "molar-level" performance by Green (1964). In order to test model predictions and compare the effectiveness of different cues, it is useful to consider detection performance on a waveformby-waveform basis (molecular-level) for each listener (e.g., Sch€ onfelder and Wichmann, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Binaural detection with narrowband and wideband reproducible noise maskers. IV. Models using interaural time, level, and envelope differences

Mao

Carney

2014

The addition of out-of-phase tones to in-phase noises results in dynamic interaural level difference (ILD) and interaural time difference (ITD) cues for the dichotic tone-in-noise detection task. Several models have been used to predict listeners' detection performance based on ILD, ITD, or different combinations of the two cues. The models can be tested using detection performance from an ensemble of reproducible-noise maskers. Previous models cannot predict listeners' detection performance for reproducible-noise maskers without fitting the data. Here, two models were tested for narrowband and wideband reproducible-noise experiments. One model was a linear combination of ILD and ITD that included the generally ignored correlation between the two cues. The other model was based on a newly proposed cue, the slope of the interaural envelope difference (SIED). Predictions from both models explained a significant portion of listeners' performance for detection of a 500-Hz tone in wideband noise. Predictions based on the SIED approached the predictable variance in the wideband condition. The SIED represented a nonlinear combination of ILD and ITD, with the latter cue dominating. Listeners did not use a common strategy (cue) to detect tones in the narrowband condition and may use different single frequencies or different combinations of frequency channels.